This paper will argue that resettled refugees' experience of failed citizenship in the United States is actually a bellwether for the challenges of democratic community for all citizens. A primary challenge is the political paradox of forming a community that is heterogeneous, yet is committed, connected, and has the capacity to work together across differences. This tension is often exacerbated by the poor civic education programs that teach stagnant models of citizenship and portray a false unity in civic narrative and experience in the classroom. The paper will then present Emmanual Levinas' concept of the Other and John Dewey's conception of the public as ways to reframe our responsibility to and capacity to work with fellow citizens in diverse democratic communities while also not demanding assimilation or erasure. It will then recommend using experiential learning and Beista's 'community of those who have nothing in common' to reframe civic education in the classroom to combat failed citizenship in all citizens, whether native born or just arrived.