N.L.
During the Civil Rights era in the
United States, several ethnic and racial groups were elbowing their ways into
society in order to achieve their respective goals at enhancing the ways of
life for their people. Two specific groups included the Young Lords Party and
the Black Panthers Party. While both Latinos and blacks were struggling with
civil disobedience and attempting a nonviolent approach toward their troubles within
society, the two Young Lords and the Black Panthers tried different, more
radical, tactics that seemed outlandish at the time but were just as
successful in achieving the goal of liberating and uplifting their people. While the
government created policies in attempt to elevate the city by purging it of the
poorer neighborhoods, they used the space around them in order to justify their
beliefs and their causes. The true question, however,
is whether or not the actions of the Young Lords and Black Panthers were truly
successful in generating the change needed to increase equality among their
respective racial and ethnic groups.
Beginning as a gang, whose existence
was based on misdemeanors and negligence, the Young Lords Party evolved to take
a militant stance to benefit its Puerto Rican community and their “Latin
Brothers and Sisters…the Chicano people” (Viet Nam Generation Incorporated). In
order to make its point towards the independence of Puerto Rico, the party utilized
the public space of the Lexington Avenue Methodist Church in order to carry out
their free breakfast program and overtake a city testing truck for
tuberculosis, as well as set up daycares, health programs, and clothing drives
(Young 124; 126; 128). Each act was done with the cry of “fight police
repression” and “smash corrupt union leadership” (Young 133). The success of
their movement, however, isn’t debatable. Before the Young Lords’ short reign,
being a person of Latina/o decent was considered degrading and unfortunate.
After their resurgence, both Puerto Rican? men and women became advocates for
the cause while their demonstration could be found on the television and
printed in the paper because people began to become aware of the rights
deserved by every human being.
The Young Lords’ inspiration stemmed
from the Black Panthers, a group with a battle cry of, “We’re Afro-Americans!”
(Young 50). This
group watched from the sidelines as their people were kicked and sprayed with
water hoses by the police without raising a fist against them. The Black Panthers didn’t
believe in the submergence of civil disobedience that seemed to have killed
more than hurt their people. They, instead, wanted to raise a stir within the “ethical
sterility” presented by white liberalism (Young 50). Instead, the beliefs of
Malcolm X were intertwined with the Third World revolutionary ideas from Cuba.
In order to achieve their goals, the Black Panthers used public space to create
health clinics, where an awareness of diseases within the black community like
sickle-cell disease was provided (Hawkins). Members went into communities and
dealt with unruly landlords whom refused to provide necessary services in the
apartment complexes in which blacks were living (Hawkins).
Although each of these groups faced
stigmas from society, and the local governments within each city, they
both set out for a cause that bettered their respective ethnic and racial
communities: the Young Lords Party worked with the Latino community and the
Black Panther Party worked with the black community. Although many events still
occur even now that are questionably rooted in the conflict of racism, the
topic will cause great debate and opposition once it hits the press. This is
the change that the Black Panthers’ struggle and the Young Lord’s struggle in
the fight for equality among ethnic and racial groups has made. Society will no
longer ignore the injustices that it would have fifty years ago. Also, a resurgence of pride among the Latino and
black communities occurred during as cause to the militant stance taken by the
Black Panthers and the LatinosHad they never had taken their struggles to the
public spaces in their communities and attracted the attention of the press so
the world could see, the subject may still be one that is swept under the rug
by the public’s eye while each ethnic group would continue to struggle to keep
up with their white counterparts.
Works
Cited
Hawkins, B. Denise. "Black Panthers:
Activists for Healthy Communities." Diverse:
Issues in Higher Education (2012):
n.pag. Cox Matthews &
Associates Inc. Web. 20 Sep 2013.
Viet Nam Generation Incorporated, "13 Point
Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party." New World Order. N.p., n.d.
Web. 20 Sep 2013.
<http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/Young_Lords_platform.html>.
Young, Cynthia Ann. Soul Power: Culture, Radicalism,
and the Making of a U.S. Third World Left. Durham: Duke University Press,
2006. Print.
You make a good argument that even with decades of fighting against racial injustices, it is hard to see whether such struggle produced lasting change. Maybe some of the more blatant discrimination against blacks and latinos is less present, but there is still a lot of racism at the subconscious level. Recently I even heard someone telling a story that a young highly qualified black engineer at their firm was turned away for a position because of his dreadlocks making him less likely to "fit in." Stuff like that makes you wonder whether these groups provided real change. Additionally, it seems like some group is always going to be opposed by American white society. When blacks and latinos aren't being targeted, it seems that hostility shifts to muslims and even just people of middle eastern descent. It's a little discouraging to recognize that groups like the Black Panthers do not solve the idea of racism in general, but they do seem to gain victories and promote change.
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