ReflexionesPedago´gicas NO LONGER SILENT: A HISTORICAL MOMENT OF LATINO STUDENT ACTIVISM Brian Montes University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Alvin Toffler On the 13th of November 2002, in a forum designed to discuss the erection of a plaque commemorating Oscar Lewis’ ‘‘culture of poverty’’ thesis, the words of a select group of professors, both tenured and emeritus, struck a chord. As a Latino student tried to voice his discomfort with the ‘‘culture of poverty’’ thesis, an anthropology professor candidly remarked, ‘‘What? I don’t get ityI really don’t see a problem with it.’’ Being of Puerto Rican descent, the student saw the forum as an appropriate setting to convey the personal displacement he felt and express the angst brought on by the commemorative plaque. ‘‘It’s inherently racist,’’ he firmly stated, ‘‘and choosing to commemorate Lewis’ legacy by honoring the ‘culture of poverty’ is a form of institutional racism.’’ For the next hour faculty and students argued over the offensiveness of Lewis’ ‘‘culture of poverty’’ thesis. For a number of the faculty present, the plaque was simply the recognition of an objective supposition based on innovative anthropological methods. However, for a small cohort of Latino students from a variety of nationalities (Puerto Rican, Cuban-Dominican and Mexican-American), a plaque honoring the ‘‘culture of poverty’’ served not only as a reminder of the racialization they experienced politically and academically, but also of the exclusion and isolation they experienced within the anthropology department at their university. By the end of the forum, it was apparent that the opinions of Latino students would not merit recognition. Latino Studies 2005, 3, (280–287)  c 2005 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1476-3435/05 $30.00 www.palgrave-journals.com/lst