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Being a small south Florida beach town, the ocean makes a meaningful impact on the surrounding community. Surfing, an activity I thoroughly enjoyed participating in with friends and loved ones, is a huge part of the culture.

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Indian River County has over 23 miles of beaches for you to explore! Read about what some local professional surfers have experienced first hand on our waters!

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When Vero Beach became the home of the LA Dodger's spring training practices, the small Florida beach town that I am from became one of the first around to welcome players of color and set an example for the rest of the country.

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Explore Vero Beach’s Civil Rights History – US Civil Rights Trail

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Discover how integration of the Major Leagues impacted our nation. In Vero Beach, the Dodgers led the way to lasting change and lasting hope.

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As climate change continues to warm temperatures, causing sea levels to rise, places like coastal south Florida, where I called home for most of my life, will have to adapt. Beach front property loses its value when the beaches are pushed three, five, maybe ten miles inland.

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Teachers from the yoga studio in my community that made a deep impact on my life through mentorship.

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According to a USA Today article, as of 2012 Vero Beach combined with the neighboring town of Sebastian, where I went to high school, had the highest level of income inequality in the country.

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Cities with the widest gap between rich and poor

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Many areas with extreme income inequality are split between urban, suburban neighborhoods.

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Even though Vero Beach is a predominantly Republican town, there are still progressive humans who want to see the betterment of life for all of the town's residents. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, protests took place throughout town, many of which I participated in. When the May Day "Hands Off" protests occurred at the beginning of last month, Democrats of Indian River, the county in which Vero Beach lies, held their own. I am proud of my community members fighting for justice in a place that would prefer silence and an upholding of the status quo.

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May Day protests are happening on May 1.

There are two protests on the Treasure Coast, one in Vero Beach and one in Stuart.

There are over 1,000 planned demonstrations nationwide for May Day.

Countless numbers of people are expected to pour into the streets across the nation tonight to protest against President Donald Trump and his administration, its policies and the billionaires supporting them.

There are over 1,000 demonstrations and rallies planned for May 1, which historically is known as May Day or International Workers' Day. There will be at least two on the Treasure Coast.

The May Day protests come less than a month after the nationwide " Hands Off" protests that saw thousands of people in Port St. Lucie, Stuart and Vero Beach gathered to complain about Trump's actions since taking office.

Here's what to know about May Day protests happening on the Treasure Coast and nationwide.

Hands off protest: Development: Thousands gather Saturday across the Treasure Coast to protest President Donald Trump St. Lucie County facing legal challenges year after deciding not to allow more high rises

May Day rallies on the Treasure Coast

These two May Day protests are planned on the Treasure Coast:

Stuart: Hosted by the Martin County Democrats, the "Nationwide Day of Action" will be from 5-7 p.m. at Monterrey Road and U.S. 1.

Vero Beach: Hosted by the Democrats of Indian River, the "May Day Indian River County Protest" will be from 5-6:30 p.m. at State Road 60 and 58th Avenue.

What are people protesting on May Day?

Protests are coming after Trump's 100th day in office and his sinking approval ratings. Since returning to the Oval Office, the Trump administration has cut thousands of jobs across the federal government, enacted tariffs that have led to an escalating trade war with China and launched a deportation program that has triggered bitter court battles.

National organizers say the protests will center on opposition to Trump and his billionaire supporters, including Elon Musk, who has led the Department of Government Efficiency's slashing of the federal workforce, USA Today reported.

Organizers are also accusing the Trump administration, Musk and wealthy backers of attempting to "erase labor rights, break our unions, and silence immigrant voices."

What is the significance of May Day?

May Day is celebrated on May 1 and is historically recognized as Workers' Day or International Workers' Day. It became associated with workers' rights in 1886 when hundreds of thousands of laborers in Chicago participated in a multiday strike to push for an eight-hour workday.

It is also a seasonal celebration of spring marked by parades and bright colors.
USA Today reporter Christopher Cann contributed to this report. Gianna Montesano is TCPalm's trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on Twitter @gonthescene.

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Why May Day protests are happening nationwide, including Vero Beach and Stuart, Florida

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There are over 1,000 demonstrations and rallies planned nationwide for May Day.

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Florida refuses to teach an honest history of the unequal and disgusting treatment of people of color that this nation was founded upon. I believe that education must be factual and objective, not tell a fairy tale story "distorts historical events", and challenge students and allow them to think critically about the history of the United States, and the ongoing prejudice against minorities.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's state Board of Education banned "critical race theory" from public school classrooms Thursday, adopting new rules it said would shield schoolchildren from curricula that could "distort historical events."

Florida's move was widely expected as a national debate intensifies about how race should be used as a lens in classrooms to examine the country's tumultuous history.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared by video at the top of the board's meeting, urging its members, many of whom he appointed, to adopt the new measures he asserted would serve students with the facts rather than "trying to indoctrinate them with ideology."

The Black Lives Matter movement has helped bring contentious discussions about race to the forefront of American discourse, and classrooms have become a battleground. Supporters contend that federal law has preserved the unequal treatment of people on the basis of race and that the country was founded on the theft of land and labor.

Opponents of critical race theory say schoolchildren should not be taught that America is fundamentally racist. Governors and legislatures in Republican-led states around the country are considering or have signed into law bills that would limit how teachers can frame American history.

Both sides accuse the other of politicizing classroom instruction and violating the free speech rights of countless people by limiting the allowable points of view.

Florida law already requires schools to provide instruction on a host of fundamentals, including the Declaration of Independence, the Holocaust and African American history, but the topics have often been muddled. Current events, including the killings of Black people by police, have intensified debates.

Some have called for a "faithful" interpretation of U.S. history that honors the founding of the country - as a rebellion against oppressive British rule. But some Americans - particularly Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans - argue that dissenting perspectives are often missing from text books and classroom discussions.

The new rules say classroom instruction "must be factual and objective, and may not suppress or distort significant historical events." It goes on to mention the Holocaust, slavery and the Civil War, as well as the civil rights movement and the contributions of Blacks, Hispanics and women to the country.

But it also makes specific mention of "theories that distort historical events" that are inconsistent with board policy, including any teaching that denies the Holocaust or espouses critical race theory, which the new rules say asserts "that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons."

During his brief appearance Thursday, DeSantis called it "outrageous" how some instructors are deviating from what he and others consider the fundamentals of history.

"Some of this stuff is, I think, really toxic," DeSantis told the school board. "I think it's going to cause a lot of divisions. I think it'll cause people to think of themselves more as a member of particular race based on skin color, rather than based on the content of their character and based on their hard work and what they're trying to accomplish in life."

The Florida Education Association had called on the board to reject the proposal.

The association, which represents teachers across Florida, called on the board to strip away inflammatory language from the proposed rules. A particular sore point was the use of "indoctrinate" in the rule, which the union says presents an overly negative view of classroom instruction. That word, however, remained in the rules adopted by the board.

"The job of educators is to challenge students with facts and allow them to question and think critically about information, and that's the antithesis of indoctrination," Cathy Boehme, a public policy advocate for the association, told the board. "No matter our color, background or ZIP Code, we want our kids to have an education that imparts honesty about who we are, integrity and how we treat others, and courage to do what's right."

More than two dozen members of the public spoke on the matter, their opinions divided and impassioned. The board meeting, held at a state college in Jacksonville, was briefly recessed when one speaker went over his time limit and began chanting in support of teachers.

One woman implored the board to reject the new rules, saying it was important for children to learn about how the legacies of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow still "created an uneven playing field for Black people."

Others spoke about how an individual's interpretation of history could reflect personal agendas and biases that could lead to the proselytization of children.

The new rules also forbids use of the 1619 Project, a classroom program spawned by a New York Times project that focuses on teaching about slavery and African American history. The project's name refers to the year popularly believed to be when slaves were first brought to colonial America.

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Florida bans 'critical race theory' from its classrooms

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Florida has become the latest state to ban "critical race theory" from its public schools. The state Board of Education adopted new rules Thursday to shield schoolchildren from curricula that it says could "distort historical events."

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As of the publishing of this Forbes article in 2018, Vero Beach is still in the top 13 places in America with the highest ratios of income inequality.

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Income creates a disparity in every U.S. city, but the gap is markedly bigger in some areas versus others. A 2018 study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently identified U.S. states, cities and counties most divided by wealth. The principal factors among many the were average income of the top 1%, the average income of the bottom 99% and the ratio of the top's income to the bottom's. Of the more than 900 metro areas in the EPI study, we narrowed the list down to only those with populations greater than 100,000.

There are definitely some noticeable patterns. Of the top 13 metropolitan areas on the list, six of them are in Florida. Another three of the 13 are located in California. Two are located in the greater New York City metro area. And the last two don't fall into a bucket: Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.-Mo. And Las Vegas. No cities have the exact same income discrepancy - aka top-to-bottom ratio - but the underlying problem is apparent in every one: a withering middle class.

When both ends of the income spectrum are pulled to extremes, fewer people fit into what usually is (or was) considered the biggest social class in the U.S. And this divide is widening, especially when you combine EPI's 2018 findings with its previous income inequality study from 2016.

The Most Unequal Cities in the U.S.

Over those two years, from 2016 to 2018, the top 1% of earners in three cities increased their average incomes by more than 30%: North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, from $1.35 million to $1.81 million; Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, from $4.19 million to $5.59 million; and Miami, from $1.79 million to $2.34 million. Meanwhile , only one metro area saw the incomes of the bottom 99% increase by more than 20% - Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk. Instead, the incomes of the 99% increased an average of just over 11% . By comparison, the incomes of the top 1% had an average increase of 21% over the same two years .

Here are the 13 cities that exhibit the biggest wealth gaps in the study:

Los Angeles

Average income of top 1%: $1,803,340

Average income of bottom 99%: $53,904

Top-to-bottom ratio: 33.5 to 1

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara

Las Vegas

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.-Mo.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.

New York

North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.

Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Miami

Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk

Sebastian-Vero Beach

Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island

Florida's many wealthy retirees might not be helping its income inequality. In four of its six cities that made the list, residents aged 65 and older comprise a quarter or more of the population, according to Data USA: Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Sebastian-Vero Beach, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, and Cape Coral-Fort Myers.

Trending Now: The Best and Worst Cities to Own Investment Property

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Divided By Wealth: 13 Places In America With The Worst Income Inequality

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Income inequality in America is reaching levels not seen since the 1920s, an ominous sign. Find out the most unequal cities in the country.

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At the time this Vero Beach News article was published in 2020, it is reported that the Treasure Coast, which includes Indian River County where Vero Beach is located, has the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless people of any suburban area in the United States. This is directly tied to social location, which is shaped by factors such as class and race and the economic and racial divide. Vero is known for its high population of retirees and seasonal residents, who have the monetary means to pay more for housing, and drive up the cost of the homes that do exist, which means there are a lack of affordable housing for those who earn less than $65,000 a year and no rental apartment options for those earning less than $55,000, according to this article.

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HUD report: Unsheltered homeless here highest in the country - Vero News

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“This is something we desperately need to look at,” said Vero Beach Mayor Tony Young when he learned that the Treasure Coast, including Indian River County, has the highest percentage … Read More »