Gregorio Mayers testifies for Resolution 625 on Reggaeton Heritage Month

That's right.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak here.

Good afternoon, Deputy Speaker Dr.

Williams.

Happy congratulations on your doctorate.

Council Member Farrah Lewis and the other members of the City Council who are certainly online.

My name is Gregorio Mayers.

I'm the founder and CEO of Panama 507 Roundtable Group, a public policy.

Think Tank advanced in the civic, cultural, and economic interests of Panamanian community in New York.

I'm here to encourage you to pass Resolution 625 and declare October Reggaeton Heritage Month in New York City.

I come to this as a personal story.

I grew up in the country of Panama.

In a generation shaped by black music, Latino music.

In our community, that music arrived from everywhere, from James Brown and the Jackson 5 when they visited Panama, to Bob Marley's music playing in our homes.

These were part of the Panamanian story.

Our parents carried that sound with them, and it became part of how we understood ourselves.

Then the younger generation took what they heard from the

and made it their own.

They put their own experiences into the words and they translated these words into Spanish.

That is how African American rhythm and Caribbean rhythm inherited from our parents became voice of our own.

That personal story also is part of a larger story, which the resolution puts into public record.

As the resolution recites, reggaeton began in the Afro-Caribbean community in Panama, among descendants of migrant workers who built the canal.

They came about late 1895, 1900.

Canal was built to finish in 1914.

80,000 came from the Caribbean.

In the early 80s, 1980s, artists in that community, including Renato El General, meaning the general, began adapting Jamaican dancehall into Spanish.

That is reggae en español, the foundation of what the world now calls reggaeton.

It gave...

A community that faced discrimination and marginalization, a way to speak its identity out loud.

And New York is part of this story.

The resolution notes that in 1985, El General moved to Brooklyn and enrolled at Medgar Evers College, and that he worked with the local Caribbean producers and immersed himself in the city's dance hall.

and hip-hop scenes.

Well, interested enough, I was a freshman that same year at the same institution, right?

He was, I guess, in the performing arts.

I went on to law school afterwards, but same year.

All right.

Panama 507 Roundtable knows what it means to bring history to the open.

We led the community effort to secure the Little Panama Way street co-naming, and we did it by working directly with the council.

On September 24th, we unveiled Little Panama Way on Franklin Avenue.

Our community, cultural leaders, elected officials stood together.

We're grateful to the council that...

That participated and with a partnership with Crystal Hudson, which was her district, Sandy Nurse, who was born in Panama, right in my same community, and Pharrell Lewis.

Pharrell, thank you for your leadership.

I also asked the council to reconsider two Panamanian artists in its legislation.

First, Renato Adler.

Which you do have him on there, a Panamanian reggaeton legend and one of the most influential of that era for the younger generation.

Second, Reggae Sam, who I recommend the council includes as reggaeton artist.

Reggae Sam is also the artist.

Who released the song for Little Panama Way, Streetway, co-naming Franklin Avenue, which again was led by Councilmember Crystal Hudson,

The Panamanian-born Sandy Nurse and Farrah Lewis.

This is a really exciting time that we are here doing this, and it's really historic.

The New York Times has quoted that reggaeton did start in Panama as well, in New York Times.

So this month, reggaeton, we would love to have it.

This history passed on.

It will be an honor for artists and musicians and producers behind this music scene.

It will encourage programming that tells the story, including the Afro-Panamanian pioneers.

And it will teach each new generations that Panama, Puerto Rico, and New York built something that now reaches every corner of the world.

On behalf of the 55,000 Panamanians who are registered voters living in the five boroughs, I ask that you recognize this legacy and to pass this resolution this October as we culminate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Panama 507 Roundtable Group stands ready to help with community engagement, testimony, and the cultural voices who carry this history.

Thank you very much, and thanks to the leadership, again, of Councilmember Lewis for moving forward with this legislation.

Thank you.