Challenging Fascism with the “Revolutionary Reason and Force” of Black and Latinx Communities: Building Solidarity and Collective Action

• In Event: Building Coalitions of Solidarity: Humanizing Praxis, Indigenous Epistemologies and Education for Transformation

Abstract

Today’s white nationalist-fascist politics demand collective action. Black and Latinx communities in the U.S. comprise large constituents that would working together become a strong “revolutionary force and Reason” (Dunayevskaya, 1991). However, divisions among the Oppressed have been foundational to the exploitation and accumulation processes of a a white supremacist, colonial-capitalist patriarchy (Foster, 2025). The social conditions that allowed for and have maintained the system have led to multiple historical antagonisms between these two groups, as they vie for the limited resources (Fisher & Rouse, 2022; Go, 2021). In this paper we explore the historical tensions that have developed between Black and Latinx communities as a result of racial capitalism in the Los Angeles area and discuss the potential for collective action.
We draw primarily on the work of Marx’s (1961) and Freire’s (2021) to understand how antagonisms are manufactured between the Oppressed to develop and maintain a system centered on settler colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and capital accumulation. While a Marxist-humanist lens views these structures as co-constitutive, they also offer opportunities to develop to recognize their shared oppressions. These systems play out in specific ways at local levels. Stovall (2023) argues that conflicts are “engineered” through access and/or denial of resources. Yet, oppression often puts people in direct contact with others who are similarly oppressed (Marx, 1977), potentially leading to interactions, solidarity, and praxis Creating (Freire, 2018).
This position paper develops a theoretical argument using critical historical literature and examines existing conditions and programs from current news and web-based data sources. We analyze how slavery, migration, incarceration, the border patrol have affected Black and Latinx communities in the Los Angeles area, including job, education access, housing patterns, and voting trends, and the potential in understanding shared oppression and intersectionality.
Findings presented will include the historical conditions that maintained and support white, supremacy, settler-colonial capitalism, including the racing of the Chicanx community as white to keep non-whites from owning property but later kept the Chicanx community from benefitting from anti-segregations laws (Gonzalez, 2011). Although migration is necessary for empire (Walia, 2021), and Latinx deportations are related to U.S. exploitation in Latin America (Robinson, 2008), it is presented as criminals “taking our jobs and resources” that might support Black communities. That Latinx im/migrants push out Black neighborhood or create overcrowding is related to redlining and affordability.
Another finding discussed will be the monolithic identities constructed of Black and Latinx communities as inferior, criminal and unwelcome, impacting opportunities and exacerbating competition. Housing costs, lack of rent control, and gentrification have “engineered conflict” and develop the tendency to establish a “racial olympics” wherein oppression itself becomes a source of competition.
Despite tensions, there are various community projects and coalitions that bring together Black and Latinx peoples to engage in social justice work collectively and build communities of solidarity, healing and care. We will discuss two of these, Beloved Community and the Los Angeles Community Garden Council, and the humanizing pedagogies they have developed to build cohesive communities that work collectively to improve social conditions.

Authors

• Lilia D. Monzo, Chapman University

• Brittnie Ferguson, Chapman University