A Letter on Diversity and Race to the ACA Family

Dear Parents,

Writing and/or speaking about diversity and racism is never easy. I feel as though I will never satisfy everyone who reads or hears what I have to say about race, racism, and diversity. However, to remain silent about such issues, especially as the head of school at the region’s largest Christian independent school would be wrong. It would be cowardly. As a fellow pilgrim, I must admit that I do not have all the answers. And I do not see or experience what my African American brothers and sisters see and feel. But I am seeking to learn. I cannot fill those shoes, but I can mourn and seek to redeem this brokenness that we all feel. My faith, and the Bible which grounds my faith, gives me the foundation I need to understand and navigate the complexities of diversity in modern America. And I hope that what I have to say will resonate with your heart and mind.

I grew up in a large family in Cleveland, Ohio. In the late sixties and early seventies, my community was completely segregated. My parents were not very good examples when it came to teaching about race and diversity. They had many of the blind spots and believed the many lies that often exists in a segregated white community. I could go on, but it is too hard to put into words.

It was not until I became a Christian while at college that I realized that the views about race and diversity I had, and the views that were modeled for me while growing up, were distorted and grounded in layers of culturally generated fear, hatred, and dehumanization. The Bible made all the difference for me. It gave me the underlying truths that would start a lifetime of shaping my worldview. During college, I worked at an orphanage called Parmadale Boys Home. I was assigned as the activity coordinator for a restricted cottage of seventeen and eighteen-year-old boys who were on probation. That was an eye opener. For the first time in my life, I was forging relationships with young men who grew up very differently than me. They had so many problems because they all had a difficult childhood. The young men in my cottage were from many different race and ethnic backgrounds. In just one short summer, I learned more about adolescent development than I did in four years of college.

After graduating from college, I taught at an inner-city school in Cleveland. This was the first time I had been around families who were from poor Appalachia, and Puerto Rican heritage. I made many mistakes and learned a great deal about how to listen and observe, rather than judge.

After teaching at another school, and a brief stint as a school head in New England, my second head of school position was at an international school in the Washington, D.C. area. For the first time, I was in a school with families from all walks of life. I made prejudicial mistakes and I was insensitive to the cultural nuances inherent in a diverse community that was different from my white, middle class background. I was thirty-two years old. My school included a large international population as well as a large African American and Korean American population. But the wonderful people in the Washington Christian School community loved me, corrected me, and demanded better of me. I grew and learned how to apply my faith to see the beauty of God’s image in all people. What I did know was that every staff member, child, and parent at my school was made in the image of God and that the families within our learning community were different one from another and different from me. Every family member and every student had been put into that school for a distinct reason. I grew to understand poverty, race, and culture in ways I would have never known, if not for this move. I made some huge cultural mistakes. I displayed ignorance. I didn’t always understand. Fortunately for me, my community walked along side of me, they forgave me when I sought forgiveness, and they helped me to better understand them, while I grew in a better understanding of myself. In turn, they grew to know and understand me better as well. This is not something you “get,” like learning to ride a bicycle. It is something you begin to see and discover throughout a lifetime of learning to see others as God sees them, and through taking time to build relationships.

I came to ACA from the Washington, D.C. area twenty-seven years ago. I immediately came to love this community. My wife and family missed the diverse racial and ethnic community we left in DC, but came to love our ACA community too. I was surrounded by the image of God in the students and families I served. But I had a goal. And that goal was to be used by God to make ACA look more like the Kingdom. For many reasons, it has been a really challenging process to see ACA grow in various degrees of diversity. I have made many mistakes along the way. But I was and still am determined to make ACA look like the heaven we will all inhabit one day. But that requires work, self-reflection, forgiveness, humility, compassion, and a deep, deep respect for all people. Now, twenty-seven years later, we are seeing a little success toward missional diversity at ACA.

Another reality I have learned over the years is that our society has built-in systems that promote growth for some and prevent growth for others. While I have been on my journey learning to see others as God sees them, I have also learned that we have built-in systems that favor some but deny others. We see this in all areas. We see this in where roads are placed, low income housing is built, where railroads were laid down and separated communities, how well schools are funded to serve some communities, but not others, and in the profiling that is a reality for one race, but not another – and on it goes.

That leads me to the present and to our response to the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others whose blood cries for justice. Asheville Christian Academy is an educational ministry. We try very hard not to default into man-made political designations. Micah 6:8 states: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” What has happened to us? I think we are seeing the outworking of ideas and reactions that have been embedded in our culture for generations. G. K. Chesterton wrote in his book, Orthodoxy, “The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.” We have elevated party, politics, privilege above our identity as Christ’s people. I am guilty of this. The Gospel in its fullness provides the way toward change, redemption, and restoration.

Now here is the hard thing for many to grapple with. As a white man, I do not see the ingrained racism of our culture because I have been shielded from it, blind to it, and I don’t want to believe it exists. After all, I was taught all my life in the power of self-actualization and personal responsibility. Five or six years ago, I watched an interview with Dr. Camara Jones, who is a physician with the National Institutes of Health. She gave a talk on systemic racism in our health system among those that are marginalized. During the interview, she told an allegorical story she called, “The Gardeners Tale.” It was a game-changer for me. My eyes were opened. You can view Dr. Jones’ TedX Talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNhcY6fTyBM&t=505s. Please watch it.

Last week, my son sent me a Focus on the Family interview with Benjamin Watson, a strong man of faith who is a tight end with the Philadelphia Eagles. He and his wife have seven children and this interview is worth your time. His thoughtful conversation provides a gospel-centered perspective that does not denigrate entire sectors of our society. Watch it at your dinner table with your children. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RHyGAiNPT4.

For those of you who like Tim Keller, he is featured in an incredibly rich conversation with Bryan Stevenson. If you have had the rewarding experience of watching the movie Just Mercy, it is based on Bryan Stevenson’s personal memoir. This interview will enrich the whole family. It is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyBfOX5OHRQ

And as I conclude this lengthy letter to the Asheville Christian family, I want to extend a hope and promise to all families of color who are part of our family. We want you. You are loved. We will seek to promote your well-being and success. We will uphold your dignity. We will serve you. We will learn from you. We will make mistakes and grow from them. We will seek and teach justice and mercy. We will be outward facing. My hope and fervent prayer is that, even though we are not a church, we will confound the world by being incredibly knit together in the love of Christ and in our love for one another. These are the two greatest commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40)

In hope,
William George, Head of School