Entertainment and enlightenment were on the agenda last night in the Waring Commons study lounge for the program "Rap, Roots and Amnesia: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity."

Sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, the event was intended both to educate students about the role of Puerto Ricans in forming the hip-hop movement and to entertain them with break dancing, beat-boxing and turntables.

Gardner Rivera (senior-management) a member of Lambda Theta Phi, gave a short speech about the history of graffiti and its relation to the hip-hop movement.

"The whole purpose of graffiti in addition to sending a political message is to get your name out there and make people aware of your neighborhood and your crew, " Rivera said. He used a PowerPoint presentation to describe different graffiti styles and the importance of it for youths from poor neighborhoods.

"For inner-city kids who don't have the chance to go to art school, graffiti is their form of expression," he said.

Special guest speaker Juan Flores, published author and professor of black and Puerto Rican studies at Hunter College, spoke about the evening's main topic.

"Amnesia refers to something that has been forgotten, something that has passed out of our minds. The role of Puerto Ricans in the early hip-hop movement has been wiped out," Flores said. "Think of all the millions that have been made off of hip-hop and how little has gone to the people who actually created it."

Flores stressed his intention is not to diminish the crucial role blacks played in the early 1980s, the "roots" of the hip-hop movement, but to emphasize that it was a movement arising from the poor New York City neighborhoods populated by both blacks and Latinos.

"We have to see hip-hop as a curriculum. We have to see that the cultures complement each other. We have to show that we're not at each other's throats like people say we are," he said.

The evening also included a performance section. This featured a breakdancing segment, a beat-boxing and spoken-word poetry performance, and a turntables exhibition.

In her poetic reading, Noreli Garcia (junior-communication arts and sciences) who also performed a beat-box rendition, dealt with dispelling myths about Puerto Ricans.

"We're not the stereotypes you want us to be," she said. "We're not gangbangers, drug users. We are beautiful and we are Puerto Rican."

Kenny Nix (senior-economics) aka DJ UMC of DJ group Urban Legends rounded out the performance section with his turntable skills. Nix said having a turntable act was an important part of the event because hip-hop started with the beat juggling of Grand Master Flash.

Lambda Theta Phi's faculty advisor, William Ortega, officially ended the 40-minute event by telling the racially diverse crowd of roughly 80 people: "You folks learned about Latin history, but it's more than that. It's about bridging the gaps to diversity."

Many of the students who attended "Rap, Roots, and Amnesia" carried notebooks and pens with them because extra credit was offered in some classes for attendance.

Jackie Duson (junior-Latino studies), whose Ibero-American civilization class offered extra credit, said she would have attended anyway.

"I am Puerto Rican and West Indian and also have read Juan Flores' book," Duson said. "I would have gone without the extra credit. I wish there were more things like this on campus and that they were better advertised."

Her classmate Paul Horn (junior-information, science and technology) echoed her sentiments.

"This was incredibly interesting," Horn said. "But if the extra credit wasn't offered, I probably wouldn't have found out about it."

Flores said he was pleased with the turnout for the event. "I love seeing young people getting involved and expressing interest. They can see that what they have to learn about is also fun," he said. "Multiculturalism is a wonderful thing."