Young Lords

Young Lords
AbbreviationYLO/YLP
FounderJose "Cha-Cha" Jimenez
FoundedSeptember 23, 1968 (1968-09-23)
Dissolved1976[1]
Split fromFuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña
Succeeded byEjército Popular Boricua
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
ColorsBlack, gold and purple
Slogan"Tengo Puerto Rico en mi corazon"
("I have Puerto Rico in my heart")
Young Lords logo on a building wall, December 27, 2003

The Young Lords[a] was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil rights and human rights organization.[2][3] The group, most active in the late 1960s and 1970s, aimed to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-determination for Puerto Rico, Latino, and colonized ("Third World") people.[4][5] Tactics used by the Young Lords include mass education, canvassing, community programs, occupations, and direct confrontation. The Young Lords became targets of the United States FBI's COINTELPRO program.[6]

In party platform points, the Young Lords may spell "American" as "amerikkkan" or "Amerikkkan"—expressing, among other things, opposition to U.S. military presence in Puerto Rico[7][8] The platform follows the mission clearly, stating: "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."[9][10]

  1. ^ Westcott, Jim (June 20, 2018). "A Brief History of the Young Lords". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018.
  2. ^ Grossman, Ron (8 July 2018). "The Young Lords: How a street gang turned to community activism". Chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  3. ^ "The Young Lords: The Puerto Rican Activists Who Shook Up NYC". Sum.cuny.edu. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. ^ Cortés, Carlos E. (2013). "Young Lords". Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. pp. 2217–2218. doi:10.4135/9781452276274.n911. ISBN 978-1-4522-1683-6. Gale CX3718500929.
  5. ^ Robbins, Cary (4 October 2023). "Young Lords celebrate 55 years of Puerto Rican resilience and look to new generation of activists". NBC Chicago. The DePaulia.
  6. ^ Caban, Pedro (January 2005). "Cointelpro". Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship (18).
  7. ^ "13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party". 2.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-05. 2. We want self-determination for all Latinos.
    Our Latin Brothers and Sisters, inside and outside the united states, are oppressed by amerikkkan business. [...]
    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.
  8. ^ Compare: "13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party". 2.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-05. 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.
  9. ^ "13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party". 2.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  10. ^ "The impact of The Young Lords". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.


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