I would like to reflect on the Young Lords’ independence effort within homeland. Despite the FBI’s infiltration in the party, the Young Lords were destiny to fail to spark insurrection in Puerto Rico. The first reason is because the party went to Puerto Rico with a set agenda. In the barrios in the US, the Lords became popular because they provided the people with services they requested, the street cleaning, morning breakfast, etc… The party never surveyed Puerto Ricans to identify the main issues prevalent to the people. Since the Lords never directly rallied the people to promote community needs, they were greeted as foreigners, specified within the video shown in lecture.
Another reason the Lords were ineffective was because radical movements work best when local leaders organize and unite the community under one identity. The Young Lord Party was already established as an US youth movement for latinos in urban barrios. The PN or PPD are prime examples of local movements gaining ground for unity and progression among Puerto Rican islanders.
In general, the Youth Lords’ inability to shift their focus from what they believed Puerto Rican islanders needed, to providing services similar to the tactics provided within the barrios, led to their fail. The party’s collapse was proliferated because of such failure (within Puerto Rico) and inner party decaying.
1 comment:
I think you are right again, Marcus. It seemed when I was watching the video that the Young Lords was destined to failed. It appeared to me that most of their support was indeed generated from the services they perovided to the poverty stricken areas of New York. I think, though, another reason why this party failed is because they tried to take on too many goals at one time, instead of pegging down one thing at a time. What I mean by this, is that they tried to gain too many rights, even though they were rights they should have been given.
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