Is unity durable among people of color? Two large experiments stress-testing solidarity between Black and Latino Americans

Research consistently finds that shared experiences of discrimination among people of color (PoC) increase interminority solidarity, which in turn fosters strong support for pro-outgroup policies. However, the durability of solidarity’s effects in political contexts remains underexplored. This gap stems from limited theoretical frameworks and research designs that account for the cross-cutting messages PoC encounter regarding interminority relations in the real world. Guided by the competitive victimhood model, we hypothesized that divisive messages activating zero-sum thinking would diminish solidarity’s downstream impact on political opinions. Using two preregistered blockage experiments with Black adults—the prototypical PoC—we find that boosting solidarity via shared discrimination ( d = 0.40) is followed by a reduction in its political influence when exposed to divisive narratives ( d = 0.10). A preregistered meta-analysis confirms this reduction is small but reliable, indicating that solidarity’s effects are largely resistant to divisive threats.