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The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO), were a far-left political organization that developed from a Chicago street gang founded in 1959. With major branches in Chicago and New York City, they were known for their direct action campaigns, including building occupations, , and garbage-dumping protests. They also provided community service programs for the neighborhoods they operated in, including childcare and medical services, as well as free breakfasts.
Under the leadership of José "Cha Cha" Jiménez, who was inspired by civil rights leaders and the Black Panther Party, the Chicago Young Lords allied themselves with various socialist organizations. They also opposed urban renewal plans pursued by the city in Lincoln Park and engaged in various direct action campaigns to demand resources and services for the Puerto Rican community there. These included the occupations of the McCormick Theological Seminary and the Armitage Avenue Methodist Church.
Inspired by the Chicago Young Lords, a New York chapter was established in East Harlem. After consulting with neighborhood residents, the New York Young Lords initiated the Garbage Offensive, a series of garbage-dumping protests occurring throughout the summer of 1969. Soon after, they released their "Thirteen-Point Program", which called for Puerto Rican independence and advocated for revolutionary nationalism and socialism. Their Church Offensive at the First Spanish United Methodist Church (FSUMC) in East Harlem garnered significant attention and led to an increase in membership. The New York Young Lords also advocated for healthcare reform, proposing a "10 Point Health Program", screening for lead poisoning and tuberculosis, and, for a brief period, occupying Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. The New York chapter split from the main organization in 1970 to form the Young Lords Party (YLP).
Jiménez and other Young Lords leaders were repeatedly targeted for detention and arrest in Chicago. Meanwhile, a proposed expansion of the YLP into Puerto Rico encountered logistical difficulties, ultimately failing to gain traction and leading to the closure of several of the YLP's New York offices in June 1971. In June 1972, the YLP was renamed the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization (PRRWO), with some members leaving to join the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño (PSPR, 'Puerto Rican Socialist Party'). The Chicago Young Lords also ceased operations in 1972. The FBI's COINTELPRO program significantly contributed to the Young Lords' decline using a variety of disruptive tactics, including infiltration and surveillance.
In 1968, while in prison on drug charges, Jiménez was introduced to books by civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X. He also learned about the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party from the radio station WBON, which was played frequently in the prison. After being released in mid-1968, Jiménez formed a close friendship with Fred Hampton, the leader of the Chicago Black Panthers. He also found employment with the Urban Training Center, an organization founded by the Presbyterian Church, where he was invited by minister Victor Nazario to attend a conference for Latino activists. Several members of the Young Lords attended the conference. Jiménez became more politically active, forming a short-lived organization called the Puerto Rican Progressive Movement and becoming vice president of an educational reform organization. In 1968, the Young Lords incorporated "the Lordettes", previously a women's auxiliary group, into their primary organization.
Also in 1968, activist Patricia Devine convinced Jiménez that a planned urban renewal project would jeopardize current residents of Lincoln Park. While he was initially suspicious of Devine because of her communism ties, the Young Lords eventually agreed to take action in opposition to the project. They disrupted a planning meeting of the Lincoln Park Conservation Association where a vote was held to approve neighborhood demolition, damaging the venue the meeting was held at. Soon after, they established ties with various socialist organizations, including the Chicago Black Panthers. In February 1969, the Young Lords officially adopted the Black Panthers' Ten-Point Program, and in March, they began publishing a newspaper: the YLO.
A Chicago police officer shot Young Lords member Manuel Ramos in 1969, allegedly for pointing a gun at him. The Young Lords organized a rally in response, which was attended by members of the Black Panthers, LADO, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The rally took place at the intersection of Armitage Avenue and Halsted Street. Estimates of attendance run from nearly 1,000 to 3,000, with undercover provocateurs installed by police attempting to provoke protesters into attacking the home of mayor Richard J. Daley. Protesters ignored the provocateurs, and traveled to the Deering police station, where Ramos was shot. A memorial service was later held for Ramos at St. Theresa's Catholic Church on Armitage Avenue.
The Young Lords also occupied the Armitage Avenue Methodist Church in July 1969 after the church denied the Young Lords rental space for several proposed initiatives, including a daycare center, a free breakfast program, and a health clinic. While church pastor Bruce Johnson supported the Young Lords' proposals, many members of the congregation and the church board opposed them. When congregants called the police to the site of the occupation, Johnson intervened, saying that there was "a misunderstanding" and that the Young Lords had his permission to be there. Johnson allowed the Young Lords to remain in the church, and it was renamed "The People's Church", becoming the Young Lords' official headquarters in the city. City inspectors, prompted by requests from local white residents, conducted a site inspection of the proposed daycare facility and identified 11 code violations. The Young Lords proceeded to raise the requisite funds to correct the violations, and the daycare center was ultimately allowed to open. Several community service programs were also established.
At their first political demonstration in July, members of the New York Young Lords appeared at an event commemorating the attack on the Moncada Barracks in Tompkins Square Park dressed in and . A spokesperson for the organization, Felipe Luciano, gave a speech described by an attendee of the event as a "powerful and sophisticated revolutionary analysis of Puerto Rican oppression in the language of the streets" and performed an original poem entitled "Jíbaro, My Pretty Nigger".
Beginning on July 27, 1969, the Young Lords and East Harlem residents engaged in escalating garbage-dumping protests, obstructing major intersections with piled garbage and barricades. The protests intensified on August 17, with protesters setting fire to garbage across East Harlem. The next day, Luciano outlined demands on behalf of the protesters, which included daily garbage collection, street cleaning, increased sanitation resources, greater diversity in employment, higher wages for sanitation workers, and the elimination of corruption within the sanitation workforce. As a result, the city instituted systemic sanitation reforms, though some of these measures were later reversed, and the protests ended on September 2.
Childhood lead poisoning was also common in many parts of New York City at the time, with 600 cases reported in the ten months preceding November 1968. One reason for this was the failure of city governments to enforce housing codes that restricted the use of lead-based paint on the walls of apartments. The death of a two-year-old child at the Metropolitan Hospital Center in East Harlem in September 1969 prompted the Young Lords to launch a "Lead Offensive", holding hearings on lead poisoning in East Harlem throughout September and October. City officials attempted to distribute lead-testing kits, but the Young Lords stated that the kits were not being distributed to neighborhood residents. In November, the Young Lords staged a sit-in at the office of the New York City Department of Health's deputy commissioner. They successfully convinced the department to release 200 kits, after which the Young Lords performed door-to-door screenings.
Due to a proposed plan to combine adult and pediatric emergency rooms at the Metropolitan Hospital Center as well as broader hospital budget cuts, the Young Lords participated in a sit-in at the hospital on December 5, 1969, for seven hours. While a physician remembered the Young Lords "holding the director hostage in his office", participants in the sit-in disputed this account, with one protester stating that the protesters "surrounded" the director's office instead. After extensive negotiations with the director, the Young Lords failed to prevent the emergency room merger. However, they did secure the assistance of medical staff from the hospital in providing healthcare services at the Young Lords' headquarters.
After a story covering the lead poisoning issue was published in The New York Times on December 26, and after criticism from Dr. Paul Cornely, president of the American Public Health Association, the Department of Health stated that lead testing had been suspended. According to the department, the suspension resulted from defective kits supplied by Bio-Rad Laboratories, as well as the difficulty of collecting urine samples from young children. Ultimately, however, in 1970, the Department of Health created a new "Bureau of Lead Poisoning Control", developed an "Emergency Repair Program" to remove lead paint from New York residences, implemented stricter lead regulations in the New York City housing code, increased testing, and adopted many of the community outreach tactics advocated for by the Young Lords.
In May 1970, the Young Lords also began screening for tuberculosis in East Harlem and The Bronx. As anti-tuberculosis efforts declined throughout the 1960s, the disease saw a resurgence beginning in the 1970s, with the infection rate in New York City recorded at twice the national average in 1970. The Young Lords requested that they be permitted to operate the New York Tuberculosis Association's mobile X-ray truck for around-the-clock screenings, noting that the Association's limited hours of operation (12:00p.m. to 6:00p.m.) were not amenable to working people's schedules. When their proposal for round-the-clock operation was denied, the Young Lords carjacking the X-ray truck, using it to conduct widespread testing in East Harlem and obtaining authorization from the East Harlem director of health to operate it using municipal funding.
The Young Lords occupied the church on December 28, 1969, nailing the doors shut. During the occupation, the Young Lords implemented free breakfasts and health clinics, "liberation school" classes, and dinners for Puerto Rican women. Various celebrities also visited the occupied church, including Budd Schulberg, Donald Sutherland, Elia Kazan, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Joe Bataan, Joe Cuba, José Torres, and Ray Barretto. Despite a court order to vacate, the Young Lords remained in the church, arguing they had not disrupted services and were instead challenging the church's inaction, and were held in contempt of court. The occupation ended when police forcibly entered the church, peacefully arresting 105 Young Lords members and supporters.
While the Young Lords continued to pressure the FSUMC to support their breakfast program, their requests were denied, though charges against them were dropped. However, the Church Offensive led to a surge in Young Lords membership and community support, amplified by significant media coverage and endorsements from prominent figures, which facilitated the expansion of their influence, leading to the opening of a new The Bronx branch of the Young Lords in April 1970.
The YLP occupied Lincoln Hospital on July 14. During the occupation, they offered screenings for anemia, iron deficiency, lead poisoning, and tuberculosis in the hospital lobby. They also set up a daycare and education center in the hospital's basement. At a morning press conference, they outlined their demands, including "no cutbacks" to employment or services, funding to complete and staff a new hospital, and self-determination of health services through a "community-worker board". After the press conference, the YLP began negotiations with the hospital's administrator and representatives from the mayor's office and the HHC. However, these negotiations were disrupted by reports that an undercover police officer had attempted to enter the building. That evening, the YLP secretly left the hospital with the assistance of resident physicians, ending the occupation after 12 hours.
Following the occupation, Conservative Party Senate candidate James L. Buckley condemned the occupiers, calling them "extremists". In August, after an altercation between TLC staff and a hospital administrator, the hospital pursued a restraining order against the HRUM, TLC, and TLP, claiming that they had "exceeded the ground rules". The restraining order was approved by the New York Supreme Court on August 26. Guzmán declared that the YLP would defy the order, claiming that "they had never been stopped by a piece of paper before". In November, the YLP occupied a section of the nurses' residence at the hospital, establishing a drug detoxification program and leading to the arrest of 15 occupiers. However, the program continued operation, treating as many as 600 people every week.
A Young Lords chapter was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. The Puerto Rican community in Philadelphia began with merchants in the sugar trade and politically active cigar makers, later expanding significantly due to economic migration and job opportunities in various sectors, establishing the city as a major center for the population. The Philadelphia Young Lords, who also emerged from a local group, the Young Revolutionaries for Independence, were characterized by their Catholic faith and ties to religious institutions. They established free breakfast and clothing drives in the city, in addition to testing local residents for tuberculosis. Young Lords chapters were also founded in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as Hoboken, Jersey City, and Newark, New Jersey. At their peak, the Young Lords were estimated to have 1,000 members.
In September 1970, Luciano was demoted from his position as chairman of the YLP after an unauthorized twenty-seven-hour absence with another member. At the time, the YLP's security protocols were elevated after reports that organized crime groups had placed a "contract" on Luciano. The YLP remained active in late 1970. They acted as negotiators during the Attica Prison riot, which took place from September 9 to September 13, and collaborated with the Black Panthers to organize protests in support of Attica inmates. The riot ended when nearly 600 state troopers were called in to retake the prison. The troopers blanketed the prison yard with tear gas, then opened fire, leading to the deaths of 29 inmates and 10 guards.
Later, in October, YLP member Julio Roldán was arrested for allegedly attempting to start a fire in an apartment. He was sent to The Tombs, a men's prison in Manhattan, where he was later found hanged. At Roldán's funeral, the YLP staged a protest that culminated in a second, armed occupation of the FSUMC. To avoid confrontation or arrest after occupying the church, the Young Lords disassembled their firearms, enlisting neighborhood women to transport the components out of the church in their garments and handbags. The YLP also organized a "Free Puerto Rico Now" march to the Headquarters of the United Nations on October 30, 1970, the anniversary of the beginning of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party insurgency. 10,000 people attended the march, demanding self-determination for Puerto Ricans both on the island and in the diaspora.
In June 1972, after criticizing the YLP's activities in Puerto Rico, both Ortíz and fellow Young Lord Juan Ramos were expelled from the YLP. Soon after, Fontanez announced the closure of the YLP's Puerto Rican divisions and changed the name of the organization to the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization (PRRWO). Some members of the organization split off to join the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño (PSPR, 'Puerto Rican Socialist Party'). The Chicago Young Lords ceased operations in 1972.
After the Church Offensive, the Young Lords established recruitment screening protocols to evaluate prospective members. Under this system, those interested in joining the organization became "friends of the Lords". They then underwent a six-week trial period designed to test their commitment and identify potential spies as a "Lord in training". Finally, once the trial was complete, they would become "cadre". Members of the Young Lords lived a communal lifestyle, often living together and committing themselves fully to the organization's activities. These generally included community work, political education, physical training, and fundraising.
The Young Lords criticized antiblack racism in particular as "a kind of false consciousness, in the Marxist sense, meant to disorient people who share common objective interests", according to Fernández. While the leadership of many contemporary Puerto Rican organizations was primarily white, the Young Lords were notable for their inclusion of Black members. Many members of the leadership were Black, and it is estimated that Black people constituted 25–30% of the organization's total membership. The Young Lords organized various educational campaigns to address racism within the Puerto Rican community, with articles published in Palante discussing the history of Black and indigenous society in the Caribbean.
In May 1970, a group of women in the organization issued an ultimatum to the Central Committee, demanding the creation of men's, women's, and gay caucuses; formal opposition to sexist behavior; the revision of the Thirteen-Point Program; and greater women's representation in leadership roles. As a result, the tenth point of the Thirteen-Point program was modified to say "Down with Machismo and Male Chauvinism", becoming the fifth point of the revised program. Furthermore, the Central Committee initiated a reeducation campaign aimed at "challenging men and women to defy socially prescribed gender roles". Women were also represented on the Central Committee and in other leadership roles. However, according to Johanna Fernández, sexism within the organization continued to be a point of contention.
Historical accounts differ regarding the Young Lords' position on LGBTQ rights. Historian Lilia Fernández states that the "YLP did not object to the participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender activists". According to Lilia, Sylvia Rivera, founder of the organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), was a member of the YLP. Johanna Fernández states that while the Young Lords made attempts to build alliances with LGBTQ advocates, "LGBTQ issues" were "shrouded in taboo". Per Johanna, Rivera was a "friendly traveler" to the Young Lords, and sought their assistance as bodyguards for a period as a result of death threats she received after reporting a guard's assault on an inmate in The Tombs.
Despite their relatively short existence, Johanna Fernández argues that the Young Lords' "dizzying pace of organizing" led to tangible reforms. This view is shared by Iris Morales, who states that actions like the Garbage Offensive showed that the Young Lords were "street fighters willing to confront the police and government authority to get results". Fernández also argues that the Young Lords' activities challenge the traditional focus on white students and a narrowly defined "New Left" as the central drivers of 1960s radical movements. In Fernández's view, as a revolutionary organization led by people of color, the Young Lords, like the Black Panthers, helped to popularize socialism in the United States.
Meanwhile, academic Urayoán Noel argues that the Young Lords' communal and performative approach to politics influenced the development of Nuyorican cultural spaces in New York, including the Nuyorican Poets Café. Johanna Fernández also states that the Young Lords helped shape Nuyorican identity through the creation of spaces like the People's Church, where Puerto Rican arts and music, including stigmatized Afro-diasporic forms like bomba y plena, were celebrated. According to Fernández, this embrace of Puerto Rican heritage, combined with the emergence of Nuyorican artists like Pedro Pietri, helped to catalyze a distinct Nuyorican cultural and political consciousness.
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