Artesanos at El Museo del Barrio - September 17, 2011

On Saturday, September 17th, 2011 almost a dozen Boricua artesanos and book vendors set up shop along Fifth Avenue to promote and sell their crafts. The public act of free expression attracted hundreds of pedestrians en route to El Museo del Barrio's day-long "Super Sabado" extravaganza - thus lending a uniquely Puerto Rican touch to the festivities. More photos here.

DC Melissa, Yolanda and Julia de Burgos - Rumble in El Barrio?

Note: There has been some controversy for some time over charges of the mismanagement of the city-owned building housing the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in Manhattan's East Harlem. In a highly controversial move, alleging mismanagement by Taller Boricua, New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverto intervened to change the management of the center working through the city's Economic Development Agency. This has caused major divisions in El Barrio's artistic community. The latest flare-up is reported below by El Diario columnist Gerson Borrero over allegations that the Councilwoman disrespected elder community leader Yolanda Sanchez at a recent meeting (in which Ms. Sanchez was not present).

Yolanda Sanchez, 78 years old, is an institution in the Latino community who has spent over thirty years in the development and management of diverse human services. She serves as the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs and is President of the National Latinas Caucus, past president of the East Harlem Council for Human Services and former director of the CUNY Office of Puerto Rican Program Development. Ms. Sanchez is a former National Urban Fellow and a graduate of Harvard University's School of Business, and holds an MSW degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Social Work.

Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was elected to the City Council in January 2006 to serve as Council Member for the 8th Council District. She is the first Puerto Rican woman and Latina elected to represent her district. During her first term, Melissa has sponsored several local laws to address tenant harassment and promote construction safety. Prior to her election to the City Council, the Councilwoman worked for the 1199 SEIU New York's Health Care Union, as well as several community organizations and political campaigns. Besides her professional life, Melissa has been very active in community affairs, founding Women of El Barrio-an organization that promotes the development of women as leaders in the economic, political and social life of their community.

Angelo Falcón
National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP)

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BAJO FUEGO
Row over Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in El Barrio
By Gerson Borrero | Bajofuego@eldiariony.com
El Diario-La Prensa (March 2, 2011)

Translated from Spanish by NiLP

In a two-page letter, the Board of Directors of Casabe Houses accuses New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito of having insulted and threatened them during a meeting in her office in Manhattan in what was intended to be a discussion about the future of the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center.

As highlighted by the February 24 letter, signed by Frank Quiles in his capacity as president of the organization that provides housing and services to the elderly, Mark-Viverito "used the occasion to talk rudely of Yolanda Sánchez , who is a member of our Board and one of the most respected leaders of the Puerto Rican and Latino community of New York City over the past thirty years. "

Beyond the bickering that provoked the letter, it was signed by nine other members of the Board, including Ms. Sanchez, and accused of the City Councilwomen of the 8th District of telling them, "I've already made the decision," to support another group to take charge of the Cultural Center, which has been allegedly mismanaged by the current managers.

"They never approached me and did not let me know of their interest" said Mark-Viverito as she thundered against what she considered a lack of respect. According to the Councilwoman, "They came to the meeting with the intention of an ambush and trying to tarnish my reputation."

After calming down, Mark-Viverito in a telephone conversation admitted that she did tell them, "My support has already been given to another organization." However, she denied that she threatened them or insulted Ms. Sanchez.

"I was firm in my tone," said Mark-Viverito, who added, "I am a human being." She assured us that there will be a formal response to the group.

To all this we assume that once the Hispanic Federation, the theater group Pregones, Los Pleneros de la 21 and the Puerto Rican Travelling Theatre saw this aired in public, they will re-evaluate their participation in the Mark-Viverito coalition created to assume direction of the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center.

"Yolanda is 78 and Melissa, who is not even of El Barrio, disrespected her," said one activist who asked not to be identified but who is bothered by this rumor. Be seen as making the city agency, Economic Development Corporation, who could receive a formal complaint about what was supposed to come from the mayor. All pending.

"I was firm in my tone," said Mark-Viverito, who added, "I am a human being." The official assured us that there will be a formal response to the group.

To all this we assume that once the Hispanic Federation, the theater group Pregones, Los Pleneros de la 21 and the Puerto Rican Travelling Theatre to see this aired in public, re-evaluate their participation in the Mark-Viverito coalition created to assume direction of Julia de Burgos. "Yolanda is 78 and Melissa, who is not even in El Barrio, disrespected," said one activist who asked not to be identified but who is bothered by the already rumored on the street. We are waiting to see what the city agency, the Economic Development Corporation, who could receive a formal complaint about what the Councilwoman is planning. Let's wait and see.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In Search of "flamboyant Language"
By Albert Medina
El Diario-La Prensa (4 de marzo 2011)
Translated from Spanish by Albert Medina

In an article on 2 March in El Diario/La Prensa, Gerson Borrero commented on a letter received from Frank Quiles in the name of the organization over which he presided, saying that Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito had commented "in showy language" against Yolanda Sanchez."

What were those flamboyant words?

He also wrote that an activist - not named - had told him that Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito -was not from El Barrio! (the neighborhood) What Puerto Rican is not from El Barrio? Even those born in the United States.

Celia Ramirez, who represents East River North Renewal HDFC, should also have been mentioned when he listed the organizations participating in the coalition supported by Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito.

The values and material objects that make up a shared way of life: the intangible creations of human society; and the products which emerged out of the interactions of people - within the limitations of the then geographic boundaries that encompassed El Barrio, NY - is not something to be glossed over lightly.

Albert Medina
East River North Renewal
212-427-3130

Community Organizing will Save our Youth

The sixteen page report released by the Community Service Society in early November on Latino Youth in New York City is cause for alarm in all Latino neighborhoods, especially in the Puerto Rican community.

Puerto Rican youth who are concentrated in the poorest areas of this wealthy metropolis are among the most deprived, the most unemployed, and the least academically educated according to the report. This is not news to Puerto Rican political activists who have been involved in some form of community organizing in past years. They have long said the schools are failing too many of our youth and crippling their ability to compete in the changing labor market. Most disturbing is the benumbing of poor youths’ ability to critically perceive and comprehend their reality as the first step in changing it. This, their elders must help them do through the struggle for social change and justice.

The report describes an emergency situation that demands immediate intervention by government, non-governmental organizations, and private citizens. Many in our community who have left our neighborhoods are returning. Some of us have never left but have chosen to focus on specific objects of interest. We must take the time to engage our youth in a dialogue about their reality at their level and where they live or hangout. This outreach will have a positive impact on all communities of color and by extension the entire city because it will set a different tone and approach to tackling the challenges we encounter.

The report asserts that Puerto Rican youth are the most disadvantaged group in the city. The tide that elevates Puerto Rican youth will elevate the youth of all impoverished communities navigating in a similar reality. The tide I speak of is an informal educational process through everyday community organizing. We all must become community organizers. Community organizing is simply the process by which people come together to identify common problems, articulate an affirmative vision of the future, and set the short and long-term problem-solving objectives to be achieved.

In this context we need to recognize that youth living in poverty are oppressed human beings. They are unjustifiably frisked on the street by police. They are perceived with low expectations by a broken public school system. They are treated with suspicion by the local merchants. And they must constantly strategize about how to avoid, prevent, or sometimes commit violence in a world of force and deception in which they live. This is the reality of oppression; a reality our poor inner city youth face daily. How can this not cause our youth a sense of self-depreciation; a perception projected onto them by those who oppress.

It will be only when our youth discover the source of their oppression and begin to struggle to free themselves from it that they will start to believe in themselves. This is what community organizing and empowerment is all about. It is a life-long process of teaching, learning, and acting to change the world as we know it. There are efforts taking place around the city where young people are in fact organizing for themselves, demanding a better future for themselves and their community. But it is not to the scale and depth that’s needed. Our youth, our children are hard pressed. We have no time to lose.

Zoilo Torres
November 9, 2010

Spanish version: "Organización salvará a nuestra juventud" (Zoilo Torres, El Diario-La Prensa, 13 Noviembre, 2010)

See also: "La condición colonial de los puertorriqueños" (Olga I. Sanabria Dávila, El Diario-La Prensa, 2 Noviembre, 2010)

Latina leaders speak up for Puerto Rican youth

Puerto Rican Civil Rights Groups, Community Leaders and mothers call on NYS and NYC Government candidates and leaders to address Puerto Rican disparities.

New York, NY (October 31, 2010) - On the eve of Tuesday's election, Puerto Rican civil rights groups, elected officials, community leaders and mothers gathered on the City Hall steps today to demand that the gubernatorial candidates outline strategies to direct resources and decrease the economic and social disparities besetting New York City's Puerto Rican youth.

Organizers also called on Mayor Bloomberg to charge his Administration to work with community leaders to grapple with these problems. On Friday, October 29th, The New York Times announced the pending release of a report by the Community Service Society, which reveals that, across a variety of indicators from employment and poverty, to education and health statistics, Puerto Rican youth, 16 to 24 years old, are the most disadvantaged of all ethnic groups in New York City.

"The Puerto Rican Community has contributed greatly to this City - we have opened the door for countless Latinos from all over the world, but we find ourselves still holding the door," said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE (United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park), Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization. "The needs of our youth and community require particular attention. We call on the gubernatorial candidates to tell Puerto Rican New Yorkers how they will work with community leaders to reduce the unacceptable economic disparities confronting Puerto Ricans."

"We stand with our Puerto Rican young people. It is disheartening to me that the children of New York City's oldest Latino community have been forgotten. Because of Puerto Ricans' unique status as both U.S. citizens and immigrants at the same time, Puerto Rican youth experience a unique set of concerns related to self-identity, migration, access to services, and other issues," said Iris Morales, long-time educator and community activist.

Source: Elizabeth C. Yeampierre.

The Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center: Art, Transformation, and Political Muscle

Council Member Mark-Viverito's campaign to "reform" a sizeable portion of cultural programming space in a city-owned building has accelerated into a full-blown, East Harlem-style political brawl.

On September 30th, the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), on behalf of the Council Member, issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to rent, operate and maintain 8,000 square feet of public space in the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. (The area in question involves a 2,800 square foot, ground-floor community event space with two 560-square-foot adjoining rooms, and a second floor 4,300 square foot, 160-seat theater.)

The initial explanation for the RFEI, as presented to East Harlem residents in early meetings, was that the ground floor community space and second floor theater would now be overseen by a single leaseholder – one with sufficient means to resolve soundproofing and other technical problems preventing simultaneous renting of the event spaces.

The City’s action drew immediate opposition from the current leaseholder of the ground floor space, Taller Boricua/Puerto Rican Workshop. Though they will continue to maintain their own gallery, office and classroom space elsewhere in the building, members and supporters of the organization have vociferously contested the RFEI citing financial hardship, lack of due process, and general disregard for their role as founders of the famed institution. Taller then embarked on an ambitious petition campaign gathering over 1,000 print and online signatures calling for the process to be halted in favor of mediation.

During an October 4th “visioning” discussion on proposed uses for the community space held at the SCAN/La Guardia Senior Center, Council Member Mark-Viverito acknowledged her role in initiating the RFEI. Citing ongoing concerns about a lack of access to the public space and inequitable rental practices on the part of Taller Boricua, The Council Member defended the RFEI as an opportunity for a “new generation” of local – specifically Puerto Rican – artists and cultural institutions to revitalize the arts community in East Harlem.

While members of the Council Member’s District 8 Youth Council and other, similarly affiliated local residents have indeed expressed their support for the RFEI at public meetings, no East Harlem artists or cultural organizations have openly indicated their intent to apply for the lease. Such ambiguity has given rise to confusion and speculation about the possibility of outside and/or non-Latino-based organizations being brought in to oversee the community space.

On October 13th, EDC granted prospective applicants to the Requests for Expressions of Interest an “information session and tour" of the newly available space, at which no local organization with sufficient qualification for the City’s approval as a leaseholder was present.

Supporters of the RFEI continue to insist that the action should not be seen as an attack on Taller Boricua as they have “every right” to re-apply as leaseholder. Such proclamations seem disingenuous, however, given the concurrent condemnations of the founders’ “sexist” and “corrupt” practices.

Quite a number of local organizations, artists and activists have refused to be drawn into the whole affair, citing the Council Member's acknowledgment that she has held discussions about “management problems at the Julia” for over three years (though none with Taller Boricua directly), as an indication that the process is a “farce” and that new tenants have likely been already designated.

Community Board 11 has also weighed in on the matter. In a September 23rd letter to EDC Chairmen Seth Pinsky, Chairman Matthew Washington inquired why the Board had not been included as a participant in the development of the RFEI (as was the case with similar solicitations involving city-owned spaces such as La Marqueta and the 125th Street Firehouse). On October 19th, the Board voted 26 in favor, 6 opposed, with 4 abstentions that a letter be sent requesting, among other things, that the City rescind the RFEI, that EDC communicate specific concerns regarding Taller Boricua’s management of the multipurpose room and allow them an opportunity to take corrective actions, and that City funds be provided for soundproofing and other capital improvements.

Nonetheless, officials maintain that the RFEI will help “better serve the surrounding community by providing classes, workshops, studio and performance space to neighborhood artists and residents … for use by theater, music and art cultural groups.” Others, however, question the need for such drastic action suggesting that East Harlem might be better served by challenging the City’s refusal to assign the entire building to arts organizations. (In addition to Taller Boricua, the only other cultural tenants are the Puerto Rican Travelling Theatre's Raul Julia Training Unit and Los Pleneros de la 21. The largest segment of floor space in the building is leased to the Heritage High School.)

Especially troubling to some is the language in EDC President Seth Pinsky’s September 29th response to Community Board 11 in which he writes “NYEDC will assess the feasibility for further activating the space pursuant to this original vision.” Pinsky’s choice of words is perceived by them as a clear signal that “the future of the entire building may very well be at stake.”

Other unvested parties are even more concerned with the City’s abandonment and disinvestment in much of the neighborhood’s vacant and underutilized cultural real estate and see the historical pattern as the more important issue. The consensus among these parties is that there already exists more than enough designated space that, with proper support and genuine opportunity, could meet the needs of every cultural organization and artist in East Harlem. “If we lose this building, there go the rest,” opines one artist.

The neighborhood conflict has generated a steady stream of newspaper articles, blog editorials, and a particularly disturbing, COINTELPRO-like, barrage of anonymous emails inciting readers to take legal action against Taller Boricua for alleged financial improprieties.

Not surprising, none of the “righteous” citizens involved in this latest form of mud-slinging have had the courage to openly air their charges. Neither has the Council Member chosen to repudiate these actions. If such allegations were of serious concern to her, an official (pre-RFEI) investigation by Mark-Viverito might have saved a lot of time and trouble and embarrassment to the East Harlem community.

Instead, hurtful insults are now routinely being traded between local artists/activists and supporters of the Council Member at community meetings and events. Many have received late-night phone calls and unsolicited emails and text messages, mostly pressuring recipients to support the changes.

Some have also been personally slandered, threatened with political and financial retaliation, and publicly lambasted as "cowards" and "crazy" for simply refusing to participate in such a poorly handled, political disaster.

While the damage that has resulted can never be undone, there is still an opportunity for progressive resolution and an end to the "madness."

The deadline for submissions the EDC is November 17th. To be continued…

Click here to learn more.

Street Talk: Public Art in East Harlem

Members of El Puerto Rican Embassy Conduct Art & Cultural Action Against Censorship and Repression in Puerto Rico @ Pedro Pietri Mural

A 'Hood By Any Other Name?

Rafael Merino comments on "The South Bronx, and Proudly" by David Gonzalez of The New York Times.

In a media-centric society, branding has become everything. It is scary to see how a small group of shortsighted individuals can sway the masses, or at least give it a good try.

Here, in El Barrio/ Spanish Harlem, we’re fighting a very similar battle. Although the generic moniker of “East Harlem” has gained more ground than “Downtown Bronx,” El Barrio and Spanish Harlem designations are well respected, engraved in a large amount of small businesses, defended by local politicians and civic groups, and immortalized in popular culture. How do you turn your back on that? Some have tried. Yes, there was a “SpaHa” café that opened up once — they didn’t last a year. A feeble attempt to vandalize our neighborhood with an “Upper Yorkville” mark was met with immediate and almost violent reaction.

Congressman Serrano was right about respecting the roots, struggle and unabridged history of a community — or person; embracing the complete story is what builds character — and brand name recognition. And to poor and working communities that don’t have much in the way of real ownership of land, these names and symbols create an important physiological bond to the closest thing we can call “home.”

Puerto Rico is a larger example of that. It may be a colonial possession; the people’s will to incorporate into the global economy may be curtailed by the US government; their soldiers keep getting killed even though they can’t vote for their Commander-in-Chief; and they have no real voice in the same US Congress that controls their destiny; but mess with their flag and you’re gonna get cut.

You build on that kind of passion, you don’t paint over it.

— Rafael Merino, NY Latino Journal