We are so much more diverse than most places, that is true. And, there are many places where that diversity is celebrated. My son's high school in Raleigh is wonderfully diverse and welcoming.

It was his middle school where he encountered the worst bigotry and abuse. The town where he attended middle school was a rural farming community just a couple of decades ago. It is still very rural-minded and self-segregated.

I wish we could transplant that attitude of embracing diversity into those places where that's not the case – where that diversity is twisted into the hateful "great replacement" conspiracy theory.