Cha Cha Jimenez: A Young Lord

Cha-Cha Jimenez:

A Young Lord

Cha-Cha Jimenez: A Young Lord

An Autobiography by Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez

Edited by: Antonio Lopez, Michael Prindle, Hannah Burton, and Jonathan

Lewandowski

With Special Thanks to the friends of the

Young Lords and volunteers

Written in 2011.

Jose Cha - Cha Jimenez

José (Cha-Cha) Jiménez is one of the seven founders of the Young Lords street

gang in Chicago, and the founder of the Young Lords as a national human rights

movement in 1968. He was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico to Jíbaro parents, Eugenia

Rodríguez Flores of San Lorenzo and Antonio Jiménez Rodríguez of the barrio of

San Salvador in Caguas on August 8, 1948

Family background

After giving birth to Jose (Cha-Cha) Jiménez, Doña Genia, as she was known, boarded a

small two engine plane and took her new son to New York City. There they missed one

bus. And later boarded another Greyhound bus traveling to a migrant camp near Boston

where Cha Cha’s father Tono was anxiously pacing waiting on them. Genia spoke no

English. This was her first time traveling alone outside of Puerto Rico. They rented a tiny

house from the Italian family owners of the migrant camp. And lived near the greenhouse

where the tomato seedlings were housed for the winter. Doña Genia improvised her own

job by ironing Sunday clothes for the migrant farm workers.

In less than two years the Jiménez family moved to Chicago to be near other relatives.

And as soon as they arrived to Chicago, Doña Genia landed work instantly in a

downtown candy factory. She later worked piece work in several TV factories while

raising her family. Doña Genia also volunteered and contributed to the organizing of the

Catholic Daughters of Mary (Damas de Maria) in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Growing up, Cha-Cha lived with his family near Holy Name Cathedral, at the north side

of downtown, in one of the first two Puerto Rican barrios in Chicago. It was named La

Clark by Puerto Ricans. And Dona Genia was an active member of the community. Later

in Lincoln Park, Orlando Dávila, who later founded the Young Lords street gang,

graduated from one of Doña Genia's catechism classes. It was there that Orlando became

one of Cha Cha’s best friends.

The original mission of the Young Lords street gang was protection, recognition and

reputation. It was intertwined culturally with gaining “respeto” for Latinos from the other

white Lincoln Park gangs. When the Young Lords initially formed the white ethnic gangs

began to feel encroached upon. They viewed Latinos as a major disruption to their once

white stable working-class section of Lincoln Park. Their families were becoming part of

the white flight phenomena as many were beginning to move north into the Lakeview and

the Uptown neighborhoods. Still other families were fleeing to the west suburbs. Like the

thousands of other white families that moved to the suburbs during this period, they

wanted to get away from the newly arrived Latinos, Blacks and White poor. Most of the

new Hispano children in Lincoln Park would eventually be forced to join some form of a

street gang or neighborhood "club." This was not due primarily to poverty but more from

the unstable conditions brought about by housing dislocation that existed within the

neighborhood.

Lincoln Park Urban Removal

During the 1960s, the city's urban renewal program, which originally pushed Puerto

Ricans into the unstable turbulence of Lincoln Park, began to aggressively force them out

once again. Latinos would have to break-up and cripple the foundation of their newly

built barrio community, which they were attempting to construct for their children and

families. Then as before, they would be forced to live in a disorganized limbo. This

displacement was funded federally and vigorously promoted by Mayor Richard J. Daley

and his Chicago political machine. Chicago history has proven that this plan was clearly

designed to cleanse the entire lakefront and downtown areas of the existing low income

Blacks, Latinos and poor whites. City planners convincingly argued that it was necessary

to make Lincoln Park an inner city suburb, in order to attract professionals and increase

profits from taxes and housing turnovers. But city leaders never recognized the negative

impact that city sponsored gentrification and discrimination would have on children.

The Daley urban renewal, Chicago 21, housing plan began in the Lincoln Park

neighborhood of Chicago. Investors, developers, and the Chicago patronage machine

feasted, without regulatory checks and balances, on this modern day land grab. Next to

Lake Michigan and next to downtown Chicago, it has become a showcase as one of the

richest neighborhoods of the world. Mayor Richard J. Daley was able to camouflage the

atrocities by locating financing for "neighborhood" associations who promoted his city

hall rubber-stamped housing plans. He also facilitated contracts and placed developer

friends on all city boards and committees. Neighborhood associations like the Lincoln

Park Conservation Association never included the voices of the poor residents. These

neighborhood associations assisted Mayor Daley by changing zoning laws, calling for

building inspectors to pressure small owners to sell and facilitating real estate agents and

bankers with neighborhood housing group tours.

This organized defrauding of prime real estate land, then owned by low income

homeowners also served to increase kick-backs to the local politicians. That is why they

did not fight it. Furthermore, it was these same local politicians who concocted,

maintained, and uplifted as spokespersons for the neighborhoods; these neighborhood

associations. At best, these neighborhood associations only represented the few large

building owners of the eastern part of Lincoln Park or the gold coast. They never

represented the gold coast renters and the Lincoln Park working class mid-section renters

and low income homeowners.

The bankers, building inspectors and real estate agents who supported the Richard J.

Daley master plan for Chicago were caught illegally redlining but were still able to keep

Blacks south of North Avenue. Latinos were forced up north or west into Lakeview,

Wicker Park and Humboldt Park. While the white ethnics and the working poor were

pushed even further northwest and north. The few winning court rulings were too little

too late as families were once again forced out of their homes in Lakeview, Wicker Park

and the Humboldt Park neighborhoods.

The Young Lords Organization and Human Rights

When the Young Lords began as a street gang they respected and looked for guidance

from the dominant Black gangs like the Egyptian Cobras and Conservative Vice lords.

They were also looking for guidance from a new large group that hailed from the Urban

Renewal designated area of 63rd street called the Black P. Stone Nation. The Black

Gangster Disciples also originated from this same urban renewal dislocated district but

were not yet in existence.

Most of the club gangs already had gang sweaters that they attained by raising monies

through their events. The Young Lords also wanted an all Black with a Purple shoulder

stripe sweater. Cha-Cha Jiménez suggested a new position called business manager to get

money for the sweaters. Since no one knew what the position entailed, including Cha-

Cha, he was drafted into it. Later, when new elections came under the guidance of these

Wright Junior College students, Cha-Cha was elevated and elected president around the

fall of 1965. It was at this time that Cha-Cha Jimenez had to use and develop leadership

skills quickly.

He organized dances and collected dues that enabled the Young Lords to raise enough

money for their new gang sweaters. The group grew fast and spread to several branches

throughout Lincoln Park and beyond. This included a section in Old Town, Halsted and

Dickens, and Adams Playground, another in Evanston with a small grouping in Pilsen

and a few women auxiliaries called the Young Lordettes. But after Cha-Cha Jiménez led

the Young Lords transformation from the gang into a human rights movement, both male

and female members were called Young Lords. And with this human rights move, Cha-

Cha Jimenez was even more sought out and harassed by police. Before, in every jail

institution in Illinois there were Young Lords incarcerated for criminal crimes. Now it

was for their involvement in peaceful demonstrations to save their community from

developers. And their sentences and charges were framed up more serious; such as the

charge of mob action and inciting to riot, even before the demonstrations took place.

Back in 1967 most of the white ethnic working-class areas of Lincoln Park had

transformed into primarily Latino strongholds. Many Anglos followed the white flight to

the suburbs. The Young Lords now in their late teens without a gang war or organized

meetings at the YMCA, ceased to exist as an organized gang. They still hung around

together in certain locations but now there was no structure. This led many to lead a

chaotic and drug filled life without purpose. Many got married and moved away without

any contact. Many were on active duty in Vietnam. Others, including Cha-Cha Jiménez

were still on street corners, in and out of jail, or incarcerated for different gang and drug

related crimes. The youth of Lincoln Park were now more involved in car thefts, purse

snatchings, burglaries, armed robberies, drugs, stabbings, shootings and many disorderly

conducts. Cha-Cha and a few Young Lords eventually fell victim to hard drugs like

heroin and cocaine. Still others were pushed out by urban renewal into different

neighborhoods and became part of other larger "super gangs." Some became heads of

these gangs but never opposed the Young Lords.

In the summer of 1968, Cha-Cha was picked up for possession of heroin and was given a

60-day sentence at Cook County Jail, then called the Bradwell or House of Correction. It

was in this jail that Cha-Cha Jimenez decided to devote his life to the cause of human

rights. The Catholic Thomas Merton’s book that he read in the "hole" of Bradwell jail

had a strong impact on Cha-Cha Jiménez, who had earlier contemplated becoming a

priest. He reflected on his past and decided to quit drugs. Cha-Cha then asked for the

jailhouse priest and knelt down beside his steel cell bars, of this old civil war jail cell and

told his confession. Books were given to him by a Black Muslim who was the inmate

librarian that traveled down the galleries with a cart filled with books. Secluded on the

third floor gallery he continued his readings about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X and

Black Nationalism and about the organizing of the Black Panthers for self defense. The

Muslim at first looked at Cha-Cha Jiménez with scorn due to Jiménez's light skin and

blue eyes. A cousin of Cha-Cha Jiménez, who was a Jiménez of dark complexion and

locked up in the same "hole" smoothed things out. He explained to the Black Muslim that

most Puerto Ricans are a mixture of three cultures: African, Spanish European, and

Indigenous Peoples. This mixture of People was apparent even within families.

During this same period, rioters were being brought in mass into the jail after the King

assassination. Undocumented Mexican workers were also rounded up in yearly raids by

immigration authorities. They had to pass through the north cell house maximum security

for processing. Some white and Black guards would mock the Mexicans and push them

around. Cha-Cha Jiménez requested and was given permission to translate for these

Mexican workers. But he was only allowed by yelling the questions and answers from the

third floor bars of his cramped cell. These experiences made a captive Cha-Cha Jiménez

realize the need to fight for human rights. He was determined to duplicate a Black

Panther Party for self-defense within the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. It was his

intention to give up useless gang fighting and expensive, time-consuming drugs so that he

could devote all of his time to this new People's Movement.

Under the leadership of Cha-Cha Jimenez, the Young Lords transformed into the Young

Lords Organization and staged a series of grassroots actions on behalf of the poor people

of Lincoln Park. They disrupted Lincoln Park Conservation Association meetings in

Lincoln Park, confronted the exploitative real-estate brokers and landlords, created the

Peoples Church and the Peoples Park, and forced the McCormick Theological Seminary

to provide resources for the community. In response to the police murder of Manuel

Ramos they marched against police brutality, and contributed the seed money for the

creation of the Peoples Law Office in Chicago. The Young Lords Organization also

developed plans for low-income housing in Lincoln Park in an effort to prevent the

displacement of the entire Latino community. With the revolutionary slogan “Tengo

Puerto Rico en mi Corazon” the Young Lords advocated and marched for the

Independence of Puerto Rico from United States colonial rule. The original Chicago

Young Lords became the national headquarters and provided leadership and grassroots

guidance to other Young Lords chapters in places like: New York, Philadelphia, and

Milwaukee.

The Young Lords also

interconnected with other

Latinos working for change in

other neighborhoods of

Chicago. In Wicker Park they

connected with the Latin

American Defense

Organization (LADO) and

supported their demonstrations

for a welfare caseworkers

union and for dignified

recipient rights. The Lakeview

Citizen's Council, with Hilda

Frontany as its leader, became

proactive, well organized and

supportive of the Young Lords.

David Hernandez and his La

Gente Organization also of the Lakeview neighborhood was a strong ally in their fight

against gentrification. In Humboldt Park, it was Mecca Sorrentini and the Puerto Rican

Socialist Party (PSP), the Spanish Action Committee (SACC), Puerto Rican Organization

for Political Action (PROPA), West Town Concerned Citizens Coalition, and Allies for a

Better Community (ABC). They were all tight partners with the Young Lords and

proactive in the many downtown marches against Mayor Richard J. Daley.

The Young Lords were already connected to Oakland but were recruited by Chairman

Fred Hampton into the original Rainbow Coalition with the Young Patriots and the Black

Panther Party. Several survival programs modeled after the Black Panther Party were

instituted by the Young

Lords at the Chicago People's

Church and in other cities.

These included a free

breakfast for children

program, the Emeterio

Betances Free Health Clinic,

a Free Dental Clinic and the

first Free Community Day

Care Center in Chicago. The

day care center was put in

place to facilitate the

involvement of women in the

Young Lords' organizing

activities. It was like a co-op

with male and female parents

taking turns baby sitting their Rainbow Coalition Press Conference 1969

children. There were many large demonstrations organized by the Young Lords in

Chicago and in other cities for welfare dignity, women's rights, against police brutality

and racism, and for self-determination for Puerto Rico and other Latin American nations.

People’s Church in 1969 Church: Photo taken in 2011

Young Lords Symbol

The Struggle Continues

The December 4,

1969 assassinations

of Chairman Fred

Hampton and Mark

Clark demonstrated

to all the

reactionary violence

of the FBI and the

Chicago police

aimed at preventing

young people from

building unity and

addressing

problems of poverty

and exploitation in

their communities.

Cha-Cha, Bill Hampton, Iberia Hampton, Melisa Jimenez-Haffey

(pictured left to right)

This was preceded in late October 1969 with the unsolved multiple stabbing murders, of

the United Methodist pastor of the National Young Lords People's Church, Rev. Bruce

Johnson along with his wife Eugenia killed in their home. Like many other revolutionary

activists involved in the struggle for freedom in Chicago, Cha-Cha Jimenez was

persecuted for his political beliefs and his organizing abilities. After going underground

in 1970 for two and a half years, he was eventually forced to serve one year in Cook

County Jail for a charge of petty theft of lumber, related to reactions to court imposed,

day care center code violations and fines. Despite this repressive setback, Cha-Cha

returned upon his release from the one year in the Cook County Jail, to the neighborhood

politics of Chicago and ran for alderman of the 46th ward. He garnered 39% of the vote.

And became the first Latino to run and oppose Mayor Richard J. Daley's political

machine.

It was early in September 1973 when Jiménez announced his campaign in a United Methodist

Church basement of Pastor Fines Flores church. The press tried to be polite and say that he

was a former Young Lord. But Cha-Cha would answer, "No, I'm not a former Young Lord. I

am still a proud Young Lord." Some on the left criticized Cha-Cha Jiménez and the Young

Lords for becoming electoral reformists, but the campaign was following the Black Panther

Party line. Then, Chairman Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers was also running for Mayor of

Oakland. It was also a "Rainbow Coalition" of activists, always relating back to Chairman

Fred Hampton and just before the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson also coined the name for his

Rainbow Push Coalition. The Young Lords welcomed this idea. It is a respectful tribute. And

more important shows the influence of Chairman Fred Hampton. There were also remnants

of the Uptown Young Patriots organizing efforts working within the campaign. Walter

"Slim" Coleman then also re-organized white supporters of the Black Panther Party’s

Intercommunal Survival Committees. They opened up the Uptown Community Service

Center and joined in support of the Young Lords and the 46th Ward Jiménez Aldermanic

Campaign.

Cleaning up Wilton and Grace Streets Campaign Interview

The campaign became more citywide in its reach but was fought locally. To Cha-Cha

Jimenez the election was not about his personal career but about the lives of the People of

his neighborhood fighting in a protracted struggle for community empowerment. It was

about the Richard J. Daley machine's destruction of Latino and poor communities to

increase his tax base. Throughout the campaign, it was not the machine's liberal

candidate, Chris Cohen who was being assailed for housing discrimination and the

displacement of Latinos and the poor from the lakefront and downtown; but the

conservative Mayor Richard J. Daley. Without much of a budget, campaign workers

organized many "cafesitos" and rallies. In a ward with only 1000 Latinos registered; the

final tally was 39% for Cha-Cha Jimenez. Only 51% was needed to win. It was supposed

to be a loss but since it was Jiménez’ first campaign and a major Latino battle, it became

a victory. Some even said that the election was stolen. But Cha-Cha conceded and vowed

to continue the struggle. The campaign forced opened wide many doors in Chicago for

Latinos, especially in the local political arena, as Daley's machine worked hard in an

attempt to co-opt and to silence this grassroots movement.

But it was not long after the Aldermanic campaign that the former drug abuser and

former gang leader relapsed back into a substance abuse problem. Some time later, Cha-

Cha for his first time sought help and entered for seven months into an inpatient

substance abuse program at Tinely Park, Illinois. It housed 120 residents, primarily

African American, and moved patients through a graduated level system. The residents

themselves ran the program as they graduated from lower levels. Cha-Cha graduated

from the bottom to the top until he ran the internal program for several months. He came

out, and with help from a former resident of Tinely Park got a job as a janitor, and then as

an entry level substance abuse counselor for BASTA Inc. After a year he studied and

passed the requirements to become a credentialed substance abuse counselor. Much later

in Michigan he became an assistant to the program manager or Senior Counselor of a

Hispanic Residential Program.

Still, Cha-Cha's passion has always been the Young Lords and neighborhood organizing.

In 1983 Cha-Cha again reentered Chicago politics to campaign for Harold Washington,

to become the first black mayor of Chicago. The Young Lords were the first Latino group

early on, to publicly support Harold Washington for mayor. After volunteering and

becoming north side Latino precinct coordinator for the Harold Washington mayoral

campaign, Cha-Cha Jiménez held the first Latino rally for him in Humboldt Park at North

West Hall. More than one thousand (1000) persons attended. Now working from the

Fullerton and Western Avenue offices, Young Lord managed precincts were carrying an

average of 73 to 90% for Harold Washington. After the newly elected Mayor Harold

Washington won the election, the mayor decided to hold the first time "Neighborhood

Festivals." The first one was to be held in Humboldt Park. The Young Lords helped to

organize this first June, 1983 festival by working together as new representatives of the

mayor, with the office of Special Events and the Puerto Rican Parade Committee. Cha-

Cha was the only community representative on stage and he introduced Harold

Washington, the newly elected first African American mayor of Chicago, before a crowd

he helped organize of 100,000 Puerto Ricans in Humboldt Park. The first 30,000 of them

were wearing Young Lords buttons that read "Tengo Puerto Rico en mi Corazon." At this

celebration, Cha-Cha Jiménez introduced Mayor Harold Washington with the words,

You, the youth of our community. Some of whom have been misunderstood, forced to live

under inhumane conditions, beaten by police, manipulated by everyone, and then blamed

by all. You, the youth of our community are our future leaders and you will get us what

we want. And what do we want? Auto determinacion para los Puertorriquenos: self-

determination for the Puerto Rican People. And please stop treating our freedom fighters

who have martyred their lives for our rights as animals. The Puerto Rican Diaspora

Coalition will not tolerate it. If the People of El Salvador can ask for self-determination,

if the People of Nicaragua can ask for self-determination, if the People of Ireland can ask

for self-determination, if the People of Poland can ask for self-determination, if Black

People in America can stand up and demand self-determination, then Puerto Ricans

demand self-determination. Y con eso en mente le presento el mejor alcalde en toda la

historia de Chicago, Mayor Harold Washington.

This electrified the crowd. It was quiet but from a slow soft tone, the crowd began

clapping, until the clapping sounded as loud as thunder. But it remained peaceful and the

crowd felt more united, unlike the many other years when violence had become common

place following Puerto Rican Day parades. Mayor Harold Washington answered with "I

agree with everything Cha-Cha said" and vowed publicly to place Latinos in upper and

mid management positions in his new administration. After his speech the crowd was

treated to the free music of Willie Colon. Willie Colon began with, "Soy un extranjero en

mi propia tierra" or I am a stranger in my own land, as a tribute to Cha-Cha. That evening

the event was reported in all local and some national media. The Young Lords buttons

were seen being worn by individuals, at many bus and El Stops for several weeks.

Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez has given his life to the revolutionary struggle of poor people,

people of color, and particularly Latinos. Now working in Michigan as a gang and youth

counselor, he continues to advocate for social change. He still speaks out against the

mistreatment of the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, the military occupation of Vieques,

the need for Rainbow Coalition politics, and the displacement of poor communities due

to economic development plans. He also continues to share the history of the Young

Lords Organization and is a source of knowledge and inspiration for younger people of

all backgrounds.

Cha-Cha Jimenez speaking on Rainbow Coalition at DePaul University

Meeting with Universes Theatre Group at Loyola University

References

1. Padilla, Felix. Puerto Rican Chicago. 1987.

2. Perez, Gina M. The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, and Puerto

Rican Families. 2005

3. Judson Jeffries, “From Gang-bangers to Urban Revolutionaries: The Young Lords of

Chicago,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (Autumn 2003)

4. Frank Browning, “From Rumble to Revolution: The Young Lords” Ramparts (October

1970)

5. Padilla, Felix. Puerto Rican Chicago. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1987

6. Glenda Sampson, “Lincoln Park: A Community in Crisis” Chicago Today Magazine,”

August 3, 1969

7. Mike Royko, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago, I971

8. Arnold R. Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-60,

1983

9. “The Young Lords and Early Chicago Puerto Rican Gangs” an Interview with Mervin

Mendez, http://gangresearch.net/ChicagoGangs/latinkings/lkhistory.html

10. Interview with Cha-Cha Jimenez


12. Lilia Fernandez, Latina/o Migration and Community Formation in Postwar Chicago:

Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Gender and Politics, 1945-1975 (PhD Dissertation:2005)

13. “Fight at Lincoln Park Meeting” Chicago Today, July 30, 1969

14. Thomas Dolan, “600 March to Protest Youth’s Death, Chicago Sun Times, May 14, 1969

15. Johanna Fernandez, “Between Social Service, Reform and Revolutionary Politics: The

Young Lords, Late Sixties Radicalism, and Community Organizing in New York City,”

in Theoharis, Jeanne and Komozi Woodard, editors. Freedom North: Black Freedom

Struggles Outside the South, 1940-1980. 2003


17. Jon Rice, “The World of the Illinois Panthers,” in Theoharis, Jeanne and Komozi

Woodard, editors. Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940-

1980. Palgrave Macmillan, February 2003.

18. Brian D. Boyer, “Gangs Day Care Center to Open” Chicago Sun Times, August 22, 1969

19. Jeff Haas, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police

Murdered a Black Panther, 2009

20. Young Lords

21. “Young Lords’ Jimenez Surrenders” Chicago Sun Times, December 4, 1972

22. Alice Klement, “Young Lords’ Leader Jimenez Eyeing 1975 Aldermanic seat?” Lerner

Newspapers, March 16, 1974





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Cha Cha Jimenez: A Young Lord