Member-only story
The Unspoken Diversity Problem
Our political monoculture exposes the Bay Area’s moral shortcomings. It’s time to be more inclusive.
“Daddy, the construction workers need to work faster.”
“What do you mean, kiddo?”
“We need more houses. There are too many homeless people living in tents.”
“Yeah. It’s complicated.” [Fighting back tears.]
The root causes of the humanitarian, health, and moral crisis deepening on our streets are decades-long in the making and overwhelming in number, complexity, and interconnectedness. It has morphed into a beast of a systems-level challenge that includes unintended policy consequences, selective law enforcement, poorly planned civic infrastructure, spiraling labor costs, ill-supported social services, and the decline of religious institutions — to name a few.
What’s troubling is how many of us in the Bay Area have responded: pointing our phone-fatigued fingers at politicians and billionaires as if exclusively to blame, assuming they alone block viable solutions with ineptitude, ignorance, and greed.
As commuters stroll by the destitution with headphones in place and eyes diverted, it’s easy to assume we don’t care (which is an unfair assessment; how can you walk by so many…
