Comments on: What Can Radicals Learn from the Young Lords Party, 40 Years Later?

By: Young Lords forty (one) years later roundup « broken fence

Young Lords forty (one) years later roundup « broken fence — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:50:34 +0000

[...] ‘What Can Radicals Learn from the Young Lords Party, 40 Years Later?’ – Mediahacker [...]

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:10:15 +0000

here’s some video from the NYC anniversary, courtesy of Cha-Cha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJfGqZo0wUI
I’ll upload the (very very rough) audio files from the Chicago event last year in a sec and post up a link once it’s done.

and you definitely noted the community-centered organizing model that made the organization relevant and effective. i’m sorry i didn’t note that more closely. from everything i’ve heard and read, your paper cuts to the heart of what worked so well about what they did, but also what internal and external forces brought them down.

By: jojo

jojo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:53:03 +0000

trout’s piece here: http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/6808/young-lords-40th-anniversary/

By: Ansel

Ansel — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:04:06 +0000

Hey Frank, I’m absolutely interested in hearing the audio. Part of the reason I limited the focus of my paper to the New York YL chapter was the relative dearth of historical material available to me on the Chicago Lords. And I think I identified some of the positive lessons, including the one you mention about community accountability, in the paper.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:17:57 +0000

also, I can see your point about the movement’s collapse, but when you look at some of the organizing in Chicago, in particular their organizing with welfare recipients and occupation of welfare offices, I think there are a lot of positive lessons to take out about how movements can be accountable to the immediate needs of the communities that they are working in.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:10:57 +0000

I put together a brief piece on the Chicago Young Lord’s 40th anniversary for AREA magazine (http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/6808/young-lords-40th-anniversary/), and have audio recorded from the event if you want to check it out. Powerful stuff.

By: jojo

jojo — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:17:24 +0000

the quality of this piece is evidenced by the lack of any questions or challenges i can come up with. solid.
the parallels to today and to stories like common ground or the quick disintegration of pre-march 19, 2003 anti-war masses are plentiful and totally disheartening. how many times in the last 6 years have you worked with activists who refuse to work with this or that other person “ever again?”
my one offering is that perhaps we should build sunset mechanisms into our organizing rather than chasing “sustainability.” nature is born, lives, and inevitably dies. maybe we should expect the same for good ideas.
re: korean factory occupation. labor is not sexy. democracy now wants to be sexy.