ALLYSHIP & MLK DAY: Creating threads that connect...

A group founded in spirit of MLK, creating threads that connect the dots inside us all, no matter what we look like on the outside.

Friend, collaborator and teammate (also a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, just sayin') Justin Ching (company: j-school) has been a bud since we met in a YouTube certification class years and years ago. Now, with multiple series and hundreds of millions of views under our belts, we still keep up - in part at a monthly meet-up of entertainment folks with an eye towards telling diverse stories. This year the group 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐋𝐊 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 with Story Pirates a children's arts program that promotes creative writing for in-need kids around the world. We read short stories written by these kids and wrote them back with our own handwritten notes. As Justin (and MLK) wrote: I can't put into words the feeling in our hearts so I'll leave that to MLK himself (SOUND UP to hear archive audio of his voice): ⁣⁣⁣ “𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳... 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵.” - 𝐃𝐫. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐫. “𝐀 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭”⁣⁣

My storytelling has always been about finding the threads that connect us, and that's what this group is about. I'm not an "ally" because I think it's a good or progressive idea, it's who I am. It has often led me to rooms full of people who don't look exactly like me or who come from slightly/vastly different backgrounds than me (or led me to marry a Persian girl ;) I don't think it's ever been questioned as to why I show up to Justin's meet-ups, anymore than it would be questioned why someone shows up to play pickup basketball at a park. We're all looking to play, and we get back together because we like to play the same game.

I also know that even as a cis-gender, white, male presenting himself as such in this world, people may not have the chance to see the diversity inside of me from the outside view... and it's just the same for any person of any color, gender, sexuality, hair-color, and so on. To paraphrase other great words from MLK, he dreamed that one day his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Not what is on the outside, but what is shining on the inside.

The game that this group wants to play is one of true allyship: Creating threads that connect the dots inside us all, no matter what we look like on the outside. Wanna play?