The Southern Poverty Law Center explored multiple potential applications of systems storytelling in the context of land justice and systemic dispossession. Concepts under consideration included internal storytelling circles with SPLC staff working on land justice (using metaphors such as “Changing the Groundwater”), as well as community-based circles centered on sacred land, historical erasure, and collective memory.

Additional designs included a multi-community storytelling circle at a land justice convening, bringing together representatives from historic Black communities facing ongoing displacement. Across these explorations, a key learning emerged around internal alignment: when storytelling is framed primarily as an evaluation or documentation tool, it risks resistance; when framed as a community-centered, power-aware practice, it opens space for deeper learning, trust-building, and movement-aligned strategy. The work highlighted the importance of engaging organizers and community-facing staff early to ensure storytelling supports, not undermining, justice-centered legal and advocacy efforts.