The pitfalls of solidarity are not lost on me. At times, this idea can feel like a chimeric ambition, especially while this administration's political rhetoric appears determined to propagate fear and dissension among its people. But now, as cities around the country are being targeted and assaulted by government agents, I've considered how solidarity could be a lasting stronghold in an imminent crusade against despotism.
Writer and activist Audre Lorde said that "Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression."
In this 1979 speech called "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," Lorde illustrated a key component in the progression of liberation among marginalized groups; collective action with consideration for and celebration of intersectional differences.
This message has lingered in my mind for the past couple of months as I've watched individuals in the Black community choose to withdraw from action amid an onslaught of state-sanctioned violence against immigrants and the Latino community.
As a Black and Mexican woman, witnessing this discord between two communities that I'm a part of has been incredibly disheartening. I've grown more frustrated as daily headlines are churned out, detailing the tragedies occurring at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Urgency is increasing and there isn't time for inaction because, as Lorde put it, progress is stunted by division.
Black fatigue
The first time I took note of this specific discussion was in June of last year.
"Black people be warned. Go home. This is not your battle to fight."
An X user quote responded with this message to a video depicting Border Patrol Agents unloading a massive shipment of ammunition and non-lethal weapons from a Black Hawk helicopter, seemingly preparing for confrontation with protesters in Los Angeles.
In the subsequent months, this rhetoric escalated as individuals took to platforms like X and TikTok urging Black Americans to take a step back in advocacy for immigrants and Latinos.
Much of this reasoning stems from larger issues between Black and Latino communities in the United States. A major factor in this decision from some Black Americans is claims of a lack of support from Latino communities during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.
Creator and musician ADIV expanded on this line of reasoning in a TikTok from June 2025, citing the Latino vote in the 2024 presidential election and anti-Black sentiment within the community as a major point of frustration.
For many, this withdrawal is an act of protest in and of itself. Black Americans have been at the forefront of major political and social movements in the U.S., and this consistency has given way to a sense of fatigue among the community.
Black Americans are tired of fighting for liberation without the assurance of solidarity from other minority groups. The 2024 election in many ways solidified this grievance.
A Pew Research Center survey from 2025 illustrated voting patterns among different groups during this election. According to the survey, 83% of Black voters supported Kamala Harris, while Hispanic voters were almost evenly divided.
Writer Toni Crowe illustrated this in her 2025 article, "Why Aren't Black People Protesting?" In the piece, Crowe explains how Black Americans anticipated the actions being carried out by the Trump administration, and their vote reflected this. However, the split in votes from other groups felt almost like a betrayal.
The violence we are witnessing from law and immigration enforcement right now is not new to Black Americans. For more than a decade, state violence against Black people has inundated our screens and this brutality has persisted for centuries longer. In this, many feel that current outrage is severely delayed.
But should all of this mean that we bow out of action completely?
Chantel Apodaca, an ASU alum who graduated in May 2025, expressed her thoughts on this stance, "We've seen that pain, we've seen that struggle (and) we're familiar with it. But that doesn't mean we [should] take a step back and let other people experience that (too)."
Apodaca shared her perspective as a Black woman who grew up in an adoptive Hispanic household. According to Apodaca, amid the BLM protests in 2020, "It felt like there was some type of disengagement (between me and my mom). What pushed us out of that was (recognizing) that we don't need to fight against each other. The problem is the systems in place. The problem is the government (and) how (it's) structured and systematic racism … When we disengage and we fight each other instead of against those negative things. That's where more consequences lie."
Last month, Apodaca attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, as a representative for ASU. While at the festival, Apodaca and her friends learned about an anti-ICE protest happening downtown, and immediately joined in.
"I wanted to be there in solidarity and do whatever I could in my power to speak up about this, and (the same goes for) my friends as well. We didn't even have to talk about it. We just were like 'we know what's happening, we will be there,'" she said.
While in attendance, Apodaca and her group created a makeshift sign using a bag from the festival and lipstick she had on hand saying "Fuck ICE."
Apodaca summarized her experience taking part in this demonstration, "It was amazing to see, it just felt so uniting."
Dangers in division
While I understand many of the frustrations Black Americans are feeling, it's difficult for me to rationalize the mentality that what's happening right now is "not our fight," especially when both of these communities' struggles are so closely linked.
Black and brown liberation initiatives have long been aligned in U.S. history. A notable example of this is the partnership between the Black Panther Party and The Brown Beret Organization in the 1960s.
Both of these organizations, rooted in civil-rights-era California, sought liberation for their respective communities, and did so through community outreach and service. The core tenants of these groups mirrored one another, emphasizing freedom from their shared struggle under systemic oppression.
Today, we're seeing even more overlap between these common adversaries. "In terms of surveillance, Black communities have always been overly surveilled and that's what's happening now with immigration and enforcement," Eileen Díaz McConnell, a President's Professor in the School of Transborder Studies, said, also noting shared histories of labor exploitation, wage theft and general institutional mistreatment.
In examining how these policies have shaped relationships between the two communities, Díaz McConnell said, "There are a lot of things related to the structure of the economy in the United States in which there's been this pitting between immigrants and African Americans."
Instilling division between these groups through the myth of economic competition is a scapegoating tactic that benefits neither community and only gives power to institutions seeking to suppress labor solidarity. This idea goes beyond economic conflict and can be applied to the dissonance we’re seeing today.
"The power that we have in numbers and the power we have in being genuinely united, that is what can (ignite) change," Apodaca said.
On-campus student organizations like El Concilio and the Black African Coalition have joined in partnerships and aided in bridging this gap, sustaining the importance of connection between these groups.
According to Díaz McConnell, "Young people of color absolutely do see the value in coalition's moving forward. They are very overt about the necessity of that to make systemic change."
Oppressive systems require division in order to thrive. We’ve seen the work that can be done when coalitions organize, and I believe it can be done again.
I've seen what's happening now being described as a sort of trickle down effect, where the current crackdown is essentially an inevitable result of neglected issues that Black Americans have been speaking about and experiencing for decades. But in reality, nothing has trickled "down."
Black Americans are still targets, and choosing passivity and indifference will not protect us.
The violence we are witnessing is not isolated to any one group or race. In the past month alone we've watched this administration continuously move the line and blur the scope of their objectives. Under these circumstances, there is no room or time for inaction.
Edited by Leah Mesquita, Natalia Jarrett and Abigail Wilt. This story is part of The Love Issue, which was released on February 25, 2026. See the entire publication here.
Reach Keyanee Walls at kwalls6@asu.edu.
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Keyanee Walls is a magazine reporter at The State Press. She is a second year student at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School.
