Latino USA; No. 3; 1993-11-05

This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. I'm Maria Hinojosa today on Latino USA, using the day of the dead holiday to focus on issues affecting the living. It's one thing to read and learn and look at cultural traditions, but it's another thing to make them very personal, to make them hit home. Also, election results and analysis, salsa jazzman Eddie Palmieri and a commentary from the streets walking home from school. I saw that crime did pay just like in the movies, the neighborhood dealers that cars girls money and respect things. I wanted this and more coming up on Latino USA. But First Class Noticias, this is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. Voters in New York City have elected by the narrowest of margins,

Republican Rudolph Giuliani as their new mayor. Mandalit del Barco reports. The majority of Latinos cast their ballots for the losing candidate, incumbent Mayor David Dinkins. The city's Latinos, whom both candidates headquartered as the key swing vote, once again voted overwhelmingly for Dinkins. 60 percent of the Latino votes went for Dinkins, and many said they'd wanted to give another chance to the city's first African-American mayor. But the numbers just weren't high enough. Dinkins urged his supporters to respect the decision of those who voted for Giuliani. Giuliani also had a message to those voters. What I think we both want to say to the people of this city is that it doesn't matter for whom you voted, whether you voted for me for David Dinkins or you decided not to vote or you voted for any of the other candidates. Today, we're all New Yorkers. A federal investigation is underway to look into charges by Mayor Dinkins of dirty tricks by Giuliani supporters. Dinkins told of intimidating posters seen around the largely Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights, warning voters that poll watchers would be

checking voters passports, charges Giuliani has denied for Latino USA. Mandalit del Barco in New York. In Miami's mayoral race, candidates Miriam Alonso and Steve Clark face a November 9th runoff. And as Melissa Mancini reports from Miami, voting there broke down largely along ethnic lines. Former Metro Mayor Steve Clark dominated in white, non Hispanic areas and also won a sizable share of young Hispanic votes. Challenger Miriam Alonzo took two votes for every ballot captured by a clerk in Miami's Hispanic areas. However, Alonzo trailed Clark by big margins in non Hispanic neighborhoods, winning less than 15 percent of the vote. For the past two decades, Miami's mayor's job has been held by a Hispanic. A fact the Cuba born Alonzo has repeated in Spanish language radio broadcasts. During Election Day radio appearances, Alonzo exhorted Cuban voters to keep the mayor's office in their hands. Those appeals apparently succeeded in Miami's Little Havana community, where voters

turned out in greater numbers than in other neighborhoods. However, it remains to be seen if Alonzo can broaden her base for the November 9th runoff. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami. Voters in Hialeah, Florida, meanwhile, will also vote in a runoff election between State Representative Neela Hooty and suspended City Mayor Raul Martinez. Martinez was convicted two years ago on corruption charges and suspended from his post by Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles. In California, voters turned back by a two to one margin, a proposition which would have given 26 state government dollars to students enrolling in the private schools. Most Latino education organizations had opposed the controversial school voucher initiative from Austin, Texas. This is news from Latino USA. You're not here to argue for now, but we're here to find out what Naftogaz do about illegal immigration. But I don't think the argument is the seemingly never ending debate surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement continues as Congress gears up for a mid-November vote

at a congressional hearing chaired by Democrat Romano Mazzoli of Kentucky. The treaty's critics claim NAFTA doesn't do enough to limit unlawful immigration to decide whether the has more. Mazola and other members of his immigration subcommittee are not convinced that the treaty will be able to control unlawful entry into the United States by providing jobs in Mexico, as those who support the treaty have argued. However, there are those who believe that some in Congress are using the NAFTA debate as an excuse to jump on the anti-immigration bandwagon. Among them is immigration policy analyst Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza. Yeah, NAFTA is the best policy proposal we've seen in decades, which has a chance of controlling long term migration. What those folks are engaged in is short term strategies to try and bring attention to themselves on the immigration control issue. There's a lot of that going around. The latest head count by the bipartisan leadership shows proponents of NAFTA need at least 48 additional votes for final passage for Latino USA. Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

Teachers in Puerto Rico are out on strike to protest a. A voucher program which they say jeopardizes the island's public education system and residents of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques are also protesting. The U.S. Navy, which controls two thirds of the tiny island, reportedly dropped several bombs near a residential area. Now residents are asking President Clinton to put the naval bases on Vieques on his list of base closures, preferably if they were just close the bases on this island, period. But priority stop bombing exercises on this island. Marina Pagan of the Committee for the Rescue of Vieques. And Maria Martin, you're listening to Latino USA. I'm Maria Hinojosa. The Latino vote had been predicted to play a significant role in recent mayoral elections in two major U.S.

cities, New York, where Republican Rudolph Giuliani defeated the city's first African-American mayor, David Dinkins, in a very close race. And Miami, where Cuban born city commissioner Miriam Alonso will face former Mayor Steve Clark in a runoff on November 9th. With us to talk about these elections and the role of the Latino vote, our political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York. And from Miami, even Roman, a reporter for El Nuevo Herald in many of those welcome. Let's take a look at the numbers in these two races and where the Latino vote went and what difference it made, if at all. Let's look at Miami first. What happened in Miami? Well, first of all, in Miami, the Hispanics are a majority of the vote. So regardless of what happens with Hispanics, they are to play a major role. Interestingly enough, what you had was a race between Commissioner William Alonso, who is Cuban and an Anglo former Miami mayor, Steve Clark. The vote was split among Hispanics, 60 percent for Elian, some 40 percent for

Clark. And there are many reasons for that. Some analysts attribute a generational gap because medium Alonso resorted to shrill ethnic appeals in the last week that they say the younger generation and exit polls show that the younger generation of Cubans and Cuban-Americans reject. So there you have an interesting dynamic in which you have Hispanics and mostly Cubans who are splitting their vote and not necessarily voting Cuban, which is what the older time and the older Cubans tend to do. Hmm. Now, in New York, Herson, the Latino vote was talked about for a very long time as being the swing vote didn't, in fact, make the difference for getting Republican Giuliani into office this time around. Well, the Latino vote came out and dance, but it certainly didn't swing. It didn't move anybody. It really had no impact, as far as I can tell, from the figures that have come out. We did come out at around 20 percent of the electorate. And it indicates to me that, however, it was crucial to maintaining Dinkins dignified loss.

He got 60 percent of the vote. Mayor Dinkins, the incumbent, as opposed to Republican Rudolph Giuliani, who got around 38 percent of the Latino vote, which is less than what he expected. Certainly Latino vote in New York City turned out along the party lines, and that is being Democrats. The majority of the vote here in New York City from the Latino population are, of course, from Puerto Ricans. And just as blacks did, they voted along Democratic lines. Even the interesting thing about Miami is that there is this generational split where you have younger Cubans going for the non Cuban candidate and you have the older Cubans going for the Cuban candidate. This shows a lot about the complexity of the Latino in this particular case of the Latino Cuban vote. Do you think that people are picking up on that down in Miami? Definitely so. And not only the I mean, you could say there's a generational divide in which younger Cubans, for instance, would not go for these ethnic appeals that have been so common here in politics.

Well, what kind of appeals are. Well, like basically William Alonso and every Cuban politician you can think of was on the radio saying this seat belongs to us. We can't let the seat slip out of our hands. And one thing is to say that we deserve representation with the majority. And another thing is to say that the seat belongs to us, because that was the kind of message that was rejected by Puerto Ricans and Nicaraguans who were saying, wait a minute, you're excluding everybody else. Why should I vote for somebody who is going to be so, so exclusive to both of you, agree with the conventional wisdom that's being talked about, that this election was very bad news for the Clinton administration and for the Democrats in general? Or are you a little bit more skeptical? I don't agree with it. I think that this has nothing to do with the Clinton presidency. It's too early on in his administration. This is only his 10th month in office. We have to remember that neither Whitman in New Jersey or Giuliani in New York received a mandate. It was only two percent in each instance.

So there is clearly it's not a mandate anywhere. I think people looked at the local issues and certainly our community voted as such. I mean, you can stretch this and say that Clinton did have an effect in the Latino community. Listen to the president. So that argument could be made also in Miami. That doesn't really apply because the race is not a partizan race. The dynamic happening here is mostly an anti incumbency type of thing where voters tend to reject people who had either been at city hall before or who are currently in city hall in favor of some newcomers that are giving them a struggle in the runoff next week. So here we have a different situation. Well, thank you very much for joining us, political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York and Evandro, man of in Nuevo Herald. In Miami, which is gracias. In the 90s, death for many in this country's Latino communities comes

too early, often is the result of preventable causes like gang and gun violence and AIDS to call attention to this. Some community groups are using the traditions of El DIA de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead, a centuries old ritual commemorating friends and family who've passed on as a springboard for social messages from Austin, Texas, Latino USA. As Maria Martin prepared this report, we have in this particular room altars that have been built by people. Members of the community is at an East Austin community center in the heart of the city's Mexican-American barrio. Diana Gurum of the AIDS outreach group Informing Seether shows a visitor around an exhibit of altars created to honor those who passed on in the tradition celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The structures are colorful, with flowers and photographs, candles, ribbons and incense. But some altars also have nontraditional decorations, like

condoms and antedates messages. This one was also built by a volunteer of information who also lost her brother to AIDS in Houston. She and her brother were very, very close to the altar. Exhibit in Austin isn't the only effort linking the traditional Mexican holiday to the reality of a growing cause of death in the Latino community, where AIDS is now the leading killer of young Hispanic men and the third leading cause of death among Latinas ages 25 to 44, San Antonio artist Davidson says does the performance PS4 and the other tomatoes called When LA Really Died or Tales of Reality, which tells of a painful death from AIDS of his friend Jesse. It is time for the Angels to take you away to a different place. Another time in the piece, Samora Casas tries to make a connection between his loss to AIDS and all of the other losses, individual and collective,

which may have been suffered by those in the audience. So I try to use things that that bring people down to a very fundamental basic level and related to situations that I've encountered dealing with homophobia within a family. That Chicano son has AIDS in these these families kind of like don't know how to react because of all the machismo and stereotypes and all the all the baggage that we've carried on from our childhood. We've got to to nurture and educate each other the traditions associated with the other. Los Muertos, according to AIDS educator Diana Gurum, provide an opportune forum in which to bring up difficult issues, ones often veiled in secrecy and denial. There are mothers, for example, who go to the priest and say, please don't let any of the community know that this is what's killing my son. That's what my son died of. And so what we try to do in this particular event is to break that silence. Good morning and welcome to the Culture Wars Present The Day

of the Dead in a warehouse housing an alternative high school called the Creative Rapid Learning Center, a diverse group of young people, white, black and Latino, all wearing the other T T-shirts, perform a series of skits which come from their own experiences with death and loss of family and friends. Hey, and where you are right now, I miss you. There are so many things that I want to learn from you. I've changed a lot since the kids who make up this theater group call themselves the Cultural Warriors. Many of them had dropped out of school before coming to the Creative Rapid Learning Center as part of a writing project two years ago, they were asked to write letters to deceased friends and family members as a way to complete unfinished business. Cast member Jan Gonzalez says that project, which eventually led to a whole series of skits dealing with a range of issues affecting young people from AIDS to drugs to racism, has helped him to

cope with the pain of loss. Well, it kind of helps us out bringing that kind of stuff out in the open, you know, instead of just keeping it inside. Like you heard, when they're in Big Mixin, they're saying about this guy that had died in a car crash. That was my friend. So and so it's been up to our legs lying around, you know, the last little bit away, huh? Yeah, like hanging up a stick to the bones right here in this scene. A group of the kids visit the cemetery on the night of the Los Muertos, as is the tradition in Mexico. The kids say these presentations allow them to look at both life and death in a more positive way. Metropolitan America or cosmopolitan America does not like to talk about that is something you whisper about, you don't talk about it and we're the good people. We like to put things bluntly, everything passion feels is 19 years old and an energetic

member of the cultural warriors. But that's what we want to put everything forward. We thought that bringing the culture thing over with, not too many people, even Hispanic, know about the day of the dead. So we so we thought that it was important that we bring this so everybody can know about it. So now now there's white kids that know about there's Hispanic kids that know about black kids that know about it. And that's what we think is important. And so an ages old traditional commemoration for the dead has become a relevant way to look at issues facing the living son this holiday of the month as we celebrate the Mexican folk tradition requires we are born, we shall die. Life is temporary. So living with honor, dignity, hope and courage live like a culture warrior for Latino USA in Austin, Texas. Amaria Martin.

For over 30 years, pianist Eddie Palmieri has been pushing the creative limits of Latin music, his unorthodox experimental style has defied musical categories. Reporter Alfredo Cruz of Station Wego in Newark recently spoke with Eddie Palmieri, the musical Renegade, and he prepared this report like his music and is intensely energetic. His piano solos have been known to go from delicate, esoteric explorations to fist pounding accents, all within the same phrase. He has developed his own musical identity. When Eddie plays the sound of a note or a chord is immediately recognizable as unmistakably Palmieri.

He admits, however, he didn't always want to be a pianist. One of the piano I started at eight years old and then by 11 12, I wanted to be a team player or drummer, you know. And Tito Puente, he was my idol. You know, by that time I thought it was my uncle who had a clue who thought genoise, who all my tropical. We had to try to treat them. Rosero, Congleton, my other uncle Frankie. I played the Marlins and I stood with them for almost two years until I couldn't carry the drums anymore and I just couldn't do it. One of his earliest and most important musical influences was his older brother, Charlie, also a pianist who not only served as a mentor but helped Daddy get started

in the business over 30 years ago. My brother Charlie used to play with the puente that was one of the most important Komarov that we've ever had here. However, my brother would go and play, he would recommend me. And that's how I got into an orchestra called Ray Elmore Quintet. And first, Johnny Ciggie 55, Tico Valdez. Peteris, in the, you know, back to be Santigold this summer in 58 in the Palladium and then the 58 60, which is a holiday. After that, I went to my own. The big new trombone sound he had developed revolutionized Afro Cuban music in the 1960s. Eddie Palmieri had found the perfect combination and called his new band picked up.

Yes, that's true. You see that? Got a lot to do, but they were sensation at dance halls like the now legendary Palladium, where Battle of the Bands were common and palmiotti reigned Supreme Court by they basti. This was done in 1968. That's well up, in fact, that breaks up, you know, in the beginning in 68, we did a tour of Venezuela. And after that, that was like the ending of overlapping, in fact, that, you know, phase one down that was in boom over the last twenty five years.

Many of these recordings have become classics and his orchestras have provided a proving ground for promising young Latino and jazz musicians much like Art Blakey. His messengers was to jazz. But in spite of winning five Grammy Awards, record companies have met his innovative musical experiments with skepticism. Recently, however, Palmiotti finalized negotiations on a new contract with Elektra Asylum Records. The movie coming out and we're going into a whole other direction, we're going into the Caribbean diaspora, say my first attempt by writing specifically in that form, I see I have recorded in that vein as far as the compositions took an ice cream or seventeen point one OVP blues that I have done, you know, and I'm always looking in that direction in that country. But this time I'm really writing specifically in that means. As to what's in store for the future, whatever musical direction he might take,

but Mary says the core of his music will always remain in Latin rhythms, those rhythmic patterns will always intrigued me. They've been here now for 40000 years, so they'll be here for another forty thousand, you know, for sure. But I don't I will not be here that long. But in the time that I'm here, I'm going to utilize it to the maximum and then achieve and have a wonderful time doing that and incorporating that into our music, because it's something that certainly intrigued me and I and I must achieve that new will. From Newark, New Jersey, for Latino USA, I'm all for because. The way of the world is the way of the on

Friday night, I was hanging with my boys. We were yelling at this guy Chino's house drinking 40s while he took care of his kids. I had a friend got in a while, so I didn't mind babysitting. But the rest of the guys seemed restless when I finally asked what was up. They told me that they were expecting a delivery of keys, also known as cocaine. John Wardo, who came to New York City from Colombia when he was 12 years old, just turned 21. But for most of his teenage life, he was a member of a crew. Crews are what gangs are called in New York City now. While Eduardo is trying to leave that life behind, he sees many of his friends staying behind. It's hard for me to admit how much drugs have become a part of my life, but they have. And in a big way, the lyrics and the music I hear speak of drugs as a way to become popular or even rich. That idea is reinforced by how drugs are glamorized in the movies,

bad guys living large, selling cocaine with women around them and money to burn. As a little kid, I fantasized about someday living like them, walking home from school. I saw that crime did pay, just like in the movies. The neighborhood dealers had cars, girls, money and respect things. I wanted to pass by, though, and a pattern became visible. I watched yesterday's big shot dealers become the day's victim, whether they got shot or went to jail. It was always constant. I saw those who came around to buy drugs deteriorate, transforming from regular people to beggars and criminals with each purchase. And then I realized everybody was a victim, that it wasn't worth it, because even if you ain't got nothing to do with drugs, you can still be mugged by a crackhead or catch a bullet from a dealer's gun. No one will ever really be safe unless this problem is solved.

Until then, the only protection there is is to be educated. People like to sell or do drugs because they don't realize what harm they're inflicting on themselves or others not knowing leaves a void for curiosity to fill. Anyway, that Friday, as my friends got high, I chose to ignore what they were doing, numbing myself to the actions. I felt compelled to talk to them, but was afraid to start dissing me, feeling out of place. I went home, got to bed and fell asleep with a bad feeling. The next day I woke up to a phone call. One of the guys I was with the night before had OD'd on cocaine and died of a heart attack. He was 21 years old and also my friend John Guajardo, speaking for the street, commentator John Wardle, a writer and student, lives in New York City. And for this week is the semana, this has been Latino USA,

the Radio Journal of News & Culture Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Milia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, Dolores Garcia and David Guren. Latino USA is produced at the studios of Kut in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. The executive producer is Dr. Gilbert Cardenas. The theme music is by bent of it, a king. We want to hear from you. So Yumminess call us at one 800 five three five five five three three or write to us at Communication Building. Be the University of Texas at Austin seven, eight, seven one two. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas at Austin de la Proxima until next time. I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA. Hello, stations. This is the Modula segment for this week's edition of Latino USA.

Segment number one runs four minutes, 27 seconds. Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa speaks with two political analysts about the Latino vote in the New York City and Miami mayoral elections. And the introduction to that piece comes up in three to one. The Latino vote played a significant role in recent mayoral elections and two major US cities in New York, where Rudolph Giuliani shut out the city's first African-American mayor, David Dinkins, in a close race. And in Miami, where Cuban born City Commissioner Miriam Alonso will face former Mayor Steve Clark in a runoff on November 9th. Coming up, Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa discusses the elections with Ilan Ramon, a reporter for Miami and Nobel Herald, and New York City political analyst Hassan Borrero. That really comes up in three to one. Let's take a look at the numbers in these two races and where the Latino vote went and what difference it made, if at all.

Let's look at Miami first. What happened in Miami? Well, first of all, in Miami, the Hispanics are a majority of the vote. So regardless of what happens with Hispanics, they are to play a major role. Interestingly enough, what you had was a race between Commissioner William Alonso, who is Cuban and an Anglo former Miami mayor, Steve Clark. The vote was split among Hispanics, 60 percent for Elian, some 40 percent for Clark. And there are many reasons for that. Some analysts attribute a generational gap because medium Alonso resorted to shrill ethnic appeals in the last week that they say the younger generation and exit polls show that the younger generation of Cubans and Cuban-Americans reject. So there you have an interesting dynamic in which you have Hispanics and mostly Cubans who are splitting their vote and not necessarily voting Cuban, which is what the older time and the older Cubans tend to do. Hmm. Now, in New York, Herson, the Latino vote was talked about for a very long time as being the swing vote didn't, in fact, make the difference for getting

Republican Giuliani into office this time around. Well, the Latino vote came out in dance, but it certainly didn't swing. It didn't move anybody. It really had no impact, as far as I can tell, from the figures that have come out. We did come out at around 20 percent of the electorate. And it indicates to me that, however, it was crucial to maintaining Dinkins dignified loss. He got 60 percent of the vote. Mayor Dinkins, the incumbent, as opposed to Republican Rudolph Giuliani, who got around 38 percent of the Latino vote, which is less than what he expected. Certainly Latino vote in New York City turned out along the party lines, and that is being Democrats. The majority of the vote here in New York City from the Latino population are, of course, from Puerto Ricans. And just as blacks did, they voted along Democratic lines. Even the interesting thing about Miami is that there is this generational split where you have younger Cubans going for the non Cuban candidate and you have the older Cubans going for the Cuban candidate.

This shows a lot about the complexity of the Latino in this particular case of the Latino Cuban vote. Do you think that people are picking up on that down in Miami? Definitely so. And not only the I mean, you could say there's a generational divide in which younger Cubans, for instance, would not go for these ethnic appeals that have been so common here in politics. Well, what kind of appeals are you? Well, like basically William Alonso and every Cuban politician you can think of was on the radio saying this seat belongs to us. We can't let the seat slip out of our hands. And one thing is to say that we deserve representation with the majority. And another thing is to say that the seat belongs to us, because that was the kind of message that was rejected by Puerto Ricans and Nicaraguans who were saying, wait a minute, you're excluding everybody else. Why should I vote for somebody who is going to be so, so exclusive to both of you, agree with the conventional wisdom that's being talked about, that this election was very bad news for the Clinton administration and for the Democrats in general? Or are you a little bit more skeptical?

I don't agree with it. I think that this has nothing to do with the Clinton presidency. It's too early on in his administration. This is only his 10th month in office. We have to remember that neither Whitman in New Jersey or Giuliani in New York received a mandate. It was only two percent in each instance. So there is clearly it's not a mandate anywhere. I think people looked at the local issues and certainly our community voted as such. I mean, you can stretch this and say that Clinton did have an effect on the Latino community. Listen to the president. So that argument could be made also in Miami. That doesn't really apply because the race is not a partizan race. The dynamic happening here is mostly an anti incumbency type of thing where voters seem to reject people who have either been at city hall. Before or who are currently in city hall in favor of some newcomers that are giving them a struggle in the runoff next week. So here we have a different situation. Well, thank you very much for joining us, political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York

and Evandro, man of in Nuevo Herald in Miami, which has got Six Sigma number two runs five minutes, 48 seconds. Latino USA's Maria Martin reports from Austin, Texas, on the use of the Mexican holiday known as El Diario Los Muertos or The Day of the Dead as a springboard for social messages. And the suggestion it comes up in three to one in the ladies death for many of this country's Latino communities comes too early, often as the result of preventable causes like gang and gang violence and AIDS. To call attention to this, some community groups in Austin, Texas, are using the tradition of the Los Muertos or The Day of the Dead, a centuries old ritual commemorating friends and families who've passed on as a springboard for social messages. Latino USA's Maria Martin prepared this report, and that piece comes up in three to one. We have in this particular room altars that have been built by people. Members of the community is at an anesthetized Austin community center

in the heart of the city's Mexican-American barrio. Diana Gurum of the AIDS outreach group Informer's Seether shows a visitor around an exhibit of altars created to honor those who passed on in the tradition celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The structures are colorful, with flowers and photographs, candles, ribbons and incense. But some altars also have nontraditional decorations, like condoms and antedates messages. This one was also built by a volunteer of information who also lost her brother to AIDS in Houston. She and her brother were very, very close to the altar at seven in Austin. Isn't the only effort linking the traditional Mexican holiday to the reality of a growing cause of death in the Latino community, where AIDS is now the leading killer of young Hispanic men and the third leading cause of death among Latinos ages 25 to 44? San Antonio artist David Semiotic says there's a performance piece for indigenous models called When They Are Really Dead or Tales of Reality, which

tells of a painful death from AIDS of his friend Jesse. It is time for the angels to take you away to a different place another time in the piece. Kansas tries to make a connection between his loss to AIDS and all of the other losses, individual and collective, which may have been suffered by those in the audience. So I try to use things that that bring people down to a very fundamental basic level and related to situations that I've encountered dealing with homophobia within a family that's Chicanos son has AIDS. And these these families kind of like don't know how to react because of all the machismo and stereotypes and all the all the baggage that we've carried on from our childhood. We've got to to nurture and educate each other the traditions associated with the other. Los Muertos, according to AIDS educator Diana Gurum, provide an opportune forum in which to bring up difficult issues, ones often veiled in secrecy and denial.

There are mothers, for example, who go to the priest and say, please don't let any of the community know that this is what's killing my son. That's what my son died of. And so what we try to do in this particular event is to break that silence. Good morning and welcome to the Culture Wars is the Day of the Dead. This is in a warehouse housing an alternative high school called the Creative Rapid Learning Center, a diverse group of young people, white, black and Latino, all wearing the other most modest T-shirts, perform a series of skits which come from their own experiences with death and loss of family and friends. Hey, know where you are right now? I miss you. There are so many things that I want to learn from you. I wish I could hear it, but right now I've changed a lot since the kids who make up the theater group call themselves the Cultural Warriors. Many of them had dropped out of school before coming to the Creative Rapid Learning

Center as part of a writing project two years ago. They were asked to write letters to deceased friends and family members as a way to complete unfinished business. Cast member Jane Gonzalez says that project, which eventually led to a whole series of skits dealing with a range of issues affecting young people from AIDS to drugs to racism, has helped him to cope with the pain of loss. Well, it kind of helps us out bringing that kind of stuff out in the open, you know, instead of just keeping it inside. Like you heard, when they're in the picnic scene, they're saying about this guy that had died in a car crash. That was my friend. So and so it's been up to our legs lying around, you know, the last little bit away, huh? Yeah, like the bones right here in this scene. A group of the kids visit the cemetery on the night of the Los Muertos, as is the tradition in Mexico.

The kids say these presentations allow them to look at both life and death in a more positive way. Metropolitan America or cosmopolitan America does not like about. That is something you whisper about. You don't talk about it. And we're the people we like. To put it bluntly, everything passion feels is 19 years old and an energetic member of the culture warriors. But that's what we want to put everything forward. We thought that bringing the culture thing over with, not too many people, even Hispanic, know about the day of the dead. So we thought we thought that it was important that we bring this so everybody can know about it. So now now there is white kids that know about this, Hispanic kids. They know about black kids that know about it. And that's what we think is important. And so an age old traditional commemoration for the dead has become a relevant way to look at issues facing the living. So on this holiday, at the end of this month, we celebrate the Mexican folk tradition where we are born. We shall die.

Life is temporary. So living with honor, dignity, hope and courage live like a culture warrior for Latino USA. In Austin, Texas, our Maria Martin segment number three one six minutes, 27 seconds. Reporter Alfredo Cruz of Station Bigo in Newark, New Jersey, profiles the legendary Latin jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri. And the suggested lead comes up in three to one. For over 30 years, pianist Eddie Palmieri has been pushing the creative limits of Latin music, his unorthodox experimental style has defied musical categories. Reporter Alfredo Cruz of Station Wego in Newark, New Jersey, prepared this profile of the musical renegade Eddie Palmieri. And that piece comes up in three to one. Like his music, any comedy is intensely energetic, his piano solos

have been known to go from delicate, esoteric explorations to fist pounding accents all within the same phrase. He has developed his own musical identity when he plays the sound of a note or a chord is immediately recognizable as unmistakably palmiotti. He admits, however, he didn't always want to be a pianist. One of the piano I started at eight years old and then by 11 12, I wanted to be a team player or drummer, you know. And Tito Puente, he was my idol. You know, by that time I thought it was my uncle who had a genius who almost tropical. We hadn't received it. He said, don't forget my other uncle Frankie. I played the Marlins and I stood with them for almost two years until I couldn't carry the drums anymore and I just couldn't do it. One of his earliest and most important musical influences was his older brother, Charlie,

also a pianist who not only served as a mentor but helped that he get started in the business over 30 years ago. My brother Charlie used to play with them. That was one of the most important films that we've ever had here. However, my brother would go and play, he would recommend me. And that's how I got into an orchestra called Ray Elmore Quintet. And first, Johnny Ciggie 55, Tico Valdes. Peteris, in the back to be Santigold this summer, 58 in the Palladium and then a 58 60, which is a holiday. After that, I went to my own. The big new trombone sound he had developed revolutionized Afro Cuban music in the 1960s. Eddie Palmieri had found the perfect combination and called

his new band Lucky Victor. I think that's true when you see that. Got a lot to. They were sensation at dance halls like the now legendary Palladium, where Battle of the bands were common and palmiotti reigned Supreme Court. They say this was done in 1968. That's what, in fact, that breaks up, you know, the end, the beginning of 68. We did a tour of Venezuela. And after that, that was like the ending of a in that, you know, phase one down. That was then boom. Over the last twenty five years, many of these recordings have become classics and

his orchestras have provided a proving ground for promising young Latino and jazz musicians, much like Art Blakey as messengers was to jazz. But in spite of winning five Grammy awards, record companies have met his innovative musical experiments with skepticism. Recently, however, Palmiotti finalized negotiations on a new contract with Elektra Asylum Records. The movie coming out and we're going into a whole other direction, we're going into the and being jazz persay, my first attempt by writing a specific.