Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348932
AEA Advocate x Fall 2014 31 Voice for Change Until January 8, 2011, gun violence was always something that happened to someone else. Like so many others, I glanced at the news reports of a shooting and moved on because I felt gun violence was something that would never touch my life. It happened to someone else's child, someone else's spouse, someone else's friend. All of that changed one chilly Arizona morning in front of a local grocery store. I was on the staff of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the Congresswoman had just begun to talk with constituents at a Congress On Your Corner event. Suddenly, gunfire erupted. In less than 20 seconds, six people lay dead and 13 others – including Congresswoman Giffords and me – were wounded. As my body and mind healed over the months that followed, I learned a lot about an issue that I previously had all but ignored. The numbers were staggering. 12,000 Americans are murdered with a gun each year. Countless other lives have forever changed by injuries caused by gun violence. The human cost includes traumatized family and friends, grief stricken loved ones and family members turned caregivers because of the damage inflicted. For too long, silence has been the response from elected officials and individual citizens despite overwhelming evidence of the problem. However, I quickly learned that silence is not what we need in our nation. Shortly after I retired from Congresswoman Giffords' congressional office in 2012, I heard the news of the mass shooting in a Colorado theater and it felt personal. The victims of gun violence were no longer somebody else. I was tied to them in a bond of terrible knowledge. The time for me to take on this taboo subject had arrived. I knew I had to use my story to be a voice for change. A few days later, I joined with other survivors from the Tucson tragedy to call on our leaders to address gun violence in our nation. Over the months that followed, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (www.demandaction.org) brought together survivors of gun violence from around the country. As we told our stories, however painful, we found that there was healing in being part of the solution. We spoke out on the need for common-sense gun laws that would help save lives. Over the past two years, I have worked to connect concerned citizens and survivors with organizations that can amplify their voices on gun violence prevention. I have been inspired and honored to work with the many groups that share our common goal of ending gun violence. I have had the privilege of speaking to our nation's leaders, members of Congress, state legislators, local elected officials, civic organizations, countless media interviews and hundreds of individual conversations with people who – like me – want a country that is free from gun violence. Starting in Tucson, I have used each time that I have spoken to groups or the news media as an opportunity to challenge my own community to be part of our larger call for action. It has been exciting to work with citizens who have come together to work on gun violence prevention and who have produced significant change at the local level already. They in turn are engaging others. Alone, I am one voice, but joining with so many others, we are breaking the silence and beginning to move toward meaningful change. I feel deeply honored to have been selected as a White House Champion of Change. —Pam Simon aea-retIred MeMber paM SIMOn, COnt. frOM page 15 WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! the healthiest of all tools. Education Votes: What particular campaign first got you involved in activism with the NEA? I began with the campaign for a whole new school board to win back our professional agreement. And there have been dozens since. So I guess it's the campaign, and I guess it's a proprietary feeling: These are my students, these are my colleagues, this is my valley, my school district, and I'm pretty proud of it. And I'm pretty fierce about that. So it's not so much a campaign as it is a permanent investment. 2 arIzOna'S paul lOWeS, COnt. frOM page 17 "I quickly learned that silence is not what we need in our nation." —Pam Simon