http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12599&news_iv_ctrl=1261
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By: Carlito Rovira
On the 40-year anniversary of the founding of the Young Lords
The author was a member of the Young Lords Party.
--
Forty years ago, news headlines focused on a group of Puerto Rican
youth in New York City who used daring and unusual forms of protest
against racist oppression. These defiant and militant youths called
themselves the Young Lords.
Their examples, and the mass movement from which they arose, continue
to inspire young people, especially today as we see greater proof
that the only solution to oppression is organization and struggle.
The Young Lords developed in Chicago during the 1950s. They were
composed of unemployed students and working-class youth, who were
among many street-youth organizations targeted by police and
demonized as "gangs" by the capitalist-owned mass media. These youths
came from families compelled to leave Puerto Rico between the 1940s
and 1960s as a result of the economic hardships caused by U.S. colonialism.
These immigrants continued to experience oppression but under new
circumstances. They became victims of extreme exploitation at their
jobs in factories, hotels and restaurants; they encountered greedy
slumlords and the violence of police and white racist gangs.
The Puerto Rican migration occurred during the same years the Civil
Rights movement arose. The struggles of the African American people
impacted the newly arrived immigrants who also experienced the vile
nature of racism. In many instances, Puerto Ricans identified with
the demand for Black Power.
In 1966, the Black Panther Party was formed. Panther leader Fred
Hampton of Chicago sought to politicize the street organizations,
particularly the Puerto Rican youths. The BPP's efforts were
successful when, in 1968, the Young Lords became a revolutionary
political entity; they then became part of a fraternal alliance known
as the Rainbow Coalition (unrelated to Jessie Jackson's later
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition), which also included the Brown Berets, I Wor
Kuen, Young Patriots and the Black Panthers.
In 1969, the Young Lords opened a chapter in New York City. For many
years, Black and Latino people complained about the Sanitation
Department's double standards in trash pick up. White affluent areas
were serviced properly with regular garbage pick-ups, while Black and
Puerto Rican neighborhoods were left in unhealthy conditions.
In the summer of 1969, the Young Lords began sweeping the streets and
amassing large piles of garbage that were a nuisance to the
community. Many people wondered about what the young, seemingly "good
Samaritans" were up to. But the mystery did not last long.
In August 1969, the Young Lords used the garbage they had collected
as the means to execute a political offensive with military tactics.
Tons of trash were dumped and set ablaze across the main arteries of
Manhattan to disrupt traffic, including on the affluent 5th Avenue.
The Lords demanded an end to New York City's racist municipal
policies on sanitation. In neighborhoods where the "garbage
offensive" was launched, the Lords galvanized community support; many
joined the organization.
The mass media's attacks on the Lords only worked in their favor.
Within months, YLP chapters appeared in Philadelphia, Bridgeport,
Jersey City, Boston and Milwaukeecities with concentrations of
Puerto Ricans. While mainly composed of Puerto Ricans, the
organization also allowed members of other oppressed nationalities to
join the Young Lords.
The YLP had a military-type structure with a process for recruitment
and rules of discipline that were strictly enforced. At the height of
the YLP's development, women comprised nearly half the number of its
rank-and-file.
In the years following the Garbage Offensive, the Young Lords engaged
in numerous campaigns that involved bold actions and drew widespread
attention. One example was the physical takeover of the First Spanish
Methodist Church on 111th Street. The Lords repeatedly pleaded with
parishioners for space in order to feed hungry children, but to no
avail. This church was closed throughout the week and only opened for
a few hours for worshipping by a congregation that mostly lived out
of town. Backed by community sentiment, the Young Lords entered the
church during a Sunday mass and expelled the congregation. Using the
church as a base, the Young Lords operated a free childcare service,
breakfast program and legal clinic. Medical services were also provided.
Disease and poor health care have long been an issue in the Puerto
Rican community. Other actions taken by the YLP included the seizure
of an unused tuberculosis testing truck, equipped with X-ray
technology. After the truck was seized, the city was compelled to
provide technicians to run the machine. The truck was then taken to
East Harlem, where many people were tested for the lung ailment.
The Lords demanded that Lincoln Hospital, which served the people of
the South Bronx, expand its services. Because this facility
originated in the mid-1800s, when it treated even escaped slaves from
the South, its facilities were outdated and did not meet the current
needs of the people. An infestation of rats and roaches in the
hospital further exacerbated the deplorable conditions.
In the early morning hours of July 17, 1970, about 100 members of the
Young Lords boldly seized control of Lincoln Hospital. For 24 hours,
the Young Lords and progressive medical professionals in the Health
Revolutionary Unity Movement provided free medical services to
community people. Today's modern Lincoln Hospitalwith its new
facilitiesis the result of a community struggle of which the Young
Lords were in the leadership.
The YLP drew up a 13-Point Program that outlined the group's
political objectives. It included independence for Puerto Rico, as
well as liberation for all Latinos and other oppressed people. The
Young Lords upheld the struggle against women's oppression and openly
denounced the capitalist system, calling for a socialist society. The
Young Lords eventually voiced support for the rights of LGBT people.
By all definition, the YLP gravitated towards communism.
These young revolutionaries believed that the power of the people
would eventually overwhelm the power of the oppressors. In that
spirit, the YLP believed in the right of armed self-defense. This
became evident in actions they took while patrolling the streets in
areas they organized. Whenever the Young Lords witnessed the police
arresting community residents, they would intervene to confront the
racist cops and often liberated the arrestees.
In late 1970, YLP member Julio Roldan, who had been arrested at a
demonstration in the Bronx and was pending arraignment, was found
hung to death in his cell at the "Tombs" prison facility in lower
Manhattan. During this era, many prisoners were found mysteriously
dead in their cells, but prison officials always labeled them "suicides."
The Young Lords responded to Roldan's death with militancy, accusing
the state of murder. Following a procession with Roldan's coffin
through East Harlem, the YLP returned to the First Spanish Methodist
Church, which they had seized a year earlierbut this time, they came
armed with shotguns and automatic weapons. They demanded an
investigation into Roldan's death. Deeply entrenched community
support for the Young Lords prevented a gun battle, as government
officials knew there would be an enormous political fallout if they
initiated a police onslaught. The Young Lords held the church for
three months.
There are many examples of heroism among these young
revolutionariesnot only in New York or Chicago, but also in other
cities where the Puerto Rican people were in struggle.
Shamefully, because that people's movement no longer exists,
non-revolutionary interpretations of that period persist, which
dismiss the relevance of the Young Lords' history for the struggle
for socialism today. Regardless of what may be argued, the Young
Lords openly called for the destruction of capitalism and
establishment of socialism in the United States. This is made
indisputably clear in the YLP's 13-Point Program.
The Young Lords, like the Black Panther Party, attempted to build a
highly disciplined organization. They understood that without the
organizational sophistication of a vanguard party, revolution is
impossible. It is precisely this lesson that revolutionaries today
should embrace and emulate in order to realize the future victory of socialism.
.
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