The Young Lords: A Reader

Acknowledgments

xv Acknowledgments I must begin by thanking all of the Young Lords across the country, without whom this book would have no purpose and without whom Boricuas would not have made the kinds of political and cultural advancements we have made. This book belongs to all of you. I especially want to thank Iris Morales and Denise Oliver-Velez for their insight, encouragement, and support on this book and on all of the research I have done and continue to do on the Young Lords. This book was a challenging journey that could not have been possible without the assistance and encouragement of many individuals and institutions. Collecting materials over the course of multiple years would not have been financially possible without the generous support of Indiana University’s Department of Communication and Culture, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate and Professional Students Organization; the University of Georgia’s Department of Speech Communication; the Latina/Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Texas. Several people deserve special thanks for helping me find materials and prepare them for this book. First, I want to thank the people of the Centro de Estudios Puertorrique- ños at Hunter College of the City University of New York—which is the most important archive and library resource for Puerto Rican studies in the United States and, probably, the world—who have been invaluable for this project. In particular, Jorge Matos Valldejuli (formerly of the Centro) has been a tremendous resource and friend since I started researching the Young Lords in graduate school. John Louis Lucaites directed my dissertation on the Young Lords and to this day is a tremendous help as I embark on my career in higher education. I should acknowledge also that there is simply no way I could have transcribed all of these materials from their original formats (which were often poor copies of the originals) without the expert transcription skills of Carly Evans, a former student of mine from Illinois. I am incredibly grateful to the editorial and production staff at New York University Press who have been so helpful in seeing this book through to publication. I particularly want to thank Eric Zinner, my editor, for taking on the project and being so supportive of it from our very first interactions over email. Thanks go also to assistant editor Ciara McLaughlin for her patience and guidance getting everything in order to make sure this book happened. Finally, thanks go to the magnificent copyeditor Emily Wright and managing editor Despina Papazoglou Gimbel, with whom it was a pleasure to work bringing the manuscript to a close. Finally, I could not have done any of this without the loving support of my family and friends. In particular, I want to thank two people. My mother, Elba Iris Petersen (Arocho Rosa), has journeyed with me to discover and rediscover various aspects of our Puerto xvi Acknowledgments Rican history, culture, and identity. Without her encouragement over the years, I probably would not have become so dedicated to my education and to educating others. I also want to thank Suzanne Enck-Wanzer, my partner, who always pushes me to find and follow my passions . . . and who tolerates me when I do. I probably could not have taken up a lengthy research program on the Young Lords without her help, her critical eye, and her loving support. ...