Despierta, Boricua. Defiende lo tuyo
Awake Puerto Rican, Defend What is yours.
Young Lords Party Chant (1969)

On 7 June 1969, hundreds of Puerto Ricans gathered in Spanish Harlem, New York City to protest the arrest of Juan" Fi" Ortiz for a series of falsified crimes. As a crowd gathered outside the People’s Church in El Barrio, Felipe Luciano addressed those assembled asserting that, “We will not allow the brutalization of our community to go on without a response. For every Puerto Rican that is brutalized, there will be retaliation."Luciano`s statements were not ignored, and as the crowd filtered into the streets their shouts of Despierta, Boricua. Defiende lo tuyo filled the air.

The events of 7 June 1969 were but one of many moments in the history of New York City’s Puerto Rican community that gave rise to and lent support for the Young Lords Party. Indeed over the course of the next five years this ethnic group of radical intellectuals would help bring attention to the plight of the Puerto Rican community in New York City. This essay explores the history of the late twentieth century Puerto Rican migrants in New York City through an examination of the Young Lords Party (1969 to 1974). In doing so, it examines several significant topics, including the growth of the Puerto Rican population in New York City; the unique challenges this ethnic group faced, and the origins, growth and decline of the Young Lords Party.

Twentieth Century Migration of Puerto Ricans to New York City
For us to clearly understand the Young Lords, it must be understood how the Puerto Rican Community came to be in New York City and other American cities such as Newark and Chicago. With the Spanish American War of 1898 came added difficulty for the population of Puerto Rico. Recently acquired by the United States, citizens of Puerto Rico were actually citizens of nowhere until granted statutory citizenship to the United States in 1917. Yet three years earlier, on 12 March 1914 the citizens of Puerto Rico opposing this imposition of American citizenship sent a "Memorandum to the President and Congress of the United States" stating, " We firmly and loyally oppose our being declared, against our express will or without our express content, citizens of any other than our own beloved country which God granted to us as an inalienable gift and incoercible right."

Even without support of the Puerto Rican people the Jones Act was passed. The Jones Act of 1917 merely granted Puerto Ricans a status of citizenship, which was not equivalent to the constitutional citizenship. This partial citizenship, however, did not prevent the United States from drafting Puerto Ricans into the armed forces during World War I, or from recruiting Puerto Ricans to labor in defense industries during the time of war. The exploitation of Puerto Ricans by external forces reached its highest point of the 400 years of colonization with the passage of the Jones Act. The desire for full citizenship as well as poor economic conditions in the homeland resulted in the migrations of tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans to the United States throughout the twentieth century. The United States saw Puerto Rico was being devastated by poverty and took advantage of the poor fortunes of the people by offering this type of "partial" citizenship.

One measure taken by the government that happened to benefit Puerto Ricans was the passing of the Johnson Act in 1921, which restricted the immigration of Europeans to the United States. The passing of the Johnson Act created increased availability of jobs for Puerto Ricans choosing to migrate to the United States in search of better employment opportunities than could be found in their homeland. While the aim of the Johnson Act was supposedly to create more job openings for members of the Puerto Rican community, jobs remained scarce, especially to people of Puerto Rican descent who were dark skinned and often denied equal opportunities.

The Puerto Ricans that arrived during what is known as the first period of migration (1910-1945) varied from different backgrounds. Some came from the campos or rural areas in Puerto Rico and sought jobs in agricultural fields when they arrived on the mainland. Others came from pueblos, which are towns or small cities. For these men and women this was already their second migration, they had left the campos of Puerto Rico to look for better jobs and opportunities in the pueblos and now would leave those pueblos to come to the mainland for the so called opportunities awaiting them here.

After they found out there was no work in these pueblos, their next move was to migrate to industrial centers in the Northeast, with the bulk of them settling down in New York City. They settled down all over the Boroughs, with majority settling down in the Atlantic Street area in Brooklyn, El Barrio in East Harlem, and other areas of Manhattan (the Lower East Side, the Upper West side, Chelsea and the Lincoln Center area), while some began to populate the South Bronx. The Great Depression, with its high rate of unemployment, put an end to the demand for cheap labor after 1930; thereafter, the number of migrants from Puerto Rico dropped and did not increase until the late 1940`s.

Again at the end of World War II, United States companies began looking to Puerto Rico for cheap labor, and they sent agents to recruit workers. The demand was so great that in 1953 when then Mayor Richard Wagner of New York City visited the island, he publicly stated that he and all New Yorkers would welcome any Puerto Rican willing to work.

The availability of jobs coupled with encouragement by the island government increased the average yearly migration from 1,800 in the period between 1930 and 1940, to 31,000 from 1946 to 1950, to 45,000 from 1951 to 1960. In 1953, Puerto Rican migration to New York reached its peak when 75,000 people left the island. Estimates are that more than one million Puerto Ricans migrated during this period known as "The Great Migration." By 1964, the Puerto Rican community made up 9.3 percent of the total New York City population.

Unique Challenges Faced By Puerto Ricans in New York City
The new migrants faced many of the same problems as the European immigrants of the early 1900`s. The new migrants had to deal with rampant racism, poverty, deplorable living conditions, and lack of access to health care, malnutrition and other problems that effected earlier immigrant populations. The new population is relegated to the worst housing; they hold the lowest paying jobs, their children attend overcrowded schools, and they are exploited by unscrupulous landlords.

A study of congested Puerto Rican area’s in New Haven, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois; Jersey City and Perth Amboy, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City was conducted to confirm the need’s of the new comers, the study of the Welfare Council of New York was probably the most comprehensive. The difficulties of these congested Puerto Rican areas may be listed as: (1) need for housing, (2) need of childcare facilities, (3) need of after school programs, (4) need of bilingual programs, (5) need of job training, (6) need of prenatal care and of health care in general, (7) need of information, in Spanish, as to the rights and responsibilities of citizens and the services available to them in New York, (8) need of local understanding of Spanish culture, (9) a need in the government agencies of New York of Spanish speaking personnel.). Many problems that faced the Puerto Rican communities were also plaguing communities of other ethnicity’s and same socioeconomic status, but Puerto Ricans had dilemmas that were distinct to that ethnicity

The Puerto Ricans here also faced stereotypes that they were hot-tempered, unintelligent, juvenile delinquents or here just in search for better Welfare benefits than they receive on the island. Racism sparked the derogatory term” spic, who’s most likely origin, is from the phrase" No spik Inglish.". Narcotics were also ravaging the communities and local police precincts did little or nothing to stop the flow of traffic through the neighborhoods. There were some in the community that could no longer wait for the government and politicians to keep their promises of helping the Puerto Rican community and decided to take action themselves. These young people were mostly second generation Puerto Ricans and had a sense of what must be done and how to go after it. They were tired of fighting someone else’s war and being oppressed by the same government that asked for them to come.

Origins of The Young Lords Of New York Chapter
There were groups such as the Black Panthers, the Young Patriots and The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were fighting for great causes, there was no organization representing the growing Puerto Rican population. Realizing a need for Latino consciousness in the New York City community and improvement in the conditions of the Latino status, The Young Lords New York Chapter was formed. The organization consisted primarily of young Latino people who, similar to the Black Panthers, through direct community action and education, made an impact on the conditions of the Latino community. 7 June 1969, the Black Panther newspaper announced that the Black Panthers had formed an alliance between themselves, the Young Patriots Organization, and the Young Lords Organization that would be known as the Rainbow Coalition.

A few months earlier some Puerto Rican college students had met and decided something had to be done to unite the college educated Puerto Ricans with residents of the Ghettos. A young man with Afro hair and dark skin emerged, Pablo "Yoruba" Guzman. Eventually that year Yoruba had met another person fed up with the system David Perez. These two of men decided on one thing, the Sociedad De Albizu Campos, needed to take more action and do less talking. The reached out to the Chicago Lords and were granted permission to start a chapter in New York City.

Growth and Major "Offensives" of the Young Lords Party
“I had never done any thing like this before. Twelve other guys, one woman, myself, a handful of people who until moments before had been spectators were about to set a barricade of garbage on fire. Garbage in the ghetto sense; rusted refrigerators from empty lot, the untowed carcasses of abandoned vehicles, mattresses, furniture, and appliances off the sidewalk as well as stuff normally found in what few trash cans the city saw fit to place in El Barrio"

Pablo "Yoruba" Guzman
The Young Lords first of four actions or "offensives" was taken in July 1969. After repeatedly being denied brooms by the sanitation department to clean 110th street, the young lords and the citizens of the El Barrio got together to rid the garbage from their communities. The first day they built a barricade of garbage across Third Avenue and 110th street, in the following days the barricades had sprung up on 111th and 112th street. Traffic was brought to a stand still with motorists honking and cursing and others just curious to see what all the commotion was about.

The barricade on 110th was the one that had been put ablaze, when the firefighters arrived they were met with bottles, bricks and anything else people could find to hurl at them. The firefighters immediately retreated and the muscle called in, the NYPD arrived and they quickly sought out the Lords, who were easily distinguishable by their purple berets. The Lords wanted to discuss why they resorted to the barricades, but the Police were not about to hear that and immediately came out swinging. The Lords took off their berets and ducked into the crowd that had formed; the Lords then split up and met a park they planned to go to if the police were to come out non-understanding. When they all arrived in the park they were surprised to see the amount of young people that followed them wanting to join the Young Lords. Wherever there was a barricade demonstrations were held and these same demonstrations are where some of the first recruits came from. Finally City Hall had to respond and garbage was picked on a much more frequent basis and El Barrio was looking as good as since any one could remember.

The Lords needed a Platform and the Thirteen point Program and platform was introduced. Their first point was a general statement that said "For the liberation of all people". Other points called for "self determination of all Latino’s", "liberation of all the third world people", opposition to "capitalists and alliances with traitors" and "the AmeriKKKan military." The platform also called for a socialist society where the people ran all institutions meant for the good of the public.

There was also a problem of malnutrition in the ghetto and the Lords recognized something needed to be done. The Lords wanted to run breakfast programs but didn’t have the money to lease a location. With nowhere t o turn the Lords turned to a Methodist church on 111th street and Lexington Avenue and asked if we could use some space to run a breakfast program. The church quickly turned them down even though it was open once a week, on Sundays, for about four hours. The Lords wrote letters, attended services at the church with the congregation, but for some reason the lords kept being turned downs. Every month the church had a testimonial Sunday where the people of the congregation get to speak, the Lords Deputy Chairman at the time, rose and spoke, immediately police officers hidden in the congregation grabbed Felipe and arrested twelve other members of the Young Lord on bogus charges. During this confrontation many lords and supporters were hurt, with Felipe suffering a broken arm.

The Lords were not done, on 28 June 1969, they returned to the church, seizing it and renaming it the "People’s Church." The Lords took the church over for eleven days and turned into a real community center. From the church the Lords ran breakfast programs, offered education classes, day care centers entertainment, free lead and tuberculosis tests. On 7 January 1970 the police came to knock down the chained and barricaded doors of the church. Finally the police were let in and all inside were arrested on the charge of civil contempt. The Young Lords community support grew tremendously Following what had become to be known as the second "offensive", the "People’s Church offensive."

Later that year the Young Lords overwhelming support from the people could be seen with the roar the crowd gave when the Lord passed wearing their purple berets during the Annual Puerto Rican Parade.

The next target for the young lords was a building that had been condemned in the South Bronx for 25 years. This building just happened to house Lincoln Hospital, one of the worst community hospitals of that time. Since the beginning the Young Lord advocated for better health care and better testing of the community for epidemics that plagued the Ghetto. 18 July 1970, a group of about two hundred men and women gathered up from the Young Lords, The Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM), and the Think Lincoln Committee organized and raided Lincoln hospital with the purpose of handing over control of the hospital to the people. Before raiding the hospital, they had come up with a ten-point health program. The community faced large instances of lead poison, tuberculosis, pneumonia and asthma. The deplorable living conditions and lack of heat in tenement buildings caused many of the problems faced by the people. Patients were not getting the care they needed and were kept completely misinformed or not informed at all, by doctors.

When they entered the building the first action they took was to hoist a Puerto Rican Flag on the Building and putting up a sign that said, "Bienvenido al hospital del pueblo"-"Welcome to The Peoples hospital." Once inside they step up stations to run test probing for lead poisoning, iron deficiency anemia, and tuberculosis. That day hundreds of people from the community gushed through the doors. After writing hundreds of un answered letters and petitioning the city for better facilities these once docile organizations teamed with the Young Lords finally took charge of their own community hospital setting up the testing they needed and day care center for the needy. All these programs were set up in a building the hospital was not using.

The Lords had held the hospital for twelve hours and treated in one day as many patients the hospital treated in weeks. The Young Lords would not leave without airing their demands the city government. Their demands included door to door health services for preventive care, sanitary control, nutrition, maternal and childcare, drug addiction care, a 24- hour a day grievance table, a senior citizen center and last but not least, a weekly minimum wage for the hospital workers. After a couple of hours the mayor’s office broke off negotiations over the demands. By the time police entered the hospital, the Lords had already received a promise from Mayor John Lindsey to construct a new hospital on 149th street. The third major offensive was successful; the people had gotten some of the changes they wanted.

Now the Lords were going to focus their sights on the prison system of New York that was packed with a large Puerto Rican population. There were reports as early as the mid Sixties speaking of Puerto Rican Suicides in the tombs. The reasoning behind the suicides was that Puerto Ricans were unaccustomed to being isolated and tended to commit suicide when away from their tight family structure.

When Julio Roldan, a Young Lord, was found hanging in his cell, the police said he had supposedly committed suicide. This was all a great white lie. At the end of his funeral procession, the people took to the streets again and met up at the people’s church. The fourth offensive had been put in motion, with about two thousand supporters looking on; the Lords began to protest only this time they had taken to arms. A prison riot broke out in Attica and the jail was taken over by the inmates and the government was without an answer on how to quell the strikes. The Lords saw this as a perfect time to seek Prison Reform. The young lords met with the inmates and came out with a set of demands. The police decided to ignore the demands and raid the complex. After a violent standoff with inmates that left many dead, the police regained control of the prison. Even though changes did not come immediately, many people became aware with the in humane manner in which inmates were treated.

The fall of the Young Lords
The downfall of the Young Lords is similar to that of the Black Panthers whom the Puerto Ricans most associated with. The Lords had internal problems deciding which direction the movement should precede. The FBI also sent sellouts to infiltrate the Lords and find out their next move. When the government felt the Lords movement gaining they did anything they could to stop it.

The Young Lords were a short-lived, yet powerful group of young political activists. The Young Lords inspired future organizations and created an ethnocentric pride among Puerto Ricans. The Young Lords also believed that all institutions in the community should be accountable to the people that they are set up to serve. The Young Lords also will be remembered for dramatic takeovers of local institutions as a way to draw attention to the neglect of local communities. Writing letters, forming groups talking about gaining freedom and rights did not get the Young Lords what they wanted. I wish that I could have lived during the 1960`s when strong willed groups such as the Black Panthers and Young Lords took the streets in search of changing the ways all minorities were treated by the "average" American. The sad part is many of the problems that faced the ghetto back then are still imminent in still too many communities today.

Palante, Siempre, Palante! The Young Lords

Printed in 1971, PALANTE is the first book published about the Young Lords. Through photographs and interviews with members, the book captures the spirit of the organization. The Young Lords fought for the rights of Puerto Ricans in the United States and for the independence of Puerto Rico.

Young Lords responded to community issues ranging from lack of affordable housing to police brutality. Organizing directly in Latino/a communities the Young Lords did street garbage clean ups, ran "serve the people programs," and did door-to-door health care. The Young Lords also conducted dramatic takeovers of local institutions to draw attention to the neglect of surrounding communities.

Michael Abramson photographed and interviewed the Young Lords starting in 1969. This book includes 72 pages of photographs and transcribed interviews with New York City members.

Among the articles in the book are:

"We’re trying to make a society where opportunity is the rule for everybody."
"The Chains that have been taken off slaves` bodies are put back on their minds."
"The price of Imperialism is lives."
"When you look to any group to find out who’s the most oppressed, it’s always gonna be the women."
"Before people called me `spic` they called me `*bleep*`."

In order for the Young Lords Party to be thoroughly understood and analyzed, it must be understood how the Puerto Rican community came to be in New York City and other American cities. How was it that so many Puerto Ricans immigrated to the United States and what where the conditions they faced? Immigration from Puerto Rico to the United States, mostly meaning the urban and industrial centers of the Northeast, began in a fairly large scale back in 1917. Many factors led to this increase. In the first place, the Jones Act of March 17, 1917 extended to all Puerto Ricans American citizenship and thus; made it extremely easy for people to migrate from one place to the other. The First World War also was largely responsible for the increase in immigration. Suddenly, there was a scarcity of workers needed for the construction of ships and armaments.

During this time, the Federal Government actually decided to actively encourage and recruit Puerto Ricans. Thousands of men were actually transported from their native island to industrial complexes, during 1917 and 1918. Puerto Rico was the most feasible source of labor since recently the United States had reduced the number of foreigners who could enter the U.S. By 1930, fairly large Puerto Rican communities had been established in NY, the largest and most known of them being found in Brooklyn. There the islanders occupied an area along President, Sacket, Union, Degraw, Van Bart and Callore Streets without really straying from Columbia.

Immigration reemerged once again, with newfound force, in the post-war era. Following the end of World War Two, workers, such as women and foreigners willingly and unwillingly left the workforce making more and more jobs available. Once again American companies began looking south for cheap labor and sent agents to recruit would-be workers. Many independent agencies also flourished in the island with the demand from all types of industries increasing. The demand was so great, in fact; that when then mayor Richard Wagner of New York City visited the island in 1953, he publicly stated that any Puerto Rican willing to work would be welcomed by him and all New Yorkers.

There were jobs for everyone! These factors, along with the large encouragement by the island government, increased the average yearly emigrants from 1,800 in the period between 1930 and 1940, to 31,000 from 1946 to 1950, to 45,000 from 1951 to 1960. In fact; immigration from Puerto Rico to New York reached its peak in 1953 when no fewer than 75,000 people left the island. It is estimated that over one million Puerto Ricans were lost to immigration, excluding those that already were there before 1930 and those that arrived after 1960. By 1964, the Puerto Rican community made up 9.3 percent of the total New York City population.

The conditions they faced, though; were deplorable and poverty was rampant. In the later years, the Puerto Rican community would truly come together and take a new attitude toward their new home. Instead of seeing themselves as guests or visitors in a strange home, the Puerto Ricans finally saw themselves as equals who would have to fight for the rights they deserved as citizens and as members of the human race.

 

Young Lords Party
13-Point Program and Platform

The Young Lords Party is a Revolutionary Political Party Fighting for the Liberation of All Oppressed People

1. We want self-determination for Puerto Ricans--Liberation of the Island and inside the United States.

For 500 years, first spain and then united states have colonized our country. Billions of dollars in profits leave our country for the united states every year. In every way we are slaves of the gringo. We want liberation and the Power in the hands of the People, not Puerto Rican exploiters.

Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!

2. We want self-determination for all Latinos.

Our Latin Brothers and Sisters, inside and outside the united states, are oppressed by amerikkkan business. The Chicano people built the Southwest, and we support their right to control their lives and their land. The people of Santo Domingo continue to fight against gringo domination and its puppet generals. The armed liberation struggles in Latin America are part of the war of Latinos against imperialism.

Que Viva La Raza!

3. We want liberation of all third world people.

Just as Latins first slaved under spain and the yanquis, Black people, Indians, and Asians slaved to build the wealth of this country. For 400 years they have fought for freedom and dignity against racist Babylon (decadent empire). Third World people have led the fight for freedom. All the colored and oppressed peoples of the world are one nation under oppression.

No Puerto Rican Is Free Until All People Are Free!

4. We are revolutionary nationalists and oppose racism.

The Latin, Black, Indian and Asian people inside the u.s. are colonies fighting for liberation. We know that washington, wall street and city hall will try to make our nationalism into racism; but Puerto Ricans are of all colors and we resist racism. Millions of poor white people are rising up to demand freedom and we support them. These are the ones in the u.s. that are stepped on by the rules and the government. We each organize our people, but our fights are against the same oppression and we will defeat it together.

Power To All Oppressed People!

5. We want community control of our institutions and land.

We want control of our communities by our people and programs to guarantee that all institutions serve the needs of our people. People's control of police, health services, churches, schools, housing, transportation and welfare are needed. We want an end to attacks on our land by urban removal, highway destruction, universities and corporations.

Land Belongs To All The People!

6. We want a true education of our Creole culture and Spanish language.

We must learn our history of fighting against cultural, as well as economic genocide by the yanqui. Revolutionary culture, culture of our people, is the only true teaching.

7. We oppose capitalists and alliances with traitors.

Puerto Rican rulers, or puppets of the oppressor, do not help our people. They are paid by the system to lead our people down blind alleys, just like the thousands of poverty pimps who keep our communities peaceful for business, or the street workers who keep gangs divided and blowing each other away. We want a society where the people socialistically control their labor.

Venceremos!

8. We oppose the Amerikkkan military.

We demand immediate withdrawal of u.s. military forces and bases from Puerto Rico, Vietnam and all oppressed communities inside and outside the u.s. No Puerto Rican should serve in the u.s. army against his Brothers and Sisters, for the only true army of oppressed people is the people's army to fight all rulers.

U.S. Out Of Vietnam, Free Puerto Rico!

9. We want freedom for all political prisoners.

We want all Puerto Ricans freed because they have been tried by the racist courts of the colonizers, and not by their own people and peers. We want all freedom fighters released from jail.

Free All Political Prisoners!

10. We want equality for women. Machismo must be revolutionary... not oppressive.

Under capitalism, our women have been oppressed by both the society and our own men. The doctrine of machismo has been used by our men to take out their frustrations against their wives, sisters, mothers, and children. Our men must support their women in their fight for economic and social equality, and must recognize that our women are equals in every way within the revolutionary ranks.

Forward, Sisters, In The Struggle!

11. We fight anti-communism with international unity.

Anyone who resists injustice is called a communist by "the man" and condemned. Our people are brainwashed by television, radio, newspapers, schools, and books to oppose people in other countries fighting for their freedom. No longer will our people believe attacks and slanders, because they have learned who the real enemy is and who their real friends are. We will defend our Brothers and Sisters around the world who fight for justice against the rich rulers of this country.

Viva Che!

12. We believe armed self-defense and armed struggle are the only means to liberation.

We are opposed to violence--the violence of hungry children, illiterate adults, diseased old people, and the violence of poverty and profit. We have asked, petitioned, gone to courts, demonstrated peacefully, and voted for politicians full of empty promises. But we still ain't free. The time has come to defend the lives of our people against repression and for revolutionary war against the businessman, politician, and police. When a government oppresses our people, we have the right to abolish it and create a new one.

Boricua Is Awake! All Pigs Beware!

13. We want a socialist society.

We want liberation, clothing, free food, education, health care, transportation, utilities, and employment for all. We want a society where the needs of our people come first, and where we give solidarity and aid to the peoples of the world, not oppression and racism.

Hasta La Victoria Siempre!