Deep in our hearts we know that if we’re going to ever “live out the true meaning of our creed, that all men are created equal” it will be something that happens between us day to day – in the places we live, in the lives we lead, in the actions we take and the decisions we make – large and small. Yet still we reliably turn toward our television sets and social media when the worst happens, where we know our resentments will be stroked and our fury stoked. Imagine if in times of crisis, instead of separating, we gathered? Who might we be then?

We cannot stay disconnected from each other until a time of deep community crisis forces us to confront our distance. A more divided people are vulnerable. Communities that thrive are the ones that build institutions incorporating diversity dynamically into the fabric of everyday hometown life — who in times of turmoil turn toward each other, in the glorious diversity of race, religion and opinion we find in the human race. It’s an embrace of Local Color.