“Flowers From the Same Soil”

Abstract

This article examines the effects of collective action on the development of Latino ethnic solidarity among immigrant, naturalized, and U.S.-born Latinos. The article reveals how ethnic solidarity came about from the perspective and with the help of grassroots organizers who coordinated the 2006 immigrant rights mobilizations. Through 55 interviews with grassroots organizers from immigrant and Latino rights groups, elected officials, and union and religious leaders throughout Colorado, it is shown that the immigrant rights marches strengthened a sense of ethnic solidarity among immigrant and native-born Latinos as the latter came to realize that they, too, were becoming targets of anti-immigrant rhetoric that became more pervasive in the midst of the immigration debate. The interview data show that the renewed sense of ethnic solidarity served to foment support for collective action. By building on prior work addressing the determinants of ethnic solidarity and collective action, these findings reveal the potential for organizers and political leaders to emphasize common goals among Latinos rather than ethnic, political, and class-based cleavages that are often the topic of political discourse.