There are reasons we can't get along.

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 Most people agree with statements like, "all people deserve dignity and respect." I mean it's a fairly universal platitude. It's why people of all creeds and stripes latch on so much to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (or at least parts of it).

But there's a problem with what dignity and respect mean. There's a divide on how that respect is expressed and represented. 

Race, sexuality, gender identity, disability status etc are not equally respected in our nation. We're moving toward legal parity (we're not quite there yet but we're working on it), but the reality is our nation has gulfs we need to correct. 

There is disparity of outcomes when it comes to race, there are worse mental health outcomes for marginalized groups, and these groups are the majority of recipients of hate crimes. Looking at those scenarios it can be difficult to reconcile wanting everyone to get along with the reality of the scenario. 

I worry that calls for dignity and respect and belonging often are often disguised calls for conformity. Calls that ignore the worst conditions of groups around us. Calls that try to create a false equivalence between discomfort and harm. 

These challenges about human rights and the reality of the human experience are why we can't get to seeing eye to eye. There's a gulf in just recognizing the problems. If we could bridge that gulf then maybe we could have constructive debates about proposed solutions. But ignoring or misrepresenting the facts and problems as they are will never get us there.

I don't know how to fix this. I know that we have work to do. A lot of work. And I'm ready to do my part. I hope that everyone is. 





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