2025

Community Voices / Organizational Histories

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, and toxic masculinity, and how exploring comics as modern mythology can offer powerful reflections on today’s social and political climate. Quincy also talks about his journey with journalism, how he uses storytelling to inspire and educate, his guiding influences, and the impact he hopes to make with his work.

August 20, 2025
Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: Weaving Our Voices

This playlist brings together multi-storyteller series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Here, individual interviews converge into shared reflections. Whether exploring what social justice really means, offering wisdom to future generations, or inviting us to take something meaningful with us, these curated compilations reveal powerful patterns that emerge when our voices are woven together.

In each piece, you’ll hear storytellers in conversation…not always directly, but in rhythm and resonance as their insights, struggles, and dreams overlap, contrast, and build on one another.

August 7, 2025
Take This With You

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 reflect on your own journey.

August 6, 2025
Personal Journeys

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 humbling realization that she also had the capacity to be well-meaning but uninformed in a different way. The experience expanded her understanding of privilege and oppression, and influenced her approach to life as a “never-ending classroom”.

As a retired global public health educator from Detroit with a multifaceted career, Chinyere reflects on her upbringing in segregated Detroit, her passion for music and the arts, her role as a sexual health educator, and what led her to finally embrace being seen as a teacher. Her storytelling speaks to the importance of authenticity, keeping joy a priority in movement work, and remembering that we all have a role to play in working for social justice.

July 23, 2025
Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: Part of Something Bigger

Introducing Part of Something Bigger. In this playlist, you’ll find highlights from episodes of Social Justice Origin Stories. Each one can stand on its own, and each is part of something bigger and more connected. These impactful clips offer glimpses into powerful truths, hard-earned insights, and transformational stories. Whether you’re here for a quick spark or deeper reflection, you’re in the right place. Watch, share, and when you’re ready, dive into the full episodes and join the conversation!

July 19, 2025
Personal Journeys

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 dedicating 17 years to social justice education through intergroup dialogue at The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan. Kelly also shares stories from her family life as part of a multiracial, interracial, two-mom household, and how those dynamics shape her personal and professional values on justice. She speaks candidly about the tensions of institutional “neutrality,” and how she works to align her values with her responsibilities on campus and in her role as Board Chair of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, a nonprofit that supports colleges and universities in using dialogic practice to create transformational change in the pursuit of equity and justice.

June 25, 2025
Personal Journeys

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 them on a path to learn American Sign Language (ASL), learn more about the lived experiences of Deaf people, and sparked a journey of self-work to more deeply understand how privilege operates. This journey continues to inform their life and work today as a speaker and educator.  

Angie also shares an example from their experiences as a Black, trans, and nonbinary parent that speaks to the importance of teaching children the expansiveness of gender identity and family structures from a young age. 

Their storytelling invites us to start with ourselves, to focus on deconstructing the misinformation that’s reflected through our privileged identities, and to use the power we have in service of equity and justice.

June 11, 2025
Design Decisions

New Playlist Update: The Why Behind The Work

The Why Behind The Work playlist is designed to ground you in the values and aspirations that shape Social Justice Origin Stories. It’s great for new viewers or longtime supporters seeking to reconnect with the project’s purpose and direction. This playlist also features project updates and series announcements, and will be updated regularly as the project evolves.

June 7, 2025