Published Jun 18, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
Sharing stories help veterans connect with civilians, leading to healing, empathy.
Despite making up about 31-43% of all active-duty service members in the U.S. military, minority personnel often feel underrepresented and overlooked. However, through a spoken word series, “Stories, Our Truth: A National Tour Honoring the Legacy of Us,” minority veterans are getting an opportunity to share deeply emotional, thought-provoking stories that prove to be therapeutic and healing. The series, a collaboration between Minority Veterans of America (MVA) and The Chamberlain Network (TCN), kicked off in April in Chicago, featuring transgender veterans. The second tour stop was in New York City, highlighting stories of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders who served. The group’s next event, slated for June 20 at the Baltimore War Memorial, will honor Black and African American veterans and will be emceed by KeSean “Sean Black” Johnson, an Army veteran. The storytelling series runs through September with shows in Richmond, Seattle and San Antonio set for July, August and September. By the end of the tour, the series will have featured about 40 veterans sharing stories in seven cities with at least six storytellers taking the stage at each show. Lindsay Church, executive director and co-founder of MVA, said the organization started the series in 2019 in Richmond, Va. “We brought together LGBTQ+ service members and veterans to share their experiences serving under discriminatory policies and to reflect on how those policies shaped their lives long after they left the military,” Church told Military.com. “Since then, we’ve hosted storytelling events both in person and virtually that have highlighted the experiences of veterans across race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and other identities. At their core, these events have always been about creating space for people to tell their own stories in their own words.” Late last year, MVA teamed with TCN, a group focused on preserving democracy through veteran leadership, to expand the series nationally. Since early 2025, federal policies have shifted to attempt to ban transgender service members from the military and curb healthcare for LGBTQ+ veterans. Church felt it was time to act.
