August 13, 2014
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality
tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects
one directly affects all indirectly.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
The primary tenet for Crossroads College Preparatory School has been on my mind since January when I was hired. It inspired my initial interest, was a central message of my interviews, and has informed my thinking and planning as I begin as the Head of School. Yesterday, the entire faculty and staff of Crossroads and I met in a circle, and I began defining what I hope are actionable ways we can achieve, experience, and express mutuality. I had other things planned to say as well, and yet, I knew we could not begin without talking about the death of Mike Brown and its aftermath.
I cannot imagine the depth of fear and hurt the community in Ferguson, Missouri, must know as this situation unfolds before their eyes and in the media. I do not even know how to think about his mother, his family, his friends and teachers. On the first day of school, students will walk into this building, and I will not know who of them is affected by this. Nor do I want to assume that they might be. And yet I know that young people find windows and mirrors in the news, in the media, and in one another. If “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly,” then I must accept there is grief and fear and anger in those students whose faces might resemble, even slightly, the face of Mike Brown. This circles our community. This inspires my desire to connect this faculty and staff, our students and this community, to one another and to our purpose here together.
Even in the face of these challenges in our community and world, I remain hopeful and optimistic. I am committed to Crossroads, and I am honored to be “tied in a single garment of destiny” with these students, with this faculty and staff, and with this community.
With great expectations,
Jason