The awakening of the sleeping giant? An examination of the role of Ethnicity in the 2006 immigrant rights protests

• We examine survey data to assess opinions regarding the 2006 immigrant rights protests.
• We find that opinions and perceptions of the marches differ based on respondent ethnicity.
• Anglos were less likely to agree with the marches or that they would have a positive impact.
• Different factors drove opinions of the marches when the sample was disaggregated by ethnicity.
• Our findings indicate a possible limited effectiveness of Latino political activism.

Since the 1960s many have referred to the Latino community in the U.S. as a “Sleeping Giant.” Recent events including the 2012 presidential election demonstrate that Hispanics are engaged in social and political activism and we posit that this activism can be traced back to the 2006 immigrant rights demonstrations. However, this activism has yielded little success in terms of policy change. Using survey data gathered during a symposium on political activism and civic engagement in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex we employ regression models to examine the factors that influence the perceptions of Latino political activism and its impact. Our results demonstrate that ethnicity played a key role in how the marches were perceived. Further, we find that different variables drive perceptions about the marches for Hispanics and Caucasians, respectively. We conclude the study by discussing the impact of ethnicity in perceptions of political activism.