NUYORICAN MANIFESTO


las Artes which had an art gallery, dance studio, and resident plastic artists
who are now some of the most successful and best paid in Puerto Rico.
They had workshops for kids and the community. Those who were part of
this project look back and agree that it could have been so much more if it
had continued. The center was closed when Carlos went to jail after his
performance art defense for claiming to blow up a plane did not work in
federal court. A similar defense had worked in local courts for the Dorado
stunt he pulled off during the Republican national convention. Are we less
socially committed or have we learned from our predecessors?
 We do have our revolutionary heroes like Tito Kayak. A couple of years
ago, I took my salsa band to perform at a concert benefit for Tito's "projects"
at Goddard College in Vermont. Two weeks later he successfully pulled the
Statue of Liberty stunt. In a global sense, our struggles against "el tipo" are
part of anti-neoliberalism and anti-privatization movements.
 About a year ago, we had a poet revolt at the Nuyorican Cafe. Polito Huerta,
one of the greatest bass players in the history of Salsa, a founding collabora-
tor of the Cafe, and a not very subtle person, had complained to some poets
about the offensive nature of some of the language used towards women.
The poets thought that the comments had come from "the administration,"
thus breaking our non-censorship policy and all hell broke loose. The poets
even picketed outside the caf6 for several Sundays. This experience en-
couraged the poets, to this point only joined by being on the open mike list
together, to get organized as a cooperative and discuss many issues. We
discussed the incident with their representatives and pointed out that the
non-censorship policy not only applied to what the poets said, but also ap-
plied to how the community might respond to it. The poets are now discuss-
ing quality and content in their meetings and to some extent a self-legisla-
tion of the urban discourse has become part of the consciousness of the
slams, in a sense a politically correct urban discourse.
 So what is it that brings us together? Maybe it is not as important or
necessary for us to define ourselves ethnicly, or to dedicate our life to a
specific social cause. Furthermore we are working against a homogenous
definition and would appreciate anybody from anywhere who dedicate them-
selves to residing and working towards adding swing to our city.
 I think it is the understanding of the long-term work to be done and the
solidarity that all these projects in progress require. When a theater group
presents a play, or a musical project has a concert, there is an awareness of
having to be there. We sometimes refer to all those present as "co-conspira-
tors." We want to be defined by the product, the success, and the quality of
our collective works.
 Why do we identify ourselves as the Nuyorican Cafe? For many of us,
New York epitomizes the ultimate urban multicultural experience and the
nuyorican counter culture is our closest example of what we are trying to
achieve. Perhaps we are more like urbanoricans.