The Origin and Early Presence of the Young Lords Party
The Young Lords Party was a group formed originally in Chicago by Puerto Rican youth who hoped to give a voice to minorities who lacked access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment. The Young Lords aimed to revolutionize civil rights for all people, particularly marginalized groups on the East Coast. Some of their biggest platforms included the independence and freedom of Puerto Rican people, political prisoners, and the retraction of military troops stationed in both Puerto Rico and Vietnam. Although their goals were tremendous in ambition, their method was rooted first in the well-being of their local community and therefore their impact paralleled their grandeur objectives.
This militant civil rights group based itself on the Black Panther Party, which started in Oakland, in 1966. As a result of the Black Panther Party's advocacy for self-defense violence against the police and open-carrying of guns in addition to the imprisonment of its group leaders—Bobby Seale and Huey Newton—people often recall the group as threatening. However, as was heavily inspiring for the Young Lords, this group is also known by many people of color for their initiatives in community service and programming. With the creation of "community survival programs" the Black Panther Party was able to repurpose abandoned infrastructure and turn it into centers for childcare and resource distribution.
Additionally, the Black Panther Party used its voice and momentum to advocate for a variety of minority groups and situations of disparity. Namely, education for welfare children, wrongful incarceration of people of color, and racism within systems of law and school in America. They did this via local campaigns, newspaper publications, press conferences, and demonstrations. The Young Lords used this model of activism to inspire their own initiatives. Hence the occurrence of the Garbage Offensive in New York City in 1969.
In the summer of 1969, many East Harlem activists were exhausted by the unsanitary and even unlivable conditions they were surrounded by. Uncollected, rotting trash would remain in the street for several weeks at a time, sweeping was a moot point and the capacity for trash in bins or receptacles was negligent considering the large portion of people who occupied these neighborhoods. After having asked the city for help with sanitation and the workers dumping more garbage in the streets and then asking the city for the tools to clean their community on their own, they took it upon themselves to take a stand and advocate for the suffering masses. The "garbage offensive" was the first campaign that this group of people organized and executed, it is a perfect example of how their impact and efforts to make a difference were rooted in their community first. Members of the Young Lords Party spent days sweeping up the uncollected trash and relocating it to sidewalks in anticipation of sanitation workers removing it. This was to no avail, so they began placing the garbage in the middle of the streets, adding in old furniture and appliances to the mess. The Young Lords believed that the city's refusal to help them out was indicative of racism held by the city's inner-Italian-working-circle.
“Coffee grounds and discarded milk containers…Garbage is also…the squalor that surrounds burned-out buildings and rubblestone lots, which kids play in because the playgrounds have gone to seed, while rats dance and junkies shoot up. Garbage is refuse dumped into ghetto areas by unscrupulous, often mob-controlled private carting companies who sometimes drop hazardous medical and other industrial wastes while looking for a short end run.” - Pablo Guzman
