Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez was written in 2000. The novel follows a young man named Chino and his life in Spanish Harlem, but one of the most important characters in the book is Willie Bodega. Quiñonez writes that Bodega was a member of the Young Lords when he was in his youth.
The New York chapter of the Young Lords Organization was founded on July 26, 1969. Although there was also another big chapter in Chicago, the NYC Young Lords quickly became the most prominent in social and political movements. The Young Lords were founded as a Puerto Rican nationalist group. They began as a turf gang, interested in cleaning up their neighborhood and supporting the people there. Their interest in helping their community continued until the FBI crippled and discredited the group in 1973. However, there are still Young Lords organizations and Puerto Rican Americans who identify with the group.
Palante is an important word for the Puerto Ricans. In turn, it became an important idea for the Young Lords. Palante became the name of one of the group's newspapers devoted to relaying their activities and ideology. The term is a contraction of two Spanish words para, meaning "for," and adelante, meaning "forward." Together, the phrase symbolizes the Young Lords' desire to improve the lives of their people.
The Young Lords developed a 13 Point Program that described their intentions in their community. The group wanted and worked for the self-actualization for Puerto Ricans and all Latinos, and they thought multicultural education was important. The Young Lords also stressed that machismo should never be oppressive, but instead, should be revolutionary and that men should support women as equals.
Lavonne,
ReplyDeleteThis was delightful to read, and a testimony to how an issue such as machismo can be constructed into something good. The idea that machismo should be revolutionary and aid in the movement which advocates for the equality for both sexes... wonderful stuff!
Based off of this new understanding of machismo in light of the Young Lord movement, I would be curious if any of their followers experienced racism, classism, and/or sexism within their ranks. As we both know, there is no such thing as a perfect society, so I would be intrigued to learn more about the inside world of the Young Lords. Is there any racism/classism/sexism present?
Finally, I was interested in learning more about their publication "Palante". What did you find out about this newspaper(?) other than that it leans toward progressivism? Would you as a future teacher support this ideology, and if so, why?
Thank you, just like Zach said, this was delightful to read. I did not know much about the Young Lords until this book. How they used poetry to make there point. They used newspaper to influence other Nuyoricans to support their cause. Though organization such as these may be violent, it always amazes me who organized and smart they are. That is the reason they rose to the power they got. Creating a 13 point system and trying to show woman as equals are bold movements. I appreciate the Young Lords for recognizing woman and trying to enforce that woman are equal. We do not see that enough.
ReplyDeleteWonderful research, background, and illustrations. Thanks for doing this post, which significantly adds to our class background knowledge on this novel.
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