https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121420961135 Sociological Perspectives 1–18 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0731121420961135 journals.sagepub.com/home/spx Non-student “Cops Only See the Brown Skin, They Could Care Less Where It Originated”: Afro-Latinx Perceptions of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman 1 and Angelica Loblack 1 Abstract The increasing visibility of Afro-Latinxs in the United States has catalyzed interest among researchers about this group’s unique experiences of racialization. However, much less attention has been given to the relationship between Afro-Latinx identity formation and perceptions and/ or participation in social movements. Drawing on web-based survey data with 115 Afro-Latinxs, we examine how Afro-Latinxs view the Black Lives Matter Movement with a focus on the extent to which they perceive that this explicitly anti-racist movement is relevant to their own lives. We theoretically ground our analysis in research related to collective identity and group consciousness to explore how Afro-Latinxs’ unique understanding of their ethno-racial identity and group position impacts their participation in the movement. We find that overwhelmingly Afro-Latinx respondents believe they should participate in Black Lives Matter, but how they articulate their support sheds light on the diverse ways they position themselves vis-à-vis other Black-identified groups in the racial hierarchy. Keywords racial and ethnic minorities, Latina/o sociology, race, gender, class, Afro-Latinx, collective behavior and social movements Introduction On September 17, 2019 at a southeastern university in the United States, Ray Santana presented a riveting account of his wrongful conviction as part of the Central Park Five. Previous accounts of the Exonerated Five had emphasized Santana’s Afro-Latinx background and, in particular, how his paternal grandmother’s inability to speak English disadvantaged him in interactions with the police. (It was she who accompanied him to the police station to give his statement, and it is argued that because she spoke Spanish, she did not have a clear understanding of what was happening). Yet, Santana never mentioned the significance of his Latinx ethnicity as part of his 1 University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Corresponding Author: Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-9951, USA. Email: hordgefreema@usf.edu 961135SPX XX X 10.1177/0731121420961135Sociological PerspectivesHordge-Freeman and Loblack research-article 2020