Q&A with activist Vicente "Panama" Alba

The organization “For a Better Bronx,” a community-based organization in the South Bronx, which fights to achieve environmental, social and food justice through education, community organizing, and empowerment held a special event earlier this year at St. Luke’s Church in the Bronx. That day, long-time activist Vicente “Panama” Alba was honored for many years of service to the organization and his commitment to people. Vicente has done it all in his many years of activism, including being a member of the influential Young Lords Party, which this weekend celebrates its 40th anniversary, and being a member of the underground group the F.A.L.N. (Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nationalista). He has fought against police brutality and against the war. He is an environmentalist. He was also active in the movement to get the Navy out of the Puerto Rican town of Vieques.
With the anniversary and reunion of the Young Lords, Alba reflects on his time with the organization and says it continues to shape his work as an activist.
Q: Let’s talk about the Young Lords. It’s been close to 40 years since they took over the church at 111th Street and Lexington Avenue. Why are the Young Lords still in the minds of people to this day?
A: As far as the history of my involvement, I am a proud former member of the Young Lords Party. That experience has paved the road I’ve been walking since.
Q: Should there be a memorial in this (NY) city despite their birth in Chicago, Illinois?
A: As far as should there be a memorial for the Young Lords, it needs to be clear that the great majority of us never thought that we were making history. That was not our motivation. We just loved our people, hated what we were being subjected to, and dreamed of a better world. Those are the things that drive me to do what I do to this day. We, without realizing it, did make history. All the credit is deserved by Cha Cha, Sal, Omar, and the women who turned a gang into a revolutionary force and inspired young people in NY and then other parts of the country to join. I have to say, though, I believe that if the YLO had not happened in Chicago and moved people here, something else after that would have been born here because the reality we demanded it. As far as a memorial, that is not for me to say.
Q: Richie Perez was in the Lords with you. Can you tell us a little about him? He once stated that being in the movement keeps you young and strong.
A: As for as Richie Perez, the fact that from amongst all the people who lived for our people, you ask me about him speaks for itself. I first met Richie as one of the fellows when I was a teenager. He was soon after a teacher at Monroe High School where I was registered, but never went. Richie along with Cleo Silvers were the two most influential people at that time in my life. They knew me as an out-of-control rebel and guided me to the path I’ve been on since I joined the YLP. Until his death, he was my brother, my friend, companero de lucha, and is today one on whose spirit I call on. Richie was one of the most caring and committed people I’ve been honored to have in my life. Probably the most brilliant person I have ever come across. He never asked others to do something he would not do himself.

The Young Lords celebrate its 40th anniversary and reunion Sunday with an event at the First Spanish Methodist Church aka "The People's Church" in East Harlem. -- Ismael Nunez

Ismael Nunez is a contributing writer to Puerto Rico Sun.

(photo by Ismael Nunez of Vicente "Panama" Alba, center, with his children at the Better Bronx event)
(Young Lords flier; click on image for larger text)

Theater

Borinquen Vive en El Barrio
(Borinquen Lives in El Barrio)

A Bilingual Play Written by Tere Martinez
Directed by Angel Morales

Sunday, August 10 @ 8 p.m.
East Side Amphitheater East River Park FDR at Grand Street, Manhattan

Tuesday, August 12; Thursday, August 14; Sunday, August 17 @ 8 p.m.
St. Mary's Park, St. Ann's Avenue at East 146th Street, Bronx

FREE

For more information, see the July 18 entry in this blog and/or visit
www.teatrostagefest.org.

Artist Spotlight: Fascious

Fascious Brings Hip Hop Theater to El Barrio

Anthony Martinez from the Bronx is a self-described “Hip-Hop Head” who is better known by his pseudonym Fascious. His mission is to promote Hip Hop Theater, telling and dramatizing what he calls the untold stories of the Hip Hop Generation.
Tonight you can catch Fascious in action when he performs his one-man Hip Hop Theater show “Penumbra” at Cemi Underground in NYC’s El Barrio.
Just like a poet, Fascious breaks down what every letter in his name represents.
“Each letter symbolizes several words beginning with that same letter, which collectively defines the essence of its meaning,” he says.

F is for the final fatal fights for freedom facing fickle fears frozen from finicky feelings forcefully fenced.
A is for the anticipation of Armageddon, awaiting are agents, apostles and after-life arrangements. Allocating Anthony Alphabetic acrobatics ascending authenticity…admire an angel’s anatomy
S is for the Schizophrenic suicidal side separated since Satan’s spectrum subsided significantly surpassing superstitions. Still some see sugar satisfying sacrificing self-sufficiency.
C is for the cascading colors confirming creativity concerning certain circumstances.
I is for the Ill ideas ignited instantly implying inconspicuous idioms I imprint inside my eyelids.
O is for the obvious, often-oblivious…opinions opposing our oval office oozing oil, omen orbits.
U is for the urgency underlying umbrellas uncovering underestimated ulcerations.
And the other S…that’s for serenity. Strings suppressing such severe solemn solutions.

While Fascious is rooted in the word “Fascist” which is known to have a negative connotation, he says, his name has a positive spin.
“As an adjective, the word Fascious contains flexibility with respect to meaning and allows more admittance to truth,” he says. “Fascious embodies the elements of one’s personality that permits militancy in advocating action over word as words are a means of action. In order for Fascious to gain power, he has to lead a movement and this movement begins…with music, poetry…the arts.”
Fascious is currently working with the Hip Hop Theater Festival, which aims to invigorate theater and Hip Hop by nurturing the creation of innovative work.
Hip Hop Theater, he says, serves as a way of bringing theater to young people from low-income and working class families who otherwise may not appreciate or patronize theater.
“How do you explain to a 14 year old kid whose father is in jail, whose mom is a drug addict, and who academically is on a 5th grade reading level that watching Hamlet is going to affect his life in a positive way? Hip Hop Theater seeks to address these and other such issues in a way that is tangible, multi-disciplinary, and overall engaging. It also seeks to preserve the art of live performance while promoting new work within the genres of Hip Hop and Theater through celebrating culture, community outreach and education.”
Fascious, who was born and raised in the Bronx near the Eastchester Projects, says that his childhood was not easy. Growing up he remembers that his father was in prison. He recalls the pressure to fall to the pits of drugs, gangs, and violence was “ infinitely overwhelming.”
But, he says, every struggle has proved to be an opportunity to grow and learn life lessons.
Luckily, he discovered his love of music early.
He remembers that it was in middle school when he decided to cultivate his passion for the Hip Hop art form.
“The first ‘rhyme’ or ‘lyric’ I ever wrote was in the hospital after hearing my grandfather’s last words delivered to me from his deathbed,” he recalls. “Writing became a way for me to facilitate my own therapy.”
His influences in Hip Hop range “from the socio-political elements that generated its initial movement to the words and rhythms of its poetry.”
Other influences include Hip Hop’s underground scene, salsa, merengue, boleros, funk, jazz, rock, gospel, and “pretty much anything I can get my hands on.”
“I like to keep my heart open and mind expanding,” he says.
His Bronx roots definitely influence his art.
“Bronx is the fertile mother in which birthed and served as the vessel for nurturing the founding movement of Hip Hop,” he says. “From DJ Kool Herc setting up block parties in 1973 and Afrika Bambaata advocating peace in the midst of gang wars and violence to Big Pun becoming the first Latin Hip Hop Artist to go platinum. The Bronx is a site of rich history and culture. Every block corner is an inspiration.”
Being a Puerto Rican from New York City is an inspiration too.
“As an individual living in New York City and of Puerto Rican descent, I take a lot of pride in representing both cultures,” he says. “But I especially stress learning the significance of my ancestral past.”
To learn more about Fascious, visit www.fascious.com. -- Clarisel Gonzalez

Pregones' Summer Tour

MIGRANTS! Cantata a los Emigrantes is a bilingual play with music celebrating the Puerto Rican men & women who first toiled to establish a thriving and diverse Latino community in New York and throughout the eastern United States.
MIGRANTS! Cantata a los Emigrantes is a collective creation of Pregones Theater (in the Bronx) and it draws from written and oral histories, lore and legend, and the memory of landmark writers like Luisa Capetillo (Mi opinión), Julia de Burgos (Canción de la verdad sencilla, El mar y tú), René Marqués (La carreta, Los soles truncos) and Clemente Soto Vélez (Caballo de palo, La tierra prometida).
Premiered in 1986 and heralded by critics & audiences alike, MIGRANTS! is now re-staged to commemorate 10 years of Pregones' free-admission Summer Stage Tour. Presented in Spanish & English.


Click on image for larger text and full lineup of performance dates and venues. The tour runs from July 31-Aug. 12.

For more information, go to www.pregones.org.

source: Pregones