Relando Thompkins-Jones
I'm a macro social worker, social justice educator, and consultant who uses media and education to advance equity and social justice within people, organizations, and communities. I started Social Justice Origin Stories because I believe in the power of storytelling and making our experiences accessible to others, because I believe in the liberatory effects of social justice education, to support justice-seekers in finding community and feeling less alone given the relentlessness of oppressive systems, and to be a resource of support and reflection for those who are thinking through how they could best contribute to the work. We need all who can, to do what they can.
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 playlists that are available, so you’ll know where to explore and what you’ll find when you get here.
June 4, 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, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit of social justice.
May 27, 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 within oppressive systems, we need you.
Social Justice Origin Stories is here to remind you that wherever you are in the struggle, these stories are for you.
May 20, 2026
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?
Why does understanding and sharing our social justice origin stories matter?
As you listen to their responses, reflect on what your answers might be.
May 13, 2026
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, and scarcity thinking operate within a white supremacist capitalist system to keep us apart, and emphasizes the power of building authentic, trusting relationships that create the conditions for honest dialogue to happen as a way of unlearning white supremacy and advancing antiracist social change.
April 29, 2026
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. It’s a space to think out loud, and a place where I talk through what it’s like to build social justice origin stories in this time we’re living in, and the things I learn and experience along the way.
April 22, 2026
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. Taylor’s research led him to coin the phrase the Micro Pipeline in Social Work (MPISW), the systemic funneling of social workers into clinical roles at the expense of macro exposure, development, and support.
Taylor describes how social work’s identity became tied to a medical model and overly associated with mental health. He shares his own pathway from his early beginnings as a sociology student through his experiences with the clinical licensure process, and explains why he created Macro Pathways as an early-intervention, social worker-informed prototype to help students and professionals reimagine macro work, build community, and move the profession toward balance, prevention, and broader influence.
April 15, 2026
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, queer, first-generation Indian-American woman of color. Recalling her experiences as a former public defender with the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice in Brooklyn, NY, Pooja reflects on how she became more courageous and a better advocate thanks to her mentors Michael Letwin and Azalia Torres, and explains how systemic racism shapes courtroom dynamics and even defenders’ assumptions in ways that can make or break client outcomes.
She also talks about her relationship with resisting internalized oppression through finding community and “depersonalizing” oppressive messaging, while also resisting internalized patterns of power through developing practices of accountability and self-correction. This journey informs her work as the founder and principal facilitator of Boundless Awareness, where she develops and facilitates anti-oppression and anti-bias curriculum for workplaces and organizations.
Pooja’s storytelling reminds listeners that their activism can start today by identifying and challenging their assumptions.
April 1, 2026
Dr. Darryl B. Rice, Associate Professor of Management and Richard T. Farmer Associate Professor at Miami University, returns to talk about a recent article he and his team published on how authoritarian leadership harms Black employees in the workplace.
He talks about the leadership implications of their research and validates Black employees’ instincts as they experience racism at work. Dr. Rice also shares practical advice for organizational leaders and listeners contemplating their next moves on their activism journey.
We discuss racial retrenchment and the ongoing backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, the impact left in the wake of institutional leadership’s capitulation to the current administration, and the need for courageous leadership in these times.
We also learn about what’s next in his area of research, focusing on the impact of inclusive leadership, trust, and organizational commitment to equity.
March 28, 2026
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 from the man I affectionately call “the Fred Rogers of Social Work.”
March 18, 2026
