Disrupting Discourses in Place

In June 2020, in my rust belt hometown in the rural Midwest, over 100 residents stood on the grounds of the county courthouse and protested for Black Lives Matter. When students arrived, the nature and space of the protest shifted. Latinx and White youth led chants, held signs, and geographically repositioned the protest away from the courthouse and closer to the street. This rural town is considered part of the new Latino diaspora (Hamann et al., 2002), a region nontraditionally associated with an increased Latinx population; here Latinx families represent almost 30% of the population. Latinx residents have been historically marginalized in this community, yet Latinx youth were the de facto leaders of this protest. This research problematizes deficit notions and assumptions of rurality as homogenous, conservative, and uneducated while centering the intersectionalities and literacy practices of youth as they co-construct space in anti-racist activism.