With President Donald Trump enacting mass deportations, attacking birthright citizenship and targeting other civil rights, some Latino Americans are organizing to protest these clear human rights violations. But in their call to action, many are begging the Black community to join their fight, and there’s a couple issues with this.
On TikTok, Aaron Robles called on Black people to join Latinx efforts. “Do you know what would happen if we had the Black community rocking with us [and] protesting with us?” he asked. Several Latinx organizations, including the Freeze Latino Movement, have called for boycotts against companies supporting Trump’s anti-immigration mandate, according to News 10.
But they need support from other groups to make a real change, and who better to call than the people who have been fighting oppression in America since the Declaration of Independence? The saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall,” and although there’s truth in that, what happens when only one of these groups fights the good fight consistently?
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett put it clearly. “We need our allies to show us that they’re gonna have our backs going forward before we can say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re jumping in head first,’ ” she told The Root. For her, other minority groups dropped the ball during the 2024 presidential election. More than 50 percent of Latinx people voted for Trump, according to exit polls from NBC News. While over 80 percent of Black folks showed up for then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
“What we’re looking for is for them to be willing to talk to those that weren’t on our side,” Crockett continued. “What we need to know is that we’ve got those brown allies that will go out and talk to other brown folks and say, ‘Listen, we have our civil rights because of the Civil Rights Movement that was led by Black folks.’ ”
As many Latinx people continue to call on Black folks for help, there are others who are urging their own community to get it together. “The Black community doesn’t owe us anything,” Latina TikTok user @cyn_ical.optimist said. “You’re asking where the Black community is when they’re the ones that tried to avoid this,” she continued. “I think it’s time we learned to save ourselves.”
Black folks have always been champions of civil rights for all, way before Trump took office. And history shows us we haven’t always gotten the credit we deserved for it. And to add even more wood to the fire, the Latinx community has historically battled with prejudice against Black people. A study shared by the National Library of Medicine found 55 percent of US-born Latinos rate Black Americans as lazier than they rate Latinos.
Now, our community is reluctant to help — and for good reason. After Trump’s election, the Black community took a collective step back in hopes that other minority groups would show up to the battlefield just like we have. “We heard him [Trump] say what he was going to do once he got in office. And now he’s doing what he said he’s going to do, and now everybody’s acting confuzzled,” TikTok user @brown.sugar_00 said.
Just because Black folks put their foot down when it comes to joining outside efforts doesn’t mean we’re laying down for the next four years. Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders have led their own boycotts and called out the president. Now, it’s time for other groups to do the same.