Storytime at the furniture store

By Charlotte Moore, Senior Advisor + Producer

Last year, many Americans were stunned when U.S. Air Force Officer David Grusch testified in a congressional hearing that he believed the federal government is in possession of non-human spacecraft and their (deceased) pilots. 

Essentially, he was saying aliens exist among us!

Whether or not this is true, I am one of, no doubt, tens of millions of Americans who are fascinated by this topic. Aliens have been the main character of countless successful books and films — proof that we love stories about our extraterrestrial beings.

But, are aliens a real thing?

As a career journalist, I have spent a couple of decades in search of “the truth.” Not just the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of your typical news story, but also in what lies beyond. Most of the articles and essays I’ve written have focused on people —  their lives, their behaviors, and their motivations. What makes them cry? Laugh? Who do they aspire to be? What are the things that compel them to really live? 

Over the last five or so years, the bulk of my writing and storytelling have centered on the topic of racism, specifically how Black citizens persevere in light of documented disparities they face in various systems, including education, criminal justice, and health. I believe there is a concerted and growing effort to minimize or eradicate the experiences — the stories —  of Black people, and so I am ever more inspired to capture Black voices in writing and on film.

Officer Grusch’s congressional testimony about aliens reminded me of a portion of a film I produced in 2018 called “Black Bodies,” a documentary that featured 16 Black people speaking candidly about what it can mean to live in Black skin. At one point in the film, I ask my subjects how they would describe their skin tone to a blind alien who had no concept of what “color” is.

My subjects struggled. 

Julian, one of the people featured in the film, began to do what comes natural to humans: They began to tell a story. After a moment’s consideration, they said while laughing, “Let’s say we’re in a furniture store. They probably won’t know what a furniture store is, either. But, I’d take the alien to a furniture store and have him run his hands along something mahogany. I’d tell him, ‘That’s probably how I look.’”

Story.

Julian knew, as so many of us do, that ‘story’ is a powerful tool. In many cases where logic or data or facts can’t pierce a set resolve, story can. Because it is within story where even the most disparate people — or even, say, a human and an alien — might find common understanding.

I think about aliens coming to Earth. As a Black person who is clear on the many ways that systems work to oppress certain groups, I have found myself welcoming the idea of an alien race which may not judge so quickly based on something as insignificant as skin color. 

And, I’ve wondered which stories aliens might gravitate toward. The ones told to them by marginalized groups who don’t have a voice, or those told by the powerful who have bullhorns and platforms to spare?

I pray that these aliens will know to seek out the humans who are on purpose missions, building relationships with their fellow human beings, helping to foster positive outcomes, and working to transform lives in the best ways.

I hope the aliens come bearing stories of their own to tell, and I hope we will sit and listen.

I volunteer to make the preparations for the alien-human gathering. Be on the lookout for the announcement on social media. It’ll read something like:

“Storytime at the furniture store.”