In the fall of 1969, the Young Lords entered into a tense dispute with an evangelical church in East Harlem, whose facility the group wished to use to launch a Black Panther-style breakfast program for neighborhood children. The Puerto Rican radicals “occupied” the church and turned it into a staging ground for their political vision of a socialist society. The conflict drew the involvement of clergy, government officials, media, East Harlem residents, movement organizations and community group representatives.
During the eleven days, the conflict became a microcosm of the new face of postwar, urban America and its problems. Newspapers visually captured and commented on the multi-ethnic/multi-racial character of the organization, a reflection of the demographic transformation of the city. Amidst a rising crisis of permanent unemployment in East Harlem, the Lords engaged in a polemic against the church’s culture of poverty ideology, which blamed Puerto Ricans for structural problems. Amidst the city’s health crisis and an acrimonious fight in the public schools over community control of education, the Lords initiated a community health clinic and liberation school that drew thousands of visitors to the occupied church. Through this the Young Lords created a counter-narrative to postwar media representations of Puerto Ricans as junkies, knife wielding thugs, and welfare dependents that replaced traditional stereotypes with powerful images of radical, strategic, and outspoken resistance. The Young Lords’ dramatic action and polemics represent the best of New Left militancy which helped establish Puerto Ricans as serious players in New York City politics.
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