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The town I grew up in has a reputation as a bastion of wealthy liberalism. And yet, there’s an IGA in town that put this sign on its door. I want to talk about how it got this way and why I think it’s instructive. 
I grew up in a rural beach town that transforms into a resort area in the summers when the wealthiest people in the country—many NYC liberals—descend upon the various hamlets.
As the years have gone on on, the rural countrysides and mom&pop shops have transformed into vineyards and luxury storefronts. It was happening before I was born, but I’ve still seen noticeable changes whenever I go back to visit.
As the rich bought up and developed more of the town, renting and buying got more expensive. The seasonal money brought with it a large influx of seasonal workers and folks looking to establish lives for themselves—many of them were Latinx.
This new population, which didn’t have a lot, needed housing. Naturally, they ended up the hamlet with the cheapest property and rental costs. It just so happened to be where many of the old families in the area lived—white, blue collar, working-to-middle class folks.
As the population of that hamlet grew, so too did the number of kids in its school system and so too did the school tax, which is the highest tax in the town. That hamlet now pays the most in taxes—which is truly perverse considering it’s not where the big money is.
And while the white and the Latinx populations do not compete for work all that much, resentment has built up just the same. Rather than blame the rich for the rising cost of living and recognize their common struggle with the Latinx workers, some white folks embraced nativism.
They’ve tied the demographic changes to their increasing struggle to live in the area. Mind you, these folks are not poor given how much they make in summers. But they are Trump’s typical support base in the sense they may not be sinking yet, but recognize writing on the wall.
When I was in high school, and the demographic shift was less far along than it is today, the white resentment boiled over in an attack on a couple Latinx kids. Nobody was seriously injured.
As the sign shows, the resentment in town remains. It’s ugly, but it is also a case study in how the wealth gap, specifically gentrification, can fuel Trump.
Of course, I should point out that in town, the gentrifiers are wealthy, typically white liberals who don’t seem to realize their impact or care much about it. But they’re happy to condemn the racism...even as they fuel it.
