Who were the Young Lords and what was the main purpose of their existance ?
The Young Lords, later Young Lords Organization and in New York (notably Spanish Harlem), Young Lords Party, was a Puerto Rican nationalist group in several United States cities, notably New York City and Chicago. The Young Lords began as a Chicago turf gang in the 1960s in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. When they realized that urban renewal was evicting their families and saw police abuses, they also became involved in the Division Street Riots in June 1966. While incarcerated, the President and one of 7 founding gang members, Jose (“Cha-Cha”) Jimenez began to read everything from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to Lenin and Mao. In September 1968, Jimenez reorganized the now defunct gang into a political human rights movement. Jimenez was then approached by Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton, who was still officially underground organizing and founding the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. The meeting took place in January 1969, right after the Young
