Motivate and Empower, with guidance from USC Shoah Foundation, is launching “In My Own Words,” a new platform that gives USC students an opportunity to record their stories of how blatant and subtle acts of discrimination have impacted them on or around campus.

By recording student voices — and sharing them with others — the goal is to highlight how intolerance and discrimination at USC is detrimental not only to academic performance, but also to one’s sense of safety and inclusion on campus. By shining a spotlight on discrimination and having honest conversations, we can begin to understand and appreciate what makes us the same, and what makes us different.