In the late 1990s, Natalia left Puerto Rico for Orlando, Florida to end up in a situation she didn’t expect. The multinational corporation where she worked was treating its Latino employees unfairly and the state afforded them little protection from abuse.
Natalia (not her real name) said, “In reality, right to work [in Florida] only means you have a right to a job, but we don’t have a right to anything else.”
Natalia and a co-worker began organizing. While their unionization effort failed, their efforts improved working conditions, workplace safety and wages. It also led to a change in management.
Natalia was among 112 Latinas and Puerto Ricans in central Florida who took part in a study with Ariana Valle, an assistant professor of sociology at UC Davis, during the 2016 presidential election. These activists’ stories showed how they advocated for their communities in a region politically and racially hostile to Latinos. The study was recently published in the UC Press journal Aztlan.
“The women I highlight, amongst many others who were part of the study, really get involved to address the inequalities that they're experiencing but also to try to mobilize resources so that they can fill in the gaps in their communities,” said Valle.
A deep history of Latina activism
Valle points out that Latina activists have played a central role in U.S. social justice movements. Mexican American and immigrant women founded Mothers of East Los Angeles in 1985, which successfully organized against projects that would have perpetuated environmental racism in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights and the nearby city of Monterey Park.
Early activism from Central American women in the 1970s and 1980s established the foundation for prominent nonprofits, such as the Central American Research Center and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Their leadership in the Service Employees International Union’s “Justice for Janitors” organizing campaign helped to redefine justice as encompassing family, immigrant and women’s rights.
“Latino communities have been present in the U.S. for over a century,” said Valle, “and they have been very active in different forms of political participation. Women especially have been the drivers of grassroots activism, really fighting against inequalities in their local communities.”
In her interviews with Florida activists, Valle identified three key approaches the Florida activists used:
- Leveraging protected positionalities: For some, U.S. citizenship was a source of empowerment and a means to advocate for others.
- Bridging resources, experiences and strategies: Combining individual experience and skills, such as community organizing, with resources, such as having a higher education or professional networks, to meet community needs.
- Recognizing contextualized knowledge for inclusive coalition building: Stressing the importance of local knowledge and participation when collaborating with organizations from outside the community.
Today, Latino communities in central Florida face many of the same challenges they did in 2016. These include the same lack of resources as well as an increased threat of violence, indefinite detention and outright removal.
However, in 2016, some of the study’s respondents told Valle about being threatened with calls to immigration authorities by white neighbors. They also talked about how state leaders would refer to Latino immigrants and Puerto Ricans as criminals who shouldn’t have the right to vote.
“Florida really provides a microcosm of what the U.S. is today,” said Valle. “Its history parallels the broader racialization of Latinos as undesired immigrants and removable that has happened in the U.S. since then.”
Applying lessons from Latina advocacy today
Since 2016, the Florida government has implemented statewide policies targeting immigrants and other minority groups. These include SB 1718, which criminalizes the transportation of individuals into Florida who may have entered the country without federal inspection. The state’s recent redistricting efforts have been described as partisan gerrymandering that disenfranchises voters based on their race.
Latino communities in California have also experienced hostility and discrimination despite their presence dating back generations before the state was admitted to the U.S. in 1850.
Valle said that activists’ successes, despite the hostility against them and their communities, shows that taking action can still drive change, even if it’s a complicated process, and even though the work is unpaid.
“There could be moments of tension or frustration, but they're still able to engage in solidarity politics,” said Valle. “It’s very time consuming, but their drive to fight social inequalities, and doing it together, I think is really inspiring.”
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