The Taco Bell Incident: A Critical Race Theory Historical Analysis of Institutionalized Racism and Latina/o/x Student Activism

• In Event: Cultivating Institutional Responses for Latinx College Students to Thrive

Abstract

When a Latinx student organization presented a proposal to fund their Parents Weekend event to the student government, the racist responses from the White student senators sparked a protest campaign that united students of color at Indiana University. Students openly challenged students, administrators, and university policies that maintained White supremacy, and demanded for their offending peers to be held accountable. This historical study tells the story of Latina/o/x activists at Indiana University in 1993; and by the use of critical race theory as a theoretical framework, reveals the embedded institutional racism in policies, institutional responses, and reactions from administrators and the student body that insisted on maintaining White comfort.

Author

• Ebelia Hernandez, Rutgers University