Social Justice Origin Stories
by Relando Thompkins-Jones
Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community. Through truth-telling: the honest sharing of their experiences, storytellers teach us about themselves, enabling us to learn about ourselves and our world through their stories. By reconnecting with pivotal moments of activation in their lives, they invite us to do the same. At Social Justice Origin Stories, we believe that there's power in storytelling and that lived experience is experience. There's room enough for all of us to do this work. There are many ways to contribute, and our contributions don't need to be the same. We can enter and remain engaged in the work using the gifts that are special to us while supporting others and using theirs. We have the capacity to grow and change for the better when exposed to new information and experiences. We believe in our inherent worth and capabilities, and we possess t
Episodes
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On Becoming and Redefining Reality: Podcasting as Narrative Disruption with Talib Jasir
Talib Jasir understands narrative as infrastructure and uses storytelling to build narrative power, reclaim agency, and take ownership of the stories told about us without us. To him, podcasting is a barrier-free path back to the tradition of sharing oral histories, where Black people can create…
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Living A Life Of Truth, Justice, and Love with Fanshen Cox
Fanshen Cox connects her commitment to social justice to the example her parents set and the intention they put into naming her. Drawing inspiration from the documentary book "Fanshen" about Long Bow Village and the Mao revolution, they chose a name tied to overturning power structures. Fanshen’s...
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Community Voices on Transracial Adoption, Identity & Solidarity: Introducing What Resonated
This is What Resonated, a series from Social Justice Origin Stories where your responses become part of the story. What Resonated explores what comes up for you after the stories are shared. By replying to your comments, your questions, reflections, voice notes, and responses across the Social...
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Shaped By Community: Navigating Identity and Breaking The Mold with Demetrius T. Gary
Demetrius T. Gary describes the impact moving from a multilingual, multiracial middle school experience to a rural, mostly white high school where he was the only Black person had on his racial identity development. He shares his experiences with assimilation, what led him to view code-switching…
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Take This With You Vol. 4 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 4 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to…
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Moving Through Anger To Action: Why My Teaching Philosophy Centers Social Justice
Reflecting on over a decade of teaching, Relando Thompkins-Jones explains his teaching philosophy and why it centers critical self and systems reflection, education as a path to liberation in collaboration and community. He reflects on the significance of social justice education, which not only...
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Making Study Abroad More Accessible to Black and Brown People: Unexpected Journeys with Sarah Jones
Instead of a single, pivotal moment, Sarah Jones compares her journey towards social justice work to a fire that ignited during her first experiences with race and racism in the 1st grade, defining further memories and experiences as the logs that kept the fire burning. She shares a story about…
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Funky Production: Social Work, Race, Class, and Education with l o t i walker | Design Decisions
Made with minimal equipment and rooted in the idea that ideas need time to grow, this bonus crossover episode between Notes From an Aspiring Humanitarian (NAH) and Social Justice Origin Stories revisits Relando's very first recording from 10 years ago with special guest l o t i walker, a social...
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Ideas Need Time To Grow: How Starting My First Podcast Led Me To Social Justice Origin Stories
Sometimes, reflecting on the past helps us move forward. Social Justice Origin Stories is an idea whose time has come, but there was a podcast before the podcast, a platform before the platform. In today's episode of Design Decisions, Relando reflects on the experiences that led him to create his...
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Rejecting The Path Of Least Resistance and Refusing To Be A Passenger With Tyler Adams
Tyler Adams of the GoodPain Podcast opens up about how a life-altering event involving his youngest daughter cracked his heart open and expanded his understanding of privilege, complicity with oppressive systems, and what it really means to live in alignment with his values, including using...
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Using My Oar, My Voice, to Design Equitable Futures: Ubuntu and Social Justice with monique liston
dr. monique liston, founder of Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, tells the story of how her dissertation research on human dignity for Black people led her to root her organization in the concept of ubuntu: “I am because we are” as a rejection of individualistic, capitalist thinking and a response…
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Stop Believing In Things That Don’t Believe In You: On Asymmetrical Vulnerability with Kwesi A. Robertson
Kwesi A. Robertson shares about his journey through corporate America, pop culture, and the experiences that shaped his awareness of social justice. He describes the patterns that led him to recognize why access to vulnerability isn't a level playing field, noting how popular self-help and…
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A Guide To Everything On The Social Justice Origin Stories YouTube Channel (So Far) | Design Decisions
Social Justice Origin Stories started off as a podcast, but is growing into something more. This is your guided tour of everything available on Social Justice Origin Stories' YouTube channel (so far). In this episode of Design Decisions, you'll learn about the categories, special series, and the...
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For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of “For Those Who'll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit…
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Wherever You Are In The Hard Things, These Stories Are For You, Too | Design Decisions
Realizing social justice is not a simple or linear process, and the weight of the work can wear us down. Whether you are actively engaged on the front lines of your work, taking time to rest, or simply trying to survive the everyday realities of living within oppressive systems, we need you.…
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The Justice We Imagine Vol. 4 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 4 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions: When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our…
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The Power of Relationships and Lived Experiences with Sharman Spieser
After witnessing the racism her Black students experienced up close on a bus trip to Kentucky, Sharman Spieser’s awareness shifted from understanding how racism operates on an intellectual level to a deeper understanding gained from lived-experience. She reflects on how segregation, isolation…
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Introducing Design Decisions | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Design Decisions: a space where I share news and updates about Social Justice Origin Stories as it continues to grow and evolve. More than updates and announcements, though, it’s a space for meaning-making, where I expand on the ideas, values, and design decisions that shape this work.…
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Thinking Beyond Direct Practice And The Clinical Office: Macro Pathways with Patrick Taylor
Patrick Taylor, LCSW, US Air Force veteran and doctoral student in Social Work at USC, tells the story of how learning about the Grand Challenges for Social Work in his program and being surprised by how few Social Workers knew about them led him to recognize the experience as a systemic issue....
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Boundless Awareness With Pooja Kothari
Pooja Kothari, Esq. begins her social justice origin story with memories of her father, who helped cultivate her abilities to think critically as a child, her early awareness of sexism in gender-segregated cultural spaces, and her later experiences with racism and internalizing shame as a cis,...
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Scholarship as Resistance: Elevating The Stories Of Black Employees Under Authoritarian Leadership with Darryl B. Rice
In this educational segment of Social Justice Origin Stories, Dr. Darryl B. Rice, Associate Professor of Management and Richard T. Farmer Associate Professor at Miami University, returns to discuss a recent article he and his team published on how authoritarian leadership harms Black employees in...
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Look For Hope Everywhere With William "Bill" Vanderwill
Reflecting on his 50-year career as a Social Worker, William "Bill" Vanderwill speaks on the importance of strengths-based practice, intergenerational communication, community organizing, and the grassroots power of everyday people taking actions for social justice. Listen in to hear insights…
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Recreating Home: Justice Over Everything with Byron Green-Calisch
Dr. Byron Green-Calisch shares how he turned 14 years of higher education and leadership research into consulting, public media work, and activism in Florida. He shares how racialized campus crime alerts and gaps in leadership education shaped his scholarship and pushed him to claim roles as...
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Sankofa Bird: Affirming Blackness From The Start of Early Childhood Education with Anissa L. Eddie
Drawing on her expertise in social work and education policy and her lived experience as a Black Biracial woman, Dr. Anissa L. Eddie shares how intentional racial socialization in the earliest years can disrupt anti-Blackness, foster radical self-love in Black children, counter the formation of...
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Take This With You Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to…
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Black In The Stacks: Sharing Stories of Black Librarians, Authors, and Advocates with Marquita Gooch
Marquita D. Gooch, MLIS, reflects on the pitfalls and power dynamics of representing a library system publicly, while being limited in her ability to speak freely without fear of retaliation. She talks about the freedom she’s found to be more vocal since leaving traditional library work, and…
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In Community Vol. 1: The Voices of Social Justice Origin Stories | 2024 + 2025
No one gets to where they are by themselves, and this project would not exist without the collective wisdom of the storytellers who’ve shared their stories with us. This is Volume 1 of “In Community”, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This annual series brings together the…
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Kujo's Kid Zone: Connecting Roots, Bridging Histories, and Empowering Futures with Randy Quansah
Randy Quansah, creator of Kujo's Kid Zone, shares a memory of an early experience with racism at school that sparked his journey of self-discovery and awareness of African history and identity. What began as sharing the lessons he learned with his daughter expanded into considering other kids and...
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The Justice We Imagine Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions: When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our…
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For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of “For Those Who’ll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit…
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Humanizing Our Neurodivergence: Lessons of Love From The People's Platypus with Sheldon Gay
Sheldon Gay shares his journey of late identification as gifted and neurodivergent, which fostered his commitment to humanizing Black, gifted, and otherwise neurodivergent experiences to promote acceptance and self-love. Through his podcast 'I Must Be Bug'N,' Sheldon aims to dismantle the…
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A More HUMAN Approach to Truth-Telling & Building Community: Becoming The Quiet Rebel with Tracie Jae
Tracie Jae, human culture strategist and educator describes how her family both shielded her from, and prepared her to engage with racial injustice, and shares about the breadcrumbs that helped her to learn that racism shouldn’t be normal. She tells the story of the birth of her identity as The...
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Jim Crow 2.0: How Anti-DEI Laws Are Rooted In Systemic Anti-Black Racism with Darryl B. Rice
In this educational segment of Social Justice Origin Stories, Dr. Darryl B. Rice, Associate Professor of Management and Richard T. Farmer Associate Professor at Miami University, shares the research findings he and co-authors Dr. Tsedale Melaku and Dr. Jennifer R. Bishop write about in their...
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For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of “For Those Who'll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit…
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Reimagining Leadership and Finding Our Role in The Movement with Beca Velázquez-Publes
Beca Velázquez-Publes, Founder, Coach & Consultant at The Liberated Leader, opens up about the lessons she learned early on from her parents that made working for social justice a part of her DNA. She talks about the evolving nature of purpose and how her work with the Urban Core Collective...
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Exploring Identity and Mental Health Through Comics, Anime, and Culture with Quincy M. Simmons
Quincy M. Simmons, a rising senior at SUNY New Paltz in Journalism, Film, Video, and Black Studies, shares what motivated him to use his love for comic books, manga, and anime to address social justice issues through his podcast, 'The Masks We Wear. He talks about mental health, neurodiversity…
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Take This With You Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to…
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Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Finding Your Rhythm with Chinyere Neale
Chinyere Neale reflects on a time in her life when the frustration she often felt toward well-meaning but uninformed white people who considered themselves allies in racial justice work became a mirror for her own growth. After attending an LGBTQIA+ ally training at work one day, she came to a...
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Take This With You Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to…
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Using Intergroup Dialogue as a Catalyst for Social Justice with Kelly Maxwell
Kelly Maxwell reflects on how coming out as a lesbian in the 1990s sparked a deeper examination of her whiteness and a lifelong commitment to understanding her relationship to privilege and oppression. She traces her journey from growing up in an almost exclusively white small town in Ohio to...
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Do The Hard Thing: Confronting Our Privilege as a Path to Justice with Angie Freeman
After narrowly avoiding a car accident in a parking lot one day, Angie Freeman (they/them) reflects on how that experience, and their initial reaction in the moments before and after learning the other driver was Deaf, expanded their awareness of their unexamined privilege. The experience set…
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The Justice We Imagine Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions: When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our…
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Fighting Anti-Blackness: Loving Ourselves with Daily Practices of Self-Reflection with Nadia Brigham
As an intellectual activist, Dr. Nadia Brigham has possessed the ability to recognize the patterns of injustice from an early age. She tells stories from her early life, highlighting pivotal moments that sparked her passion for social justice. She reflects on her journey of completing her...
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The Justice We Imagine Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions: When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our…
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Follow Your Innate Sense of Justice with Emely Medina-Rodríguez
Dr. Emely Medina-Rodríguez, a social researcher and program evaluator committed to equity and culturally responsive practices, shares the story of her journey from Puerto Rico to Chicago and the events that inform her practice and activism as a researcher. Her storytelling teaches listeners about...
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Education as an Act of Faith with Keith Edwards
Reflecting on significant learning experiences that have shaped his approach to social justice, speaker, author, and coach Dr. Keith Edwards describes education as an act of faith; investing time in cultivating the necessary relationships required to do the work with the belief that we’re making…
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Bloom Where You're Planted with Claire Downing
Claire Downing, Founder and Principal at The Moonlight Collaborative, shares a story of how witnessing her parents’ activism and the ways they navigated differences as an interfaith family shaped her own commitment to activism; paving the way for her to be able to develop a commitment to...
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Phoenix Rising: "You're a Part of Public Health, You Just Don't Know it Yet" with Bryan O. Buckley
Dr. Bryan O. Buckley tells the story of how his Caribbean background and the lessons he learned from watching his grandparents' activism shaped his approach to leading for equity in public health. He reflects on pivotal moments in his life and career, the game-changing impact of mentoring and...
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Build What You Dream: The Rockstar Woman Movement with Shannon Cohen
In sharing the Social Justice Origin Story of the global Rockstar Woman™ Movement, founder Shannon Cohen recalls how manifesting her dream of establishing truly inclusive professional networks and affinity spaces for women was born from a mix of inspiration, observation, and agitation, with a...
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A Lighthouse and A Refuge: The Firehouse Community Arts Center with Phil Jackson
Pastor Phil Jackson shares the social justice origin story of the Firehouse Community Arts Center in Chicago, essential leadership lessons he has learned from his role as founder and CEO, and the ways the Firehouse lives out its mission to interrupt the cycle of violence among youth and young...
About this show
Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community. Through truth-telling: the honest sharing of their experiences, storytellers teach us about themselves, enabling us to learn about ourselves and our world through their stories. By reconnecting with pivotal moments of activation in their lives, they invite us to do the same. At Social Justice Origin Stories, we believe that there's power in storytelling and that lived experience is experience. There's room enough for all of us to do this work. There are many ways to contribute, and our contributions don't need to be the same. We can enter and remain engaged in the work using the gifts that are special to us while supporting others and using theirs. We have the capacity to grow and change for the better when exposed to new information and experiences. We believe in our inherent worth and capabilities, and we possess t
Hosted by
Relando Thompkins-Jones