Your MISSION, if you choose to accept it: tell a tale and pay it forward.
As humans, there’s nothing that engages us better than a good story. We love to gather around and enjoy a gripping tale – but entertainment is just a part of it. Good stories connect people across ages and continents. They share ideas, teach lessons, evoke feelings, and change minds. Storytelling is a simple medium, with profound power. It’s a communal experience where teller and listener create something unique together.
In this age of digital media, there’s still a basic need for people to share and relate in person. MISSION Story Slam answers this call, with an exciting, engaging, and thoroughly inclusive event where storytellers compete for donations to community nonprofits.
The brainchild of PWPvideo (a socially-conscious video production company in NW Philly), MISSION Story Slam invites people with a message to tell their stories, as a way to highlight good work – and support it. The Best Storyteller wins $250 for the nonprofit of their choice, and the Audience Favorite wins $100. All stories are professionally recorded and shared freely across social media.
The rules are simple: stories should be about 5 minutes long, on theme, and “as true as you remember it.” No notes, props, or music allowed. To sign up, just show up! Storytellers put their names into a hat, and 8 to 10 are chosen at random to tell their tale, and inspire people with their mission.
YOUR TURN! 🗣️
MISSION Story Slam happens twice a year, the next one is December 3rd at National Mechanics in Old City. Theme: “It’s a Family Affair.” For more information, see missionstoryslam.org, where you can view previous participants and learn more about PWPvideo’s success helping nonprofits and sustainable businesses tell their stories to a broader audience. For example, here’s a Local voice, taking his turn at the Story Slam mic…
💙🏳️🌈✊ Andre Carroll: Proud to Serve ✊🏳️🌈💙
Andre’s story from June’s Mission Story Slam; the theme of the evening was “The Message” (text has been lightly edited for space/clarity)
Hello everyone, my name is Andre. I am a Black American with Pride. I’m a community organizer, and I’m also a candidate for Pennsylvania State Representative in this upcoming election in November (9/17 UPDATE: Andre won the special election to replace Rep Kinsey and is now the District’s new State Rep!). The way I hope to serve my NW Philly constituents reflects my life: how I was born in Germantown, went to Philly public schools. I was raised by an incredible woman, my grandmother, who is sadly no longer with us.
When I think about her guidance, two really fond memories come up. First is her “talk” about how a young man can safely navigate interactions with police offices – or even better just avoid them entirely. And second, the tradition of her holding my hand as we walked together the two blocks to our polling location, where we would exercise our right to vote.
Later in life, I realized those two memories were two sides of a message she was instilling in me. That the folks we vote for do not always advocate for a person like me. And while as an activist I could always express myself about criminal justice, racism, education, even my Blackness and my youth. But what about the other part of me? The gay me.
Now my biggest hero growing up was MLK: the man, the myth, the legend. As a child, I watched over 60 documentaries about MLK, but none of them ever mentioned Bayard Rustin, a Black queer man who was the architect of the Civil Rights movement.
Rustin was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He was also behind the Poor People’s Campaign, as well as many effective protests and boycotts for racial justice. He didn’t come out publicly until the last decade of his life, and it wasn’t until 2013 that his legacy was finally recognized, with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s fifty years of suppression.
Fifty years of silencing. When queer people tried to lead marches, they cancelled the protests. When queer people tried to start families, they banned IVF. When queer people sought to go into businesses, clients and vendors refused to work with them. When queer people tried to say, “I do” to the person that they love, the lawmakers of this country told us that was impossible.
So we hid. That was our best defense mechanism, to hide our identity, to basically live a lie rather than be the target of someone’s fear, hate, mean jokes, and open biases.
The thing about MLK is, he fit the bill that we as Black Americans wanted white America to see: a Black man with a Black family all living the dream together. In the 1960’s, at the dawn of Civil Rights, that simple ideal seemed revolutionary. But looking back now, it’s such an incomplete picture of what freedom in this nation must be. No one should be denied the right to exist in a free country.
As much as this society has tried to erase us: we’re here. Queer people have families too. We have homes, we have dreams, we have skills, we have voices. We have endured, and we will continue to thrive. My grandmother taught me at a very young age that two opposite things can be possible once. And Bayard Rustin’s life proves this. Much as folks have tried to keep queer people separate, it’s indisputably true: Black history is queer history, and queer history is Black History. And all of it is Philly history! And American history, too.
This November 5th, I’ll be running to make queer Black Philly history of my own: the second openly gay Black state representative in Pennsylvania congress. I want to say thank you to Bayard Rustin who made it possible for my grandmother to exercise her cherished right to vote, who instilled in me the value of civic action. I want to give thanks for all the people who have taught me and inspired me and cleared the path forward. With their faith in the process, and their selfless love of community, I face the future with real hope and determination to serve.
Let’s make history when we cast our ballots this November.
❤️🤍💙🗳️ ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 5th 🗳️❤️🤍💙
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Confirm your voting status now at IWILLVOTE.COM/PA where you can register if it turns out you’re not good to go. You can also call PA’s Bureau of Commissions and Elections at 717-787-5280. Need a list of drop box locations and election offices? Go to vote.phila.gov/ballot-drop-off for a current map.
Important dates:
- Last day to register — Monday, October 21st
- Last day to apply for mail-in/absentee ballot — Tuesday, October 29th at 5pm
- Deadline to return mail-in/absentee ballot — Tuesday, November 5th at 8pm (postmarks don’t count)
- Deadline to return mail-in/absentee ballot in person — Tuesday, November 5th at 8pm
Thoughts? Questions? Please leave them below in the Comments. For more information, click the links in this post.
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