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Social Justice Origin Stories

Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community.

Social Justice Origin Stories

Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community.

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Social Justice Origin Stories

Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community.

Social Justice Origin Stories

Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community.

  • Stories
  • Pathways
    • Personal Journeys
    • Organizational Histories
    • Educational Segments
    • Weaving Our Voices
      • The Justice We Imagine
      • Take This With You
      • For Those Who’ll Come After
      • In Community: The Voices of Social Justice Origin Stories
    • Community Voices
    • Design Decisions
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Stories
  • Pathways
    • Personal Journeys
    • Organizational Histories
    • Educational Segments
    • Weaving Our Voices
      • The Justice We Imagine
      • Take This With You
      • For Those Who’ll Come After
      • In Community: The Voices of Social Justice Origin Stories
    • Community Voices
    • Design Decisions
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Support Social Justice Origin Stories on Patreon
  • Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel!
  • Listen on Apple Podcasts
  • Follow on Instagram
  • Connect with Relando on LinkedIn
  • Follow on Bluesky
  • Like Us on Facebook
Close

Search

Community Voices

Looking The Beast In The Face: Unlearning to Relearn with Yusef Bunchy Shakur

Dr. Yusef Bunchy Shakur names his experiences navigating systemic oppression, his time in prison, and the people who invested in…

Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: Weaving Our Voices

This playlist brings together multi-storyteller series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Here, individual interviews converge…

Personal Journeys

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…

Personal Journeys

Visibility, Power, and Centering Queer Black Stories with Monique Alicia Gamble

Dr. Monique Alicia Gamble, a Southerner, a Queer Black woman, a digital storyteller, and an assistant professor of political…

Educational Segments

Resisting Oppression by Building Trust and Connection with Amber Banks

Dr. Amber Banks shares her personal journey into activism and social justice work. She speaks on the complexities of trust, how…

Personal Journeys

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…

Design DecisionsEducational SegmentsPersonal Journeys

Moving Through Anger To Action: Why My Teaching Philosophy Centers Social Justice

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
August 27, 2026

Reflecting on over a decade of teaching, I'm using this episode of Design Decisions to talk about my teaching philosophy and why it centers critical self and systems reflection, education as a path to liberation in collaboration and community. I reflect…

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Personal Journeys

Making Study Abroad More Accessible to Black and Brown People: Unexpected Journeys with Sarah Jones

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
August 19, 2026

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…

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Design DecisionsPersonal Journeys

Funky Production: Social Work, Race, Class, and Education with l o t i walker | Design Decisions

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
August 5, 2026

Made with minimal equipment and rooted in the belief that ideas need time to grow, this bonus crossover episode between Notes From an Aspiring Humanitarian (NAH) and Social Justice Origin Stories revisits my very first recording from 10 years ago with…

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Design DecisionsOrganizational Histories

Ideas Need Time To Grow: How Starting My First Podcast Led Me To Social Justice Origin Stories

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
July 22, 2026

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, I'm reflecting on…

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Personal Journeys

Rejecting The Path Of Least Resistance and Refusing To Be A Passenger With Tyler Adams

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
July 8, 2026

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…

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Organizational Histories

Using My Oar, My Voice, to Design Equitable Futures: Ubuntu and Social Justice with monique liston

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
June 24, 2026

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…

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Personal Journeys

Stop Believing In Things That Don’t Believe In You: On Asymmetrical Vulnerability with Kwesi A. Robertson

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
June 10, 2026

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…

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Design Decisions

A Guide To Everything On The Social Justice Origin Stories YouTube Channel (So Far) | Design Decisions

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
June 4, 2026

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…

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For Those Who'll Come After

For Those Who’ll Come After Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
May 27, 2026

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,…

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Design DecisionsEducational Segments

Wherever You Are In The Hard Things, These Stories Are For You, Too | Design Decisions

Relando Thompkins-Jones By Relando Thompkins-Jones
May 20, 2026

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…

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More Stories From The Archives

Personal Journeys

Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Finding Your Rhythm with Chinyere Neale

Community Voices

Looking The Beast In The Face: Unlearning to Relearn with Yusef Bunchy Shakur

Organizational Histories

Kujo’s Kid Zone: Connecting Roots, Bridging Histories, and Empowering Futures with Randy Quansah

The Justice We Imagine

The Justice We Imagine Vol. 4 | Social Justice Origin Stories

Personal Journeys

Making Study Abroad More Accessible to Black and Brown People: Unexpected Journeys with Sarah Jones

Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: Weaving Our Voices

Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: The Why Behind The Work

Educational Segments Personal Journeys

From Isolation to Advocacy: Confronting Color Evasiveness in Transracial Adoption with JaeRan Kim

Personal Journeys

Phoenix Rising: “You’re a Part of Public Health, You Just Don’t Know it Yet” with Bryan O. Buckley

Storytelling, reflections, educational resources, and conversations on what moves us to work for equity, social justice, and collective liberation. A growing community.

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