The Welfare Poets

Born and raised in the project of East/El Barrio to Puerto Rican parents, in a predominantly Puerto Rican and African American community,I am first a child of Hip Hop. Graduating from High School in the late 80s and heading to Cornell University to receive my bachelors, the Welfare Poets was formed within this context of extremities. Cornell itself, an esteemed institution of so-called "Higher Learning," also has a long and often unspoken history of student protest and even unrest. In the...

Born and raised in the project of East/El Barrio to Puerto Rican parents, in a predominantly Puerto Rican and African American community,I am first a child of Hip Hop. Graduating from High School in the late 80s and heading to Cornell University to receive my bachelors, the Welfare Poets was formed within this context of extremities. Cornell itself, an esteemed institution of so-called "Higher Learning," also has a long and often unspoken history of student protest and even unrest. In the late 1960's students of color (eventually armed) took over a campus building in order to demand a more inclusive education for all students. This event laid the foundation to student awareness and organizing that me and the other founders of the welfare poets found ourselves surrounded by and immersed in.