A diversifying country is also a less trusting one, as Robert Putnam discovered—so the stressing of a common American identity is more essential than ever.
Last May, when Donald Trump held a campaign rally at Crotona Park in the South Bronx, he became the first Republican to visit the New York neighborhood for a national campaign event in 40 years. The neighborhood’s congressional district, NY-15, has long been a Democratic stronghold, with a Partisan Voting Index score of D+35 from the Cook Political Report. It is America’s poorest congressional district, with a median household income of just $32,381 in 2021 and more than one-third of households falling below the federal poverty line. Sixty-four percent of South Bronx residents identify as Hispanic, while 31 percent are black; foreign-born residents make up 32 percent of the district’s population.
