Commitment to the Collective
Peace as an Evolving and Revolutionary Practice
A person of many roles, of many lives - from an English and language arts teacher, to running a small family business, pursuing higher education and fellowships, holding many hats of an organizational board member, being a father, an artist, an author, and more - George exemplifies commitment to being a peacebuilder no matter your context, and remaining open as an evolving, learning human. With great humility and inner knowing, George shares, “In the same way that there is no end-point to equity or justice work, there is no end to peacebuilding. There is no finish line you cross to say you’re done with the work. The work is ongoing, and the work evolves, depending on how the world is changing and what is happening within communities. So I am peacebuilding - and always working on becoming a better peacebuilder.”
Whether it is with his students, fellow teachers, or community members, George seeks to listen to the most marginalized and neglected voices, and uplifts those whose stories most often go untold or are forgotten. George is now “focused on education and youth, and the intersections those focus areas have with other focus areas.” As a peacebuilder in the United States grounding in racial justice, equity, healing, and community, George lives and works in intersections - demonstrating how we can work locally while connecting, learning, and building globally. In his effort to dismantle silos, George leads with the collective in mind and heart, eager for what’s possible when a collective lives with responsibility, accountability, humility, reflection, truth telling, unlearning, connecting, and mobilizing.
We interviewed George to learn more about his evolution of peace work, his inspirations, and his vision. We invite you to learn more about George, to be inspired to be part of his vision for a revolutionary peace movement, and to be encouraged to listen to another’s truth telling, and to speak your own.
How did you find yourself involved in your current peacebuilding work? Who or what inspired you?
At my first board meeting with the Asheville City Schools Foundation, I was a part of a racial equity workshop - my first ever. Just after our lunch break, when our bellies were full and feeling very sleepy was a real possibility, each of us was given a stack of cards with names on them. One by one, chronologically, we were asked to stand and read the name from the card, the name of a Black person or person from other marginalized communities who had been lynched or otherwise murdered at the hands of the police or vigilantes. Only the names were read. No other conversation was permitted. The air in that room was palpable with sorrow, shame, and something more: an understanding that the deaths of so many people were preventable, and that prevention and protection were not the responsibilities of individuals but of the collective. My peace work started there, with the deep desire to build community around equity and justice work, and uplift.
Do you have an origin story or a moment when you saw your path in peace? Bring us back to that moment.
For my Masters program, I wrote a children’s book. Based on my experience as a white teacher in an all-Black inner-city school, I told the story of a white child who wakes up one morning to find that his parents are Black. The day unfolds as his days usually do, except for the small and large differences he notices in how his parents are now treated - from a ticket-taker at the baseball game surprised at how good their seats are to being stopped by the police on the ride home. Was it really my place to tell that story? Most likely not. But 25 years ago I was already thinking about the stories that get told, and how to tell the untold stories. Or, as I’ve begun to learn, how to create space for others to tell their stories. Working for justice and equity, especially collectively which is a key part of peacebuilding, is at its core about storytelling, and whose stories get told.
As you faced challenges, what helped you move forward in your path? Do you have any experiences that affirmed your desire to keep going?
It is during these challenges that the importance of the Collective really comes through. As a cis-gendered white male from the United States, I am steeped in so many layers of advantage and assumed supremacy that I will inevitably make mistakes. Unlearning centuries of inherent biases and privilege is not a straight nor a smooth path. And so I have to trust in allyship and in accountability partners to call me in when I stumble, when I fall prey to those old biases and privileges.
One of my goals is to include student voice in the decision-making process for our district. A couple years ago I asked students to share the results of a student survey that the student government (that’s a lot of “student”s!) had conducted at the high school. I even previewed the presentation with them and neglected to see some obvious micro-aggressions and problematic data in their presentation. At one point, white students spoke on behalf of Black students. Their presentation during the board meeting caused harm and opened old wounds for Black staff, students, and families. During a follow-up meeting with our Racial Equity Committee, members called me in with loving kindness, and also deep truth telling. I was asked to compartmentalize my shame and even my defenses to truly hear what Black folk were saying. I left the meeting feeling supported, recognizing that my work was lifelong, and knowing that I had accountability partners who knew I was committed to the work. Despite my significant stumble, I felt affirmed in the work.
What does your work as a peace leader look like in your current context and daily life?
As a school board member, I have a position of power, a bully pulpit if you will. From my position at the board dais, I can push for reforms and steer the conversation toward the conversations that can truly make a difference for our students and their families. Too often in policy work, we can get distracted by “emergencies” - that is, immediate problem solving raised by the voices of those who most often get heard. While handling those emergencies is important, making sure that the larger work of dismantling unjust systems is moving forward should always be the priority. In my job as the finance director of a local community theatre, I put my peace work into practice by working to equitize spaces that have traditionally been the realm of white people. Traditionally, the theatre has been a very white space. I have worked with our staff to create a budget that demonstrates our commitment to upending that tradition. Budgets, after all, are moral documents.
To complement that work, I serve on our district equity team. I serve on the theatre’s IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access) committee, and I serve on the board of VISIONS, Inc.
What are you most proud of in terms of your peacebuilding work so far?
I am most proud of being a connector of people. Because I value interpersonal relationships so much, I have connected people - and connected WITH people - who are reformers, activists, and healers.
How would you define peace?
Peace is the practice of collective uplift.
What, if any, regular practices do you have to foster peace in yourself?
Writing, music-making, dance, storytelling - artistic creation is a revolutionary act, and an act of resistance, an act of healing, an act of peacebuilding. Whether by myself or with others, creativity in all its forms allows for deep personal peace and for interpersonal peace.
“...making sure that the larger work of dismantling unjust systems is moving forward should always be the priority.”
What keeps you in this work and motivates you to continue?
I have 3 daughters: 1 is an environmentalist, 1 is committed to destigmatizing mental health, especially for women, 1 is transgender, always pushing for representation. My wife is the most amazing feminist I know. None of these jams that the women I live with operate in isolation. There is intersection to all of these, and to the racial justice work that I am engaged in. Knowing that the world is not a lost cause, knowing that each of the women in my life can utterly change our world - that is what motivates me.
What vision do you hold for yourself, your community, your organization, and beyond?
I am energized by the revolutionary acts of justice-building, community-building, dismantling that I see around me everyday. My vision is that these small daily acts build upon each other to create a movement unlike any we’ve seen before - a movement that is stronger, deeper, and broader than any of the entrenched powers that are working against peace.
How can we best support your work? Are there any resources or organizations that you support or you have been supported by that you’d like to share with our community?
I’d love to see a policy-making arm of the PPA - that is, resources for people in policy work to connect and build a movement in that realm. Policy work must operate hand in hand with the more localized, non-governmental peacebuilding work that is happening inside communities.
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in becoming a peace leader?
Understand that the path is rarely straight, never smooth, and that there is no end. Peacebuilding is a lifelong journey. Extend that metaphor to any journey you take: develop the skills needed to weather any kind of storm, equip yourself with the tools to spend nights alone in the wilderness and also to find people along that journey. Bring a camera (read: the capacity to document the triumphs and joys and, yes, the struggles)! Share your story with others and listen deeply to the stories of others. Find community. Speak your truth. You’ll be surprised by how many people want to hear your truth and share theirs.
George Sieburg is the Finance Director at Asheville Community Theatre and an elected member of the Asheville City Schools board of education. A former seventh-grade English and language arts teacher in places as diverse as Baltimore, MD, Monteverde, Costa Rica, and Asheville, NC, he is passionate about educational equity and centering the voices of populations traditionally forced to the margins – be they students, women, Black and brown folk, people from immigrant communities, individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+, or anyone else who has been othered. Between his seven years teaching and his current role, George ran a small family business with his father for fifteen years. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University and an MS in Curriculum & Instruction from McDaniel College. He is honored to be a past Equity Fellow with the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), a Policy Fellow with the Hunt Institute, a UNC School of Government Advanced Leadership corps member, and a member of the Euphrates Institute’s Peace Practice Alliance (PPA). He currently serves on the PPA’s Learning Committee and serves as board Treasurer of The Connectivity Project (TCP). He has served on the board of the Asheville City Schools Foundation (as treasurer, chair, and interim ED) and the finance committee of the Asheville Buncombe Community Land Trust (ABCLT). He is also a Teach for America alumnus [1997 Corps]. At Asheville Community Theatre he chairs the DEI/IDEA committee and sits on the Strategic Planning Committee. He lives in Asheville with his wife and their three daughters. In his free time, George performs on stage, cooks, reads, hikes, plays guitar, and writes. He is currently soliciting agents for his first novel, The Lighthouse, a modern reinterpretation of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.