The Young Lords This page intentionally left blank The Young Lords A Reader Edited by Darrel Enck-Wanzer Foreword by Iris Morales and Denise Oliver-Velez a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London www.nyupress.org © 2010 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data The Young Lords : a reader / edited by Darrel Enck-Wanzer ; foreword by Iris Morales and Denise Oliver-Velez. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–8147–2241–1 (cloth : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978–0–8147–2242–8 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Young Lords (Organization)—History—Sources. 2. Puerto Ricans— New York (State)—New York—Social conditions—20th century—Sources. 3. Puerto Ricans—New York (State)—New York—Politics and government— 20th century—Sources. 4. Puerto Ricans—New York (State)—New York— Biography. 5. Political activists—New York (State)—New York—Biography. 6. New York (N.Y.)—Social conditions—20th century—Sources. 7. New York (N.Y.)—Ethnic relations—Sources. 8. New York (N.Y.)—Biography. 9. Readers. I. Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. F128.9.P85Y68 2010 305.868'72950747—dc22 2010020183 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books. Manufactured in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 P 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword: Why Read the Young Lords Today? . ix. Iris Morales and Denise Oliver-Velez Acknowledgments . xv Introduction: Toward Understanding the Young Lords . 1. Darrel Enck-Wanzer 1 . Young Lords Platform and Rules . 9 13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Organization (October 1969)..........................................................9 Young Lords Party 13-Point Program and Platform (revised November 1970) . .11 Rules of Discipline of the Young Lords Organization . 13 2 . The Ideology of the Young Lords Party . 16. Introduction...........................................................16 Definition of Terms.....................................................17 Protracted War in Puerto Rico . .18 Colonized Mentality and Non-Conscious Ideology..........................22 The Party and the Individual.............................................25 3 . The Origins and History of the Young Lords . 27. Interview with Cha-Cha Jimenez . .27 Origins of the Young Lords . 30 Before People Called Me a Spic, They Called Me a Nigger ....................36 YLP Editorial: Separation from the YLO...................................47 Central Committee .....................................................49 2 Years of Struggle......................................................51 The Young Lords Party (speech by Juan Gonzalez, 16 Nov. 1971)...............56 4 . On History . 71. Puerto Rican Obituary (by Pedro Pietri)...................................71 Malcolm Spoke for Puerto Ricans . 80 The Vote or the Gun ....................................................81 Lolita Lebron: Puerto Rican Liberation Fighter . 83 Sojourner Truth: Revolutionary Black Woman . .86 History of Cuba (parts 3 and 4)...........................................87 Editorial (Betances) ....................................................92 El Grito de Lares . .93 v vi Contents Albizu Campos . 95 History of Boriken (parts 1-13) . .98 5 . On Education and Students . 125. Community Education.................................................125 Student Conference . .126 H.S. Revolt! . 127 Seize the Schools! . .129 Puerto Rican Student Union . 130 6 . On Revolution, Nationalism, and Revolutionary Nationalism . 133. On Revolutionary Nationalism..........................................133 Puerto Rican Racism . 136 Felipe on Political and Armed Struggle ...................................138 Message from a Revolutionary Compañera ...............................144 Yanquis Own Puerto Rico . 146 Puerto Rican Society: An Analysis .......................................149 Armed Struggle (parts 1-3).............................................. 151 On Our Struggle ......................................................157 YLP on Elections......................................................161 7 . On Women in the Revolution . 163. Women’s Oppression: Cortejas . 163 Revolutionary Sister . .164 Sterilized Puerto Ricans ................................................165 An Interview with Blanca Canales . .167 Young Lords Party Position Paper on Women . .169 World of Fantasy ......................................................175 Madame Dinh . 177 Abortions ............................................................178 Position on Women’s Liberation .........................................180 Sexism...............................................................182 Women in a Socialist Society............................................183 8 . The Garbage Offensive . 185. Young Lords Block Street with Garbage . 185 El Barrio and YLO Say No More Garbage in Our Community . 186 9 . Health and Hospitals . 188 Ten Point Health Program..............................................188 Revolutionary Health Care Program for the People . 189 HRUM: Health Worker Organization . 191 Socialist Medicine .....................................................192 The Fight against Prospect Hospital......................................193 Think Lincoln . 194 Contents vii TB Truck Liberated....................................................196 Murder at Lincoln.....................................................198 Lincoln Hospital Must Serve the People . 199 Seize the Hospitals! . 200 10 . The People’s Church . 202 The People’s Church . .202 Interview with Yoruba . .203 Speech by Felipe Luciano...............................................208 Report Given to Rev. Pablo Cotto by Iris Luciano . 212 Julio Roldan People’s Defense Center Opens in the People’s Church . 215 Armense para Defenderse . 216 11 . Social Justice Programs . 218. YLO Feeds Children ...................................................218 Free Clothes for the People . .219 Breakfast Programs....................................................220 Socialism in Practice...................................................221 People’s Child Care Center . .222 Message to a Dope Fiend . 223 Heroin! From Where? .................................................224 Fight Drugs—to Survive . .226 Seize the Jails . .227 Free Martin Sostre! . .228 We Are All on Trial....................................................230 12 . Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization . 231. Editorial: 1st Party Congress . 231 Editorial . .232 Resolutions of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization . 235 Bibliography . 245 Index . .247 About the Editor . .253 An insert appears following page 160 . This page intentionally left blank Foreword Why Read the Young Lords Today? Iris Morales and Denise Oliver-Velez “¡El Pueblo Unido, Jamas Sera Vencido! The People United, Shall Never be Defeated!” Ten thousand people chanted and marched through the streets of El Barrio heading downtown on Lexington Avenue in New York City. The Young Lords had called the march to the United Nations to demand the end of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico, free- dom for Puerto Rican political prisoners, and an end to police brutality in our commu- nities. Young people, artists, and community activists joined it, excited to be part of the momentous event. Looking from the hilltop on 100th Street, we saw the bright purple, black, and maroon berets of the Young Lords, the Black Panthers, and the Puerto Rican Student Union. Activists from the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, El Comite, Justicia Latina, and others were also present. Young people wearing jeans and t-shirts, military jackets, dashikis, combat boots, and big Afros carried Puerto Rican flags and huge, almost ave- nue-wide banners that read, “Serve the people” and “Fight U.S. imperialism.” With con- fidence, we marched, believing deep in our hearts in the power of poor people to change the world. “¡Despierta Boricua, Defiende Lo Tuyo!” (Wake Up Boricua, Defend What Is Yours!) It was October 30, 1971. Some of the issues we faced as political young people back in those early halcyon days of the movements of the 1960s and ‘70s have changed. We were “BC”: “before crack.” There was no AIDS pandemic. Youth gangs didn’t have automatic weapons. No one had a com- puter, a cell phone, or email. There was no Homeland Security orPATRIOT Act. The World Trade Center hadn’t been built, much less destroyed. There were no music videos orMTV . Our rap music was spoken word poetry set to the sound of conga drums or do-wops sung on street corners. Oprah Winfrey didn’t have a TV show, and J-Lo hadn’t been born. The women and men whom we strove to emulate and live up to had names like Lolita Lebron, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Blanca Canales, and Fannie Lou Hamer. The “Rainbow Coalition” was Fred Hampton’s revolutionary vision of unity among poor people, not Jesse Jackson’s poverty program. When we entered the Young Lords in its early days, the leadership was all male. We helped to change that and to create an organization of young women and men strug- gling together to change the world and ourselves in the process. We connected to a larger movement in our opposition to the war in Vietnam. Inspired by the Cuban and Chinese revolutions and by the liberation struggles in Africa and