Pa'lante!
In the summer of 1969, the Young Lords began collecting garbage. Despite a history of complaints, it had been left to pile up in El Barrio, the neighborhood most New Yorkers called Spanish Harlem. These self-determined revolutionary activists — comprised largely of Nuyoricans, including founding member and current CBS reporter Pablo Guzmán — eventually hauled the trash into the middle of Third Avenue during rush hour, and set it ablaze. That caught New York’s attention. As the NYPD claims all documentation pertaining to surveillance of the group was destroyed, Darrel Wanzer-Serrano’s The New York Young Lords and the Struggle for Liberation relied on interviews, articles, and first-hand accounts to provide a rich history of the group. Over eight intense years, the Lords used protest and direct action to expose inequities — they “liberated” medical equipment and organized tests for lead poisoning and TB, which were rampant in poor neighborhoods; they forcibly occupied a church for 11 days, offering free breakfast to school children, along with clothing and daycare; they seized a dilapidated hospital and demanded improved health services. Eventually, infighting, infiltration, a suspicious prison suicide, and a misguided attempt to support armed revolution from within Puerto Rico led to their dissolution.
415-826-8009
