On August 18, 2018, A Blade of Grass presented Health, Food & Healing: Pa’lante, a public event organized by 2018 ABOG Fellow Miguel Luciano to kick off Island / Inland PROMESAS, a project connecting Puerto Rican activists from the island and the diaspora in conversations about how Puerto Rican communities have responded during times of crisis, from the post-civil rights era to the post-hurricane Maria present.
Luciano brought together former members of Puerto Rican activist group The Young Lords (Minerva Solla, Walter Bosque) and a new generation of activists from Puerto Rico and East Harlem working in areas of food justice, food sovereignty, health, and healing: Tara Rodriguez Besosa, Co-Founder of the Puerto Rico Food Resiliency Project; Giovanni Roberto, Co-Founder of the Centro Para el Desarollo Politico, Educativo, y Cultural (CDPEC); Luis Bonnet of Salud y Acupuntura Para El Pueblo; and Terry Rodriguez, East Harlem food activist.

March to free the Panther 21, 1969 by Hiram Maristany, courtesy Miguel Luciano
Saturday, August 18, 2018, 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Public conversation between former members of Puerto Rican activist group The Young Lords and a new generation of activists from Puerto Rico and East Harlem working in areas of food justice, food sovereignty, health, and healing
Sunday, August 19, 2018, 9:30 – 11:30 AM
Free Breakfast Program
Sunday, August 19, 2018, 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Free Acupuncture Clinic with Salud y Acupuntura Para El Pueblo
Photography by Hiram Maristany, official photographer of The Young Lords, will be on view throughout the event at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109
Island / Inland PROMESAS is supported by A Blade of Grass, El Museo del Barrio, and The Surdna Foundation.
We’re grateful that this public program was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the support of the American Chai Trust; and, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.