The Diaspora Strikes Back: Nation and Location

Abstract

Many of us who were there that night still hold vivid recollections of the historic Town Hall Meeting that took place in El Barrio a few years back, on September 26, 2002. The subject was El Museo del Barrio, and an animated gathering of neighborhood residents, artists, educators, writers, elected officials, and community activists showed up to voice their views and vent their frustrations over the direction that community institution has taken in recent years. Some of the Museo’s trustees were present, as was its former executive director, as speaker after speaker stepped to the microphone to lament the growing distance between the institution and its community, between the Museo and El Barrio. “It’s a people’s museum and it belongs to the people, not to the corporate sponsors and the elite art world.” “It’s our museum and you can’t take it away.” “We are watching you!” “Community participation in programming and decision-making.” “I’m Puerto Rican from New York and I don’t have an identity complex.”