Take This With You Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories

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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.

Subscribe to Social Justice Origin Stories for future entries to Take This With You, and for announcements about additional series as well.

Episode Highlights and Featured Stories in Take This With You Vol. 2

Give People Their Flowers: Courtney Holland (she/her) shares the importance of thanking the people who helped us along the way while they’re able to receive the message. It’s important not just to thank them broadly, but to fill in the details and be specific about what their impact means to us. She also calls on DEI practitioners to continue to push the work forward in nuanced and reflective ways.

Courtney’s Full Episode: Working in Cooperation and Opposition for the Greater Good

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Allow Grace and Space for Ourselves and Others: Monique Alicia Gamble (she/her) encourages us to offer grace for and space for the variety of places we may be in on our learning journeys, and to create space for unlearning harmful ideas, reminding us that we haven’t always known what we know today. She shares that change and expansion are possible in the both/and: being able to hold space for disagreement, while also finding places where we align.

Monique’s Full Episode: Visibility, Power, and Centering Queer Black Stories

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Practicing Gratitude and Refusing to Take on Work That Doesn’t Belong to You: Leticia Peguero (she/her) asks listeners to consider establishing a regular gratitude practice, and to ask important questions like: “How much of this is personal, and how much is systemic? What is mine to hold? and What belongs to the system?” as a way to fight against internalizing oppression.

Leticia’s Full Episode: Holding Space: The Transformative Power of Being Witnessed and Supported

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Understanding Our Relationship to Privilege and Oppression: Arc Telos Saint Amour (they/them/their) shares stories from the perspectives of experiencing marginalization and perpetuating oppression and models how important it is to remain aware of how our positionality impacts our experiences, opportunities, and outcomes. They remind us of the importance of empathy and trauma-informed approaches in social justice work.

Arc Telos Saint Amour’s Full Episode: Unpacking the Box of Shame

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Creating Change is an Ongoing Process: Chelsea Pratt (she/her) wants listeners to remember that creating liberatory change is an ongoing process that we commit to, even though we may not always be there to see the outcome, and that we all have a role to play in shaping more equitable institutions.

Chelsea’s Full Episode: Shifting Organizational Culture: Trauma-Informed, Identity-Conscious Supervision

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We Have Power, and So Do Our Stories: When we put people on pedestals, there’s nowhere to go but down. Mia Henry (she/her) urges us to keep telling our stories honestly, and with all of their complexity, so that others can see leadership as accessible to them. She reminds us that we all have power, and with that power, we have choices in how we use it.

Mia’s Full Episode: Using Power to Bring More Power to People: Education for Freedom and Justice

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“Keep Pushing the Dream”: Drawing from the ancestral wisdom of Howard Thurman, Phil Jackson (he/him) talks about visionary leadership, building the stamina to persevere through obstacles, and the importance of having dreams that are bigger than our immediate circumstances.

Phil’s Full Episode: A Lighthouse and a Refuge: The Firehouse Community Arts Center

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Humanity and Longevity in Social Justice Work: Shannon Cohen (she/her) reflects on embracing “the blessing and the burden” in the work, and a desire for listeners to hold space for the complexity that exists within our experiences. She honors the ancestors who came before us, while firmly hoping for more longevity for justice seekers; speaking to the beauty she witnesses in change makers who have been able to grow old.

Shannon’s Full Episode: Build What You Dream: The Rockstar Woman Movement

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“Be Hungry, Be Curious, Be Humble”: Bryan O. Buckley wants us to remember that equity work is coalition work, and offers three important mantras that have served him well, in hopes that they will also serve others.

Bryan’s Full Episode: Phoenix Rising: “You’re a Part of Public Health, You Just Don’t Know it Yet”

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Social Justice Origin Stories is produced, edited, and hosted by Relando Thompkins-Jones