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185 8 The Garbage Offensive Garbage collection was a significant problem in communities such as El Barrio/East Harlem. Streets were littered with debris of both the conventional (waste paper, food, plastics, etc.) and unconventional (cars, tires, glass, sinks, etc.) kinds. The first issue the newly formed New York Young Lords mobilized around was garbage collection. Rather than simply petition the city for better service, the Young Lords started cleaning up the community themselves. When the city continued to deny regular garbage collection services or the resources for the Lords to take care of things on their own (brooms, trash bags, etc.), the Young Lords and community members repeatedly blocked the streets with burning debris. The selections in this chapter help illustrate, through words and images, the ways in which the Young Lords sought material transformations in their community around the issue of garbage collection. Young Lords Block Street with Garbage (From the newspaper Young Lords Organization, 1969, volume 1, number 4) In a display of community strength and support of the YOUNG LORDS ORGANIZATION , the people of East Harlem (El Barrio), and the YLO closed the streets of Third Ave. from 110th, across to 112th and down to Second Ave. on Sunday, July 27. For two weeks previously, the YOUNG LORDS had been cleaning garbage from the streets and into garbage cans to show the people that the department of garbage (Lindsay ’s department of sanitation), or D.O.G., does not serve them. At first, communication with the people was slow. Then, as the barriers broke down and everyone got their thing together, the people saw that even a nothing department like D.O.G. looks upon Puerto Ricans and Blacks as though they are something lower than garbage. These dogs at D.O.G. have forgotten that they must SERVE THE PEOPLE. And it all blew up on Sunday. By July 27, the original operation had grown to such a large number of people, not just including LORDS, that the brooms and shovels we were using were not enough. So four LORDS—the Deputy Minister of Finance, Information and Education and an information photographer—went to the nearest D.O.G. hole at 108th St. After some Bureaucratic Bullshitting they steered us to the D.O.G. hole at 73rd St. Dig it! Two miles away, while a hole is sitting three blocks away. After playing the man’s game of red tape, the LORDS brought it all back home. We ran it down about what happened and a course of action was developed. As fast as it takes a streetlight to change, all the People—Lords, mothers, Li’l Lords—placed cans of garbage across Third Ave. at 110th St. The pigs, who have been eyeing the LORDS for the past few weeks in New York, came to the scene in a matter of seconds. Sources on the blocks say the pigs had trucks waiting a few blocks away. 186 The Garbage Offensive But the pigs found out that the spirit of the people is greater than all the man’s pigs. At least 1,000 Puerto Ricans turned out to cheer the LORDS on as they woofed the pigs to their pens. Brothers and Sisters on 111th and 112th caught that old revolutionary spirit, last seen in ’66, and blocked their streets, too. When a garbage truck finally did show, the man vainly tried his game once more. For all those streets filled with garbage, D.O.G sent one Puerto Rican Brother. The people wouldn’t fall for this cheap trick, and finally two white garbage men patted the junk into place while the brother hustled it into the truck. Afterwards a rally was held at 112th St. The cats in the street agreed to that. The streets belong to the People! The moon belongs to the People! Power to the People! PALANTE! Yoruba Dep. Minister of Information New York State YLO El Barrio and YLO Say No More Garbage in Our Community (From the newspaper Young Lords Organization, 1969, volume 1, number 4) East Harlem is known as El Barrio—New York’s worst Puerto Rican slum. There are others—on the Lower East Side, in Brooklyn, in the South Bronx, but El Barrio is the oldest, biggest, filthiest of them all. There is glass sprinkled everywhere, vacant lots filled with rubble, burnt out buildings on nearly every block, and people packed together in the polluted summer heat. There is also the smell...

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