YOUNG
LORDS HISTORICAL TIME LINE
( Dates approximate to relevant time line )
1945-1950
* WWII ends and and massive
unemployment forces Puerto Rican Jibaros to immigrate
as "Tomateros" or tomato pickers to
* Fomento replaces sugarcane industry and
other agriculture with industry and tourism in
*
* "Tomateros" continue to move
from
steel mills near
* Luis Munoz Marin begins
campaigning and becomes first popularly elected Puerto Rican
Governor.
1950-1955
* Luis Munoz Marin pushes for a
neo-colonial type of Commonwealth Status, acceptable to
the
60% unemployment in
* Massive migration increases, and in
Chicago, the first Puerto Rican barrios or communities:
La Madison and La Clark are formed. La
pockets from
La Salle, Wells, Halsted, including pockets near and buildings within
the Cabrini Green
housing complexes)
1955-1960
* The construction of the
destroys completely the Puerto Rican
communities of La Madison and La Clark, displacing
tens of thousands of (census
undocumented and politically powerless) Puerto Ricans and
other poor.
*
primarily, Puerto Rican neighborhoods.
* The Caballeros de
numerous churches through out
including Puerto Rican enclaves in Lakeview, Uptown,
La
within in the two main barrios of
1960-1965
* Poverty, lack of supervised youth
programs and the destabilization of Latino neighborhood
support networks,
via city sponsored urban renewal displacement, turns Y.M.C.A. youth
athletic clubs, into
hard core street gangs.
* White flight also uproots the
ethnics from
behind blighted,
unstable neighborhoods, ruled by absentee "politicos"
and absentee landlords
1966
* Right after the first Puerto Rican
parade, organized first as El Dia de San Juan, by the
Caballeros de
Puerto Ricans riot over a police shooting of an unarmed youth, at
Damen and Division
Streets, in La Division.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
YOUNG
LORDS ORIGINS
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 23rd 1968
* Reorganized by the
Founder/Chairman Jose (Cha-Cha) Jimenez, the Young Lords are
restructured into a human rights movement
for self determination for
other nations, and for neighborhood controlled
development and empowerment.
* Young Lords take over a Community
Conservation Council Meeting and completely
thrash the Department of Urban Renewal
Office.
* Local mafia owned real estate offices on
Young Lords, while one real estate owner points a submachine gun at
protesters,
and while policemen observe and make no
arrests.
* All windows of Anglo businesses on
streets are busted and boarded up, in a
preplanned riot, organized by Young Lords; and
including members, from all the gangs in
January,1969
* Young Lords begin setting up a
formal organizational structure, patterned after the
Black Panther Party's ministerial structure. They conduct political education classes
in homes.
* Young Lords, Lado, Black
Panthers, caseworkers and other activists together hold
a sit in at the
and a union for the employees.
* Corky Gonzalez, Reis Lopez
Tijerina, Cesar Chavez, Brown Berets, Black Berets and
Black Panther films and literature are shown for the first time to
the Young Lords and
the community of
* 200 persons picket Commander Brasch
and the 18th District Police Station after the
arrest of Cha-Cha Jimenez for Disorderly
Conduct and Mob Action, resulting from the
Urban Renewal office destruction. He is forced to be released on his
own Personal
Recognizance Bond.
* Young Lords take two busloads to Corky
Gonzalez's Crusade for Justice Conference
on Youth, in
* Demonstration at
Fred Hampton, of the Black Panthers and Young Lord, Jose
(Cha-Cha) Jimenez.
* Cha-Cha Jimenez is indicted by
Hanrahan's grand jury 18 times within a six week
period. Charges
range from alleged possession of marijuana, to aggravated battery against
police and numerous mob actions.
* Ralph Rivera and Cha-Cha Jimenez design
"Tengo Puerto Rico en mi corazon" button,
which becomes symbol or logo of the Young
Lords.
* Young Lords take over the 18th District
held inside the police station. They inform a jam pack audience that the
Young Lords
and their programs have been instituted to
protect and serve the community; and that
the police have harassed and perpetrated
violence against
* Meetings
begin with
Young Lord's programs; a free daily, "Breakfast for Children"
program, Emeterio Betances
Free Health Clinic, Puerto Rican Cultural Center and a free Community
Day Care Coop.
* Young Lords march with 10,000
persons, several miles; from Halsted and Armitage
through La Division and into
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
* Cha-Cha Jimenez is in the audience at
the
homage to Puerto Rican singer Daniel
Santos who asks him to say a few words, about the
Young Lords.
The same day the Puerto Rican students, protesting Puerto Ricans being
forced to fight in
* Chairman Fred
Hampton of the Black Panther Party asks Bill ( Preacherman) Fesperman
of the Young Patriots and Jose (Cha-Cha)
Jimenez of the Young Lords to join together,
in forming the Rainbow Coalition. They go on a joint speaking tour to promote
the coalition.
The initial organizing work predating the coalition was carried out, on
behalf of the
Black Panther Party, in Uptown and in
members, Field Marshall Bobby Lee and
his staff.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAKE-OVER
OF INSTITUTIONS
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
* Young Lords and 350 primarily, Latino
community residents, take over and sit-in at the
McCormick Theological Seminary administration building for one full
week, until their
demands are completely met:
-
$650,000 to be invested in low income housing in
-
$25,000 to open another free clinic, to be run by Lado for La Division (
-
$25,000 to open up the People's Law Office in
-
$25,000 committed (but never received) for a
People's Church
* Mayor Daley, States Attorney Edward
Hanrahan, Superintendent of Schools, James Redman,
Police Superintendent, James Conlisk and
publicized press conference, called for a
"War on Gangs." They specifically name the
Black Panthers, Young Patriots and Young Lords along with some
established street gangs
like: Black Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, Latin
Disciples and Black Stone Rangers, as their
targets.
* Manuel Ramos is shot in his face, outside
of Orlando Davila's( founder in 1959,with Cha-Cha
and 5 others, of the Young
James Lamb. Four Young Lords, the
Cuatro Lords, are arrested after making a
citizen's arrest
for aggravated battery, against James Lamb. Charges
against the Young Lords were later
dropped.
James Lamb was never charged nor reprimanded for shooting and killing
and
unarmed Latino, Manuel Ramos.
* 1000 community persons join the Young
Lords, dressed in black with purple berets and
their buttons at St. Teresa's
Catholic Church, for a funeral procession for Manuel Ramos. In
front of the procession are about 100
members of the Horseman Motorcycle Club; led by
David Rivera, Young Lord field marshal and also
the Horseman president. Prominent
Puerto Rican leaders also side with Young Lords against police
abuse, related to the
Manuel Ramos death.
* Young Lords take-over
Mexican-American, Luis Chavez and others)and
later the congregation renames the church,
People's Church. Felicitas Nunez, also
of proud Mexican heritage, paints murals of Adelita,
Emiliano Zapata, Lolita Lebron, Don Pedro Albizu Campos and the
National Young Lords
Logo (reading, "Tengo Puerto Rico En Mi
Corazon") on the outside church walls. The Young
Lords set up the Emeterio Betances Free Health Clinic, a
Puerto Rican cultural center, a free
community day care coop, a
free Breakfast for Children Program and their national
headquarters offices.
* Urban renewal land to be used for a
$1000 a year tennis court club is seized to prevent its
construction.
This site was once, several four story
structures connected together, that housed
about 35 Puerto Rican families. Over four hundred persons camp out for one
week in a tent
city, from Armitage to Dickens on
community convert the land into a People's
Park and playground equipment is constructed or
donated by local merchants.
* Young Lords donate and urge others
to donate blood for a near death Puerto Rican
businessman, after his family seeks help
at People's church.
* Young Lords march to Humbolt Park
with over 10,000 persons, many in purple berets and
carrying Puerto Rican flags and posters of
Manuel Ramos and Don Pedro Albizu Campos.
* An
east coast regional chapter of the Young Lords is opened up in
People's grassroots movement, begins to sprout up on its own
in various cities, nationally.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
BUILDING
SOLIDARITY
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
* Young Lords are asked by
Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton and the
to help mobilize demonstrators to protest
at the downtown
the
* Young Lords visit
strengthen unity with several organizations, including:
the Black Panthers, S.D.S., new left
groups, Crusade for Justice, Black Berets, Alurista
and the Aztlan Movement and the
Brown Berets.
* Chapter of the Young Lords opens up in
* Young Lords march in solidarity with
the (I.W.W) International Workers of the World in
* Several Young Lords from
Nationalist Party, to march at the annual Grito de Lares demonstration
in Jayuya, Puerto Rico
* The Catholic Caballeros de
and they vote unanimously to volunteer
and support the Young Lords and their neighborhood
programs.
* The Puerto Rican Catholic bishop, Antulio
Parrilla travels to
Young Lord's People's Church. He then celebrates a public mass for the
Young Lords at a
Catholic Church in
* Young Lords visit
Richard Oakes. The Young Lords
witnessed Richard Oakes' new born baby, allegedly being
dropped accidentally from a ferry, and drowning
in
* The Emeterio Betances Free Health
Clinic screens people in
lead poisoning.
* Young Lords Communications Secretary
Angela Adorno meets with Vietnamese Women at a
* Young Lords organize the
and draw up plans for a low income housing
development, at Larrabee and Armitage Streets.
It is endorsed by the community, a coalition of churches, renown architect, Buckminster Fuller
and the former head of the Department of Urban
Renewal, Ira Bach. However, it was still
rejected by Mayor Daley's housing committee of
the city council. They claimed that the
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPRESSION
OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT
____________________________________________________________________________________________________-
* Gang Intelligence Unit and the Chicago
Red Squad station a police car, parked 24 hours a day,
photographing anyone entering or leaving the
Young Lords People's Church ( later it was also
discovered that "Cointelpro" among
other acts was also involved in inciting riots at
demonstrations, infiltration, door to door rumor
or discreditation campaigns and creating
divisions within the new left, Latino and
African American movements.
* Police harass visitors and attempt to
incite a riot in People's Park. While
attempting to calm the
crowd, several Young Lords are arrested and
charged with mob action.
* UPTIGD(United People to Inform Good Doers)
is formed by Alderman McCutheon to collect
data; including going through the Young
Lord's People's Church garbage cans. This
information is
then prepared into letters and flyers to
discredit the Young Lords leadership and to remove
pastor of People's Church, Rev. Bruce Johnson. The flyers are passed at suburban Methodist
Churches and the letters are sent to the bishop of
the
remove Rev. Bruce Johnson and the Young
Lords from People's Church.
* Alderman
McCutheon's press conference is taken over by Young Lords. The media is reminded
by Young Lords that the Alderman had been
arrested for soliciting prostitutes in
harassing Young Lords with UPTIGD and is part
of the old Alderman Paddy Bauer's organization,
well known for their mafia ties.
* Cha-Cha Jimenez and Deputy Chairman Fred
Hampton are arrested together, for an alleged
assault and battery on police, at the
up by police.
Rev. Maria de Lourdes Porrata is also assaulted by a welfare caseworker.
*
work on their own. In an effort to maintain
solidarity and a united Puerto Rican
movement, national headquarters recognizes
that some of
discipline and lack of professionalism are
truly legitimate. The original Young
Lords did develop
in
was grassroots. "Now, these high school drop
outs were just beginning to transform their lives
through activism. Mayor Daley was also not as liberal as
Mayor Lindsey and the police
repression in
originally developed from primarily
student organizations and had not yet experienced the type
of repression leeched out by
them. There
was also, in Mayor Daley's
anything related to the Young Lords, who were
constantly attacking the mayor's urban renewal
plans and his leadership. Therefore, no monies, infiltration by
police agents, arrests on its
leadership, minimal communication, lack of
professional skills in Chicago, growing pains and
regional prides, contributed to. the Young Lords split.
It probably also contributed to the splits
within several other prominent movement
groups. The Young Lords leadership,
in
and other cities nationally, is
always greatly appreciated by National in
unselfish and committed role models. The times and conditions are
just different in both cities
but both cities
and memberships are needed to go forward in a true
People's led movement, for
Puerto Rican self determination and community
empowerment. Both cities together represent the
diasporas and over half of the Puerto
Rican population in the world. The Young
Lords
representatives who attended the
meeting embraced and all agreed to work together, as
revolutionary companeros. The rest is a combined Young Lord and Latino
history.
* Jose (Pancho Lind )
is killed with baseball bats by an all white street gang. One of the killers is
the brother of one of the
first policemen at the scene. Important
evidence is compromised and
no one is ever convicted, even though there are
court filled rooms and plenty of protest marches
outside the court house.
* Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton is set up
and drugged by police informant William O'Neal
and murdered in a predawn raid organized
by State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan, and a
special police team.
* Pastor of Young Lords People's
Church, the Methodist Rev. Bruce Johnson is found by a postal
worker, stabbed 17 times and his
wife, Eugenia stabbed 9 times. The
Young Lords opened up the
Church and cooperated but the case has
never been solved, nor investigated fully by the police.
* After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and receiving
a one year sentence for the infamous $23
lumber case, Cha-Cha Jimenez requests
personal time from the court, prior to being jailed, and
goes underground. An underground training school is set up to
train Young Lords leadership, to
take over the organization.
* Two and a half years after the Young
Lords go underground as a group, Cha-Cha Jimenez
agrees to turn himself in to begin serving
the one year sentence and fight the ten remaining
felony charges.
Young Lords and 500 supporters greet
Cha-Cha Jimenez, exactly three years
after the murder of Fred Hampton, on
December 4th 1972, in front of the Town Hall District
police station.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
PROTRACTED
STRUGGLE
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
* The Young Lords, led now by Angie
(Navedo) Adorno( because Cha-Cha Jimenez was
incarcerated) posted a $75,000 cash
bond for the ten remaining felony charges and
Cha-Cha Jimenez was released. Soon
after his release, the Intercommunal Survival Front
led by Walter (Slim ) Coleman, the local
United Farm Workers led by Marcos Munoz,
American Indian Movement and some remaining members of the Black
Panthers ( others
were disbanded or in
Bobby Seale's mayoral campaign )joined the
Young Lords, for a press conference
announcing the Jose (Cha-Cha) Jimenez bid for 46th ward
alderman.
* The Young Lords came in second and
garnered 39% of the votes, in an area now being
gentrified, with only 1000 Latino registered
voters.
* Right after the Aldermanic Campaign, the
Puerto Rican FALN group is arrested in
The same week Cha-Cha Jimenez is also arrested and charged with an
alleged kidnapping of
a United States Census supervisor, in support
of the arrested FALN freedom fighters. He
demands trial, since there was no kidnapping; and
constitutionally anyone has a right to support
any cause within the
Cook County Jail, awaiting trial; Cha-Cha Jimenez is released, when time
expires on the four
month speedy trial law. There are no witnesses or accusers
voluntarily brought into court, by
the State's Attorneys Office.
* Young Lords, including a new generation of
Young Lords (to avoid being labeled as a gang)
work under the name of the Puerto Rican
Diaspora Coalition, and become the first Latino
group to hold a public rally, for the mayoral
campaign of Harold Washington.
* Right after the victorious election of
Harold Washington, the Young Lords organize together
with the Puerto Rican Parade Committee of
Chicago and the new mayor's Office of Special
Events and Cha-Cha Jimenez introduces Harold Washington, before a crowd
of 100,000
Puerto Ricans in
* In the fall of 1995,Young Lords' Tony
Baez from
Rivero and Angie Adorno are brought together by Cha-Cha Jimenez, to
form the
Project, which will begin to archive and document Young Lord history and the history of the
complete displacement of Puerto Ricans, Latinos
and the poor of
Center for Latino Research. A collection is being housed at DePaul's
* The Young Lords show support for the
protesters at Vieques,
the fight for stable neighborhoods and to end
Latino and poor People displacement, by
celebrating Puerto Rican Independence
Day or El Grito de Lares, with the opening of
Lincoln Park Camp, near Grand Rapids, MI. This becomes an annual event for supporters.
* April 2007,
Conference, and Jacqui Lazu premiere's her play: The Block-El Bloque, A
Young Lords Story.