The Young Lords and the Lincoln Offensive

On July 14, 1970 the Young Lords occupied Lincoln hospital, in response to the treatment of Puerto Rican and Black patients. They had a list of demands and the offensive was just one piece of their public health activism. 

In part one, Cristina tells Carmen about what led up to the offensive and about the occupation of the hospital itself. Part two will be about Carmen Rodriguez  and how the care she received led to the patient bill of rights.

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources

https://disruptnow.org/defining-the-enemy/young-lords-expose-murder-at-lincoln-hospital
https://disruptnow.org/tag/healthcare
https://centerforhealthequity.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/fernandez-intro.pdf
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/lincoln-pediatric-collective/
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/224c69d9f2c44c31a7654fde7108f08f
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/young-lords
How We Occupied a Hospital and Changed Public Health Care


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
Estodias Unknown, a podcaster. We talk about Latin American history.
Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption,
and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance,
power and community. And that's what we're talking about today,
resistance power and community. I love it. And it's also

(00:30):
a two parter. Okay, yes, this episode is going to
be about the Young Lords, the Lincoln Offensive, and the
Patient Bill of Rights Part one and two will be
about that. I'm sorry. I've been waiting for the Mexican
lunchein episode and you keep promising that, and what happened.
That's what I was expecting today. Okay, No, it's because

(00:51):
these were half done. The other ones were one fourth day.
You can't keep doing this, I know, I know, it's okay.
So it's because I see something and I'm like, wow,
that sounds cool, and then suddenly I'm ten pages deep
into whatever that thing I saw. And that's what happened
with this because I saw on Instagram post talking about

(01:15):
a woman named Carvin Rodriguez and how her treatment at
the Lincoln Hospital led to the Patient Bill of Rights
and then I looked her up and then I'm like, wait,
the Young Lords are involved in this. Wait the Lincoln Offensive. Wait,
and so that's how this happened. I see, But the
legit episode will happen. I am reading the books in

(01:37):
between all my random side quests like last episode and
this episode. Yeah, all right, I'll allow it. Thank you
for allowing it. All right, So before we get to
the Lincoln Offensive and it leading to the patient Bill
of Rights that we know today, I didn't want to
do a quick refresher on the Young Lords because we

(01:59):
first talked about them way back in episode thirty. It
was a while ago. Yeah, and then we haven't like
said anything about them since then. H. But yeah, if
you're like listening for the first time on this episode,
go back to episode thirty. It's way more than what
I'm about to say. But the Young Lord started as

(02:20):
a streat gang in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park in
Chicago in nineteen fifty nine, and eventually, it like it's
slowly over the years, evolved into from a gang into
a political group. They began raising funds for the community,
and they used these funds for food, clothing, whatever, they could.
But then in nineteen sixty eight, the creator of the

(02:41):
Young Lords, Oh my god, I didn't write down his name,
Cucchia Rodriguez, that's his name. He went to Puerto Rico
and he learned about the plight for Puerto Rican freedom
and about Pedro Alviso Campos, the colonization of the island,
things that we've also talked about on several episodes on
a Story as a known and that was early nineteen

(03:04):
sixty eight. At the end of nineteen sixty eight, December, Chacha,
oh sorry, Chacha Himenez is his name changing Latino last
names I know, and they both ended easy, so all
almost all of them did, Oh my god, you're right,
a lot of them. So Chaicha Himenez was arrested again

(03:25):
and he spent sixty days in the Cook County jail.
And during this period in jail, he began to read
and read, and he read about Martin Luther King, about
Malcolm X, more about Pedro Albiso Campos, and all this
reading led him to the realization that as much as
the Young Lords tried to help the community, they couldn't

(03:46):
change the system, especially not as a gang as they
currently were. Operating, and so they officially became a political
organization in nineteen sixty eight, and they considered themselves a
branch of the Black Panthers, and the Young Laures was
mostly made up of Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in Chicago.
Eventually they did have more chapters in New York and

(04:09):
that's where the Lincoln events have happened. Also, thirty percent
of the members were black, and like the Black Panthers,
they believed in a right to arms and they were paramilitary.
They had a military code of conduct. They wore purple berets,
which I didn't know they were purple because I've only
seen black and white pictures of them. I didn't know

(04:30):
that either. Yeah, but a purple beret. I love it.
Some think that, oh my god, what's that movie musical
that's sent in Puerto Rico that people say flopped and
Rachel Zegler's wasn't it. I thought it was set in
New York. Yes, yes, you said it said in Puerto Rico.

(04:51):
Oh my bad, it's sat in New York. But it
has like puert Ricans in New York. And it call
it like in the Heights or something like that. Because
it's based in Brooklyn Heights. Yes, the Sharks in the
movie where purple, and it's believed that the young Lord's
purple beret was the inspiration for the Sharks wearing purple
in the movie. Interesting or play whatever it was both.
I think it's a musical first, son, I have no idea. Yes, okay,

(05:13):
I don't know. What'd you say? Yeahs, I don't know.
I don't know. Like we mentioned in episode thirty, they
also adopted radical feminist ideologies thanks to members like Denise
Oliver Velles. They also planned what they called offensives, and
these were like radical things they did to fight back

(05:35):
against the system. Among these offensives were things like protesting
rent spikes, which you know, after trying to do it
the peaceful way, they were like, no, let's make this
an offensive. And they they did this by breaking the
windows of all the companies that were jacking up rent.
It's like those videos, like memes or whatever that people
are like. Once I noticed like too many white people

(05:57):
walking with dogs in my neighborhood, I shoot my gun
a little bit like every night, like to scare them
and to keep a gentrification from happening. I feel like
it's a similar idea. Yeah, same vibes. Really. They also
enacted the Garbage Offensive, where they set fires to garbage
to get the city's attention because they the city was

(06:18):
ignoring picking up garbage in the imparverised neighborhoods, which are
all the black and Latino neighborhoods. Yeah, yeah, And so
the way they called this attention to this was by
setting fire to the piles of garbage, and it worked.
They finally started picking up the garbage and other offensives
like the reason they called it offensive It was named
after the Vietnam's army, the Vietnam Army's Tet Offensive. That's

(06:43):
where they got the name offensive from to name these
things like that. And one of these offensives did lead
to the Patient Bill of Rights that we all know today.
It's like you sign, it's at every doctor's office. I
didn't write down the list of what is in this
bill of rights because that was that's going to be
impart two. But the Lincoln Offensive wasn't their first attempt

(07:07):
at protesting things in healthcare. They launched a wave of
activism that tried and tackle health care issues in their neighborhoods,
starting with tuberculosis in South in the South Bronx area.
Tuberculosis is a very contagious lung disease. It's also said

(07:28):
to be the next outbreak coming to us. Yeah, and
there's always outbreaks among like the homeless population, right yeah, yeah,
and it's known to be worse in areas with high
poverty rates. Places are overcrowded, which happened to be like
at this time period, the black and Latino neighborhoods of

(07:51):
you know, the Bronx and so Puerto Rican immigrants were
the highest risk for getting tuberculosis. Portuco itself had the
highest mortality rate in the world for tuberculosis at the time,
and you know, they would leave the island around tuberculosis
get to these neighborhoods that were overcrowded and face you know,

(08:13):
similar issues, especially East Harlem and South Bronx. And so
to tackle this, the Young Lord started doing door to
door home visits with medical volunteers and they administered eight
hundred tuberculosis skin tests in May of nineteen seventy. Wow. Yeah.

(08:34):
And so with these skin tests, like I'm sure a
lot of people have had to get them for work,
Like I had to get to Yeah, and so it's
like placed on your forearm and then two days later
they get read. If that reading is positive, then you
have to get an X ray. And so they did
these skin tests and then they would return two days

(08:54):
later to read the skin tests. And it's just the
level of organizing that you need to pull this off. Yeah, insane.
And then at these home visits for the TV tests,
they also offered political education and they were informing everyone
they visited that then I quote, even though TB has

(09:15):
been eliminated among the rich, the middle class, and white
people in general, it is alive and spreading in the
Puerto Rican and Black colonies of America. And that's America,
like KKK, that's how they spell America and all their publications. Yeah,
the richest country in the world. And they were very
correct in that. That's not like a incorrect or the
fact out you're lying. Yeah, it's a fact. That's where

(09:38):
it was more widespread, isn't it said to be endemic
and like some of the Latin American countries and other
like countries from the Global South. Yeah, that's why even
when you get a skin test now will ask you
if you were out of the country for a certain
amount of time or if you were around anyone with it,

(09:59):
because again it's very contagious. Yeah, Prospect Hospital even let
them take patients there for X rays for those that
tested positive with the skin test, but it wasn't enough.
And also this was the led offensive, that's what they
called their door to door skin testing, and it was

(10:23):
time for the next step. So at that time, the
New York Tuberculosis Association operated a mobile extra unit and
this extra truck operated from twelve pm to six pm,
and they usually traveled to the nice neighborhoods where they
didn't even really need to check for a TVOW. Yeah,
and so the young Lords proposed to staff the truck

(10:47):
around the clock. They wanted to accommodate working class people
that really needed to be tested. They even had texts
already willing to volunteer, but the city who managed the
program didn't their request. And you know, same thing with
their previous offensives. They tried the nice way, they tried
to ask, you know, the quote unquote right way, and

(11:09):
they were denied. And this wasn't going to stop them.
So what they did they sent out an alert to
the press and police at what time the following was
going to occur. And then on June seventeenth, nineteen seventy,
they hijacked the X ray truck. They unfurled the Puerto
Rican flag on top of the truck and they drove

(11:31):
off and they drove through Spanish Harlem. And as they
drove through Spanish Harlem, they had speakers and they were
explaining why they're doing this. They invited locals to come
and get tested. They said where they were going to be.
They renamed the truck ramon Emeterio Betancis Health Truck. They

(11:52):
named it after this revolutionary Puerto Rican doctor who we
need to add to the topic list. And on their
first day, after they you know, announced their new location
where they were going to be, they tested hundreds of
people in the neighborhood. Wow. Then they negotiated an official
contract to let them operate the X ray truck twelve

(12:13):
hours a day, seven days a week to help marking
class people. Sometimes you got to force the hand a
little bit, you know, I mean most of the time. Yeah.
And you know, through this type of work, they established
this power to bargain with the city, but also more
importantly trust with the community. Like people knew they were

(12:36):
about it, and they were there for them and they
were making things better and they were delivered. Yes, yes,
Because on top of this, they also had free health
clinics they would put up where people could come get
checked out, and they had volunteers that were obviously doctors
like you know on their sides. Yeah, but they knew
they needed to do more. This wasn't enough, and so

(12:59):
just more like about the area. So South Bronx was
home to one hundred thousand Puerto Ricans and it was growing.
This is on top of the population that was already
there before the huge migration from Puerto Rico to this area,
and it was riddled with a public health crisis. South
Bronx had the highest rate of heroin addiction in the
world at this time and the highest contraction rates for

(13:23):
syphilis and gunnerrheam. Wow. Those living in this neighborhood got
these infections six times higher when compared to the national average. Wow.
And so the young lords knew there was a need
for better medical care and they were going to do something.
So they set their eyes on the hospital that serviced

(13:44):
this community, Lincoln Hospital, which was already known by everyone
else as the Butcher shop, that's what they called it.
So Lincoln Hospital was a three hundred bed facility that
was supposed to care for an area of half a
million people, and so that's not an for that many people.
It was often overcrowded, short of beds, the staff was overworked,

(14:06):
and the hospital itself was very outdated. It suffered frequent
power outages because the generator was built in nineteen twenty
seven and had not been updated at all. The air
conditioners in the surgical recovery room didn't work. The walls
were painted with a lead base. Oh my god, that
exceeded legal limits. Not lead in the hospital were We're

(14:28):
just supposed to go get help. And you know, the
dumb or not the dumbest or the saddest thing, the
most outrageous thing is that they often treated lead poisoning,
but then people were put in this lead painted room, Like,
how are you going to recover from the walls are
painted with lead? Was there anywhere in the hospital that
there was no lead? No? No, that's crazy. Yeah. No,

(14:52):
This is why there's this fear or distrust in the
medical system by people of color and imparvish communities, because yeah,
most of the time and even like in their own
home countries because of the state of the medical system there.
Like you literally just would go to die at the

(15:13):
hospital sometimes exactly. And yeah, the name the butcher Shop
of South Bronx had been around since the nineteen twenties,
even when that population was just the Eastern European immigrants.
Like that's how it had always had that name. Makes
sense And apparently I learned this while writing these notes.

(15:34):
But Lincoln Hospital was not new to political takeovers, because
there had been one a year before the Younglers did
it in the summer of nineteen seventy. Who did it staff? Oh? Really? Yeah,
So at some point the hospital partnered with the Albert
Einstein Medical College and they were in charge of staffing
it with medical students and residents, so they would save

(15:56):
money on staff there by training medical students there. And
then the college also opened what they called the Lincoln
Hospital Mental Health Services or LHMHS, and this was a
network of services with diverse points of contact between mental
health providers and patients, designed to deliver related services and

(16:19):
care at the neighborhood level in schools, churches, community centers.
Treatment protocols included traditional talk therapy, drug rehabilitation, mental health, education,
and community action. And so the people that were attracted
by that new mental health program that was meant to
help people in these communities were also already radical people.

(16:40):
And you kind of have to be if you're like
wanting to be wanting to work at this hospital in
the first place, because everybody knew like its reputation. And
so part of the funding for that program came from
the Office of Economic Opportunity, which also happens to be
the same federal agency that implemented the War on Poverty.
And this program brought in workers that really cared and

(17:03):
really wanted to make a difference. And so then in
nineteen sixty nine, funding from that office OEO was drastically cut,
and in response, over one hundred mental health counselors, orderlies, administrators,
and genitorial staff who were all hired to be part
of that mental health program and also where almost all

(17:26):
people of color seized the hospital Wow and they operated
it for three days. On the fourth day was shut
down because the College of Medicine, along with the city's
public hospital administration, threatened to suspend licenses for a bunch
of specialists. So that's the way that they shut it down,
but the workers weren't done. They staged rallies and protests.

(17:47):
These protests led to the arrest of twenty three people
and the mass firing of forty one workers, including three psychiatrists.
But these protests were viewed as successful because those three
psychai that were fired were reinstated, along with another set
of four black mental health workers who had also been
fired previously for the same kind of stuff. But one

(18:12):
month after this takeover, twenty one members of the Black
Panther Party who were part of this takeover were arrested
in charge with terrorism, and this included doctors like Dark
doctor Curtis Powell, Saige Shakur, Lumumba Shakur. So, yeah, that's
you know, that's how they do these things. They make

(18:34):
these fake charges to break down these movements. They like
they probably like changed the definition of terrorism to add
taking over a hospital. No really, And like I said earlier,
the Young Lords considered themselves a branch of the Black Panthers,

(18:57):
and so although they didn't plan this original takeover, they
were very aware of it, and they were very aware
of the growing concerns with the hospital, right, and so
they started staging sit ins in the lobby, and they
knew that if they were going to change the system,
it needed to be destroyed and rebuilt. And I think
I said it in the first episode where we talked

(19:18):
about the Young Lords, but I haven't mentioned it in
this episode. But the Young Lords did publish these monthly
like signs almost they were called Palante, yeah, because it
wasn't really a newspaper, so I feel like it was
closer to asign and they were, I mean, they published
a lot in there. But in the following issue, after

(19:39):
the sitidens started, they said, quote, the only way we
can stop all this is not by electing someone into office,
because we have tried that and it does not work.
It is not done by going to college and getting
doctor degrees, because that leads to an intellectual trip that
takes us away from our people, and that we also tried.

(20:01):
The only way to make this racist government serve us
right is by knocking it down and building a new
one of our own. And so before they planned the
takeover of the hospital, which again is the Lincoln offensive,
they that was not step one. First, the Young Lords
formed what they called TLC or Think Lincoln Committee, and

(20:23):
they formed this with the h r UM Health Revolutionary
Unity Movement, which is those workers of color from the
mental health unit in the hospital. That's what they became,
the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement. So they did this with
them and with neighborhood residents that are the patients of

(20:45):
this hospital. So they formed their committee and their first
goal was to fight propose budget cuts which were severely effected.
They already struggling in Lincoln Hospital which was already so broke,
so falling apart, and they were already going they were
going to face a huge budget cut on top of that,
which is insane. Yeah wow. So they began to pass

(21:06):
out leaflets and post flyers around the community talking about
the budget cuts and what they could do. But as
they were in the hospital passing out these flyers, they
were quickly flooded with concerns from patients and workers. So
then the TolC that they set up a patient worker
complaint table in the lobby of the hospital. They staffed

(21:29):
this table for twelve hours, starting at nine am to
nine pm, and in their first month they collected two
thousand complaints from patients and workers. Wow that's a lot, yes,
And most of these complaints involved unsanitary health conditions, a
language barrier for non English speaking patients, doctors that were

(21:51):
not explaining medical information very well. They also complained about
the doctor to patient ratio, which was eighty patients to
one doctor. Oh well, yeah, that's insane. And they also
complained about er wait times which were like six to
eight hours average, which honestly does all that does not
sound too different from today. Yeah, And to try and

(22:15):
help with these complaints, the TLC representatives accompanied patients when
they were when they were going to be seen by doctors,
and if the person didn't understand what was being said
to them, the young lord member that was there would
speak up and be like, you need to explain this again.
You need to explain this again. So they were going
in with patients. That's so important, right, And they also

(22:41):
would go into the halls to try and press ad
the adamant to solve these issues. And these complaints led
to the hospital to establish a code of behavior for doctors,
which were things like explaining things the patients properly or
you know, things like that. The TC even helped kitchen

(23:01):
workers in the hospital get a fan because it got
up to like ninety degrees. Oh, my god. Yeah, that's
how as fuck. This is what I'm saying, Like, if
it was up to like the employers and the rulers,
if you will, of capitalism, we wouldn't get shit. We
would be working from sunrise to sundown. Everything we have

(23:25):
the measly working. The rights that we do have as workers,
they had to be fought for, you know what I mean, Like,
all of our rights had to be fought for. Nobody
gave us anything. And this is an example of that. Yes,
it really is. And in the spring of nineteen seventy,
the TLC took their next steps and they published the

(23:47):
following demands. One doctors must give humane treatment to patients.
Two free food must be given to patients who spend
hours in the hospital waiting to be seen. Three Construction
on the new Lincoln Hospital must start immediately. There was
construction set to start to update the hospital because again

(24:07):
lead walls right power outages. Four there must be no
cutbacks in services or in jobs in any part of
Lincoln Hospital. Five the immediate formation of a community worker board,
which has control over policies and practices of the hospital.
And I mean these are not outrageous demands, yeah, but

(24:32):
in a system that had been operating differently. They I
guess they would be outrageous demands. Yeah, but if you
care about people, these are not outrageous demands, right, And
this list of demands was not that different from the
list of demands from the workers who took over the
hospital in nineteen sixty nine. But just like their demands,

(24:54):
these also went ignored for like three months. And so
just like before where they were like, hey, we tried
to do this the right way and you didn't listen,
they were like all right, offensive time. So on July thirteenth,
nineteen seventy, young Lord members that arrived to the East
Harlem office were all given a sheet of paper with

(25:14):
coordinates to meet somewhere else, and a lot of them
thought they were going to a party, But when one
hundred and fifty members arrived at a tiny apartment in Manhattan,
they learned this was not a party. The chairman, Felippe
Luciano was there and he announced to everyone that was
there in that tiny apartment that they would be occupying

(25:36):
Lincoln Hospital the next morning, July fourteenth, nineteen seventy, and
then different leaders spoke all explaining why the takeover needed
to happen. They went over their plan, they slept a
few hours, and then at three am the next day,
a large U haul arrived outside of the apartment and
they stuffed as many members as you could into that

(25:57):
U haul truck. Like they were even instructed like open
your legs so someone can squeeze in between your legs
and you can make room for the next person. That's
how packed they were in that U haul. Those that
didn't fit in the U haul then went by. There
was like a few cars also that they used, and
they headed over to the hospital. At five they arrived,
and in total there was two hundred members that were

(26:19):
taking part of this offensive. Inside the hospitals, there were
already members inside and so they were members of the
Defense Ministry branch of the Young Lords, and they were
in charge of neutralizing hospital security. And as soon as
they saw the caravan pulled up to the designated spot,
then they had to start their part of the plan,

(26:40):
which was to neutralize security officers inside the hospital. At
the same time, there was other Young Lords that were
tasked with going to the administrative buildings and telling them, hey,
we're taking over this hospital. You need to go to
like the people in charge. So the truck pulled up
to the loading dock and the back door was opened,
and the young lord stormed the hospital. Those that did

(27:03):
not have like actual guns carried chuka sticks. These are
a pair of eight inch wooden batons held together with
an elastic band, and they're often used in martial arts.
And so yeah, they stormed the hospital and they secured
the entrances the exits within the hour. They secured the
first floor. They blocked them with hospital furniture boxes, bags

(27:26):
of rock salt, and they also got the high pressure
water holes ready in case police tried charging at them
from the front door. They announced a press conference at
ten am and then they send people to the upper
floors to go talk to the doctors, the nurses, like
all the medical staff and tell them, hey, we're occupying

(27:47):
this hospital and we need your help running the hospital.
Almost all of the workers, like the doctors, nurses, almost
all of them stayed to help them. Wow, Because I
imagine like medical staff wants to they want to be
able to take care of their patients, but sometimes like

(28:07):
well not because of budgeting, because of short staff, because
of policy like there, sometimes they feel stuck. And so
I could see why. Also, it just happened to be that.
Like I said earlier, almost all, like medical students, residents, nurses,
almost everyone that worked at the hospital was a present

(28:28):
of color looking to give back to their community, to
really make a difference. Right, so it makes even more
sense that they would stay this being like a low
income area. It's like similar to like teachers and staff
that work at low income schools and are already tend
to be more like radicalized. Right and almost right away,

(28:49):
they began community programs to screen for anemia, letter poisoning,
iron deficiency, and tuberculosis. They also started a daycare center
in the basement of the hospit hospital, as well as
a class on political and health education. Wow. They also
hung up Puerto Rican flag on the roof of the hospital,
and then they put up banners that read seize the

(29:10):
hospital to serve the people, Wow, I love it and
Welcome to the People's Hospital. Both of these were also
in Spanish, and the following quote is from a doctor
who was there during the takeover. The lords never requested
formal backing in advance, since to do so would have
jeopardized a secrecy surrounding the planned action and not likelihood, though,

(29:34):
they counted on a fair amount of support from the
hospital staff, and they got it. The collective members visited
the occupied areas, frequently, helped staff the daycare and health
care programs, and let it be known to the press
and police that physicians backed the Lord's eye. For one
couldn't stay away. Wait, I love this doctor, who's the steva.

(29:57):
The nurses, residents suddenly had the fantastic, intoxicating air of
a liberated zone. That's what I'm saying. Yes, yes, yes,
the press was listening, the city was listening, and the
lords had risen up and were They're telling the stories
of women and children waiting endlessly at the clinic, old
folks dying for the lack of cardiac care unit, the

(30:20):
humiliation of the emergency room, the pain, the degradation. It
felt good, It felt right, It felt righteous. It was
why we had come to Lincoln. Wow. And so, yeah,
that's who was working there. So of course they were
going to help them, like we were saying, and so
and also the young lords, it's like they and I

(30:43):
guess that's the real difference between like the civil rights movement,
all these things that were in that period compared to now,
I think is that they were actually in the community
and they were like always at the hospital already anyway,
helping people. How they had the time and money, I
honestly don't know. I think that things are different back

(31:04):
then too. I feel like there's a lot more disconnect
now because of the Internet, and I think it's hard
to get people like to participate in their local communities
and because everyone's on their phone, and because a lot
of people think that just commenting and reposting or sharing

(31:29):
like things online is enough and that's good, Like that's
necessary too, but it's also necessary to be organized locally
and in community. But also I think the loss of
their spaces affects that. I think you're right. Back then
there was a lot more places to gather for free,

(31:49):
just a lot more gathering places in general, and people
used to visit each other. Yeah, and these areas weren't
gentrified like they are today. Yes, Yeah, And there was
a lot more like walkability and and things like that.
Like now cars that ruined everything. Because these doctors already

(32:10):
knew them, right, because they had been like helping out
in the hospital already, so they had to build those relationships. Yeah,
So new stations and reporters flooded the area, and even
the chief administrator of the hospital said that although he
didn't like the Young Lorens, they were bringing light to
all the issues in the hospital, like the impending cuts.

(32:34):
The workers were those that were overworked and the patient
care was suffering because of that, and so yeah, they
were breaking light to these issues. And because of all
this new coverage and the support of the health of
the hospital workers. The Young Lords then made a new
list of demands. What sorry, before you get into the demands,

(32:55):
I had another thought about when I was talking about
the disconnect that is going on out even more and
I think that I think now nonprofits have taken over
a lot of the things that community organizations used to do,
and it's not the same because it's you know, tied

(33:15):
to I don't know, federal funding, which comes with rules.
It's not really being in community. It's like, yeah, there's
a lot of issues with the nonprofit secont. Yeah, okay,
that was all. That's very true. And also, no, there
was something I was thinking of, No on I lost

(33:37):
the thought more tangents. Oh there was something I was thinking. Oh,
also the criminalization of these organizations like the right. The
party was doing very similar work. I mean they're they're
free breakfast, Young Graham and everything they were doing in
the community. Yeah. Yeah. And when they were doing that

(34:00):
kind of stuff and then they were demonized, right, literally
criminalized where they were brought on like there was terrorist
charges brought on. Then I think it probably scared. I mean, no, yeah,
that's exactly what it does, scares the remaining people and
destroying the movement. Yeah. So that's another thing. A lot
of thoughts going on in our noggins, yep, okay. And

(34:24):
so the list of demands. One, no cutbacks in services
or jobs, specifically in the section case screening clinic that
was a clinic that's green kids for like lead poisoning
and stuff like that, the emergency room, translators, doctors, or
any other personnel. Two we want immedia funds from the
New York City Health Services Administration to complete the building

(34:49):
of and fully staffed the new Lincoln Hospital. Three door
to door health services for preventive care emphasizing environment and
sanitation control, nutrition, drug addiction, and childcare, and senior citizen services.
Four we want a permanent twenty four hour a day
grievance table sapped by patients and workers with the power
to redress grievances, So to address those scrievances. Five, we

(35:13):
want a one hundred and forty a week minimum wage
for all workers. Six we want a daycare center for
patients and workers at Lincoln Hospital. Seven we want self
determination of all health services through a community worker board.
To operate Lincoln Hospital, this group of people must have
shown their commitment to sincerely serve the people of this community.

(35:39):
And that was a list of demands, which honestly makes
so much sense, especially with the insane changes that there
have been to healthcare in this country. Yeah, the privatization
of it and how it's like it's not for the community,
it's for profit, all of it. Oh yeah, those what

(35:59):
I'm say saying that at the end of the day,
capitalism destroys and takes and ruins all of our lives. Also,
that childcare piece is so important, Like, imagine how much
easier life would be for uh parents and caretakers of
children if they could just drop their children off at work,

(36:21):
Like imagine that. Imagine that And now really that you know,
how many appointments are missed because there's a lack of
child's care, and how many places say no kids allowed.
Like I remember when I worked in family medicine, people
would like because, okay, so there's like preventive visits that
are important to health, like that can catch cancer if
he's mean yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. And so people

(36:44):
would call and say, hey, I don't have daycare. I
need to cancel my appointment, and we'd be like, no,
come in, it's fine, and we would have the kids
in the lobby with us, not in the lobby, in
the office office, like the we had a little pod
of computers, like two, and we'd face like the computers
and there was like like it was like a little
area for the medical assistance and the person answering phones.

(37:05):
The kids would sit there with us. That's amazing. Yeah,
And it's like it's it wasn't like anything that the
higher ups required. It was just something that the doctors
and us said, Yeah, we're gonna do whatever we can.
And that's so important. Yeah, because everywhere I go, like
to doctor, not everywhere, but when I have gone to
some doctor places, medical offices, it's like no children, no children, Yeah,

(37:30):
And I'm like, okay, this is a family practice. This
is like an obgyn like, what do you mean no children?
That's crazy. Yeah exactly. That was how my obgyn was.
And I remember there was two doctors at Gateway that
did obgyn and family medicine, and so they had both
types of patients. And whenever they were coming with a
bunch of kids and they needed an ultra sound, yeah,

(37:51):
we just we had coloring paper and crayons and little
books ready toys and yeah, like we and it's it's
such a little thing that makes such a difference because
the people won't cancel the appointment they need due to
lack of childcare. And imagine if everyone had that right,
that would be amazing. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. These

(38:12):
list of demands are not outrageous. Yeah, And so they
gave their demands. And again because the young lords already
had this established reputation where they would do these things
and then work with the government, like the local government
or a city council to come up with solutions, they

(38:32):
started negotiation negotiations almost right away with the mayor's chief
assistant and they were about to settle on this deal
that would have been like we'll leave the hospital if
you meet these things. And it was like the twenty
four hour grievance table. They were going to meet that
the pain like they had a few things they agreed on,
and they were like, from the list of demands, yes,

(38:55):
and we'll work on the rest if we leave the hospital,
like you know, and that was about to happen, but
then the young ladys learned that an undercover officer trying
to break in through the entrance, the front entrance checkpoint
that they had. And so upon learning this, because part
of their thing was like no cops involved or were
breaking all this, like we're not doing this, and so

(39:15):
they broke off negotiations immediately. And then they had another
press conference and they were like, we tried to negotiate,
we're about to, but then we learned these pigs. That's
what they said. But the government was negotiated in bad
faith because they sank in exactly, yeah, exactly what they said.
And so they were giving this press conference and the
person doing this was Pablo Guzman and another young lord,

(39:36):
and he was giving this speech when police were positioning
themselves at the entrance. He knew you were going to
say that, oh my god, breach this auditorium. And so
then Pablo Guzman called for the audience to defend the hospital.
But this was just a ploye because they didn't want
anyone to get hurt, so they were like, you know,
defend this hospital, making the comps think it was going

(39:59):
to be a violent Yeah. Upon entering, But as he
was saying this, young lords were sneaking out on white
coats and another area of the auditorium, and the residents
were helping them escape, and supporters stayed in the auditorium
for a few hours until all the young lords could escape. Wow,
and only two people ended up being arrested instead of like,

(40:20):
but see, like this is what it takes, even if
they were not gonna, like they weren't asking people to
defend them in violence, right, like only to like be
willing to act like that. But also like, because the
supporters did that, they were able to escape and avoid
all time, which means that then they would be able

(40:40):
to remain in the community and continue to help out
you know what I mean exactly, And so instead of
the mass arrest right even possibly violenced by the police,
possible debts exactly, they avoided all this and so yeah,
in the end, only two people were arrested. The young
Lords left the hospital and the occupation was over in

(41:02):
twelve hours. Damn all that in twelve hours. Yeah, that
was twelve hours. Wow. Just the organization skills to do this,
and they had the numbers well because they they were
a political organization. They had experienced doing this. And this
is also why it's important that if you are going
to you know, being a community and be an activists,

(41:22):
to not make up your own shit and to get
in touch with local organizers because they have actual experience
doing this. Exactly. But a few days after their occupation,
there was a new crisis. Oh no, all due to
the care Carmen Rodriguez received at Lincoln's Gynecology Obuyan services.

(41:45):
After this, they had already done their takeover and supposedly yeah, okay,
three days after their takeover, this is when this happened.
And we're going to talk about that in part two
because Carmen Rodriguez is and the Young Lords in response
to what happened to her, is what led to the
Patient Bill of Rights. Wow. Well I'm excited. I started

(42:10):
off really tired in this episode. But the more you
talk then the more I responded, and it became more awake.
And it's not what happens every time. Yeah, actually, yeah,
I should just step comming town because it's just normal.
But no, I mean, I'm just truly amazed at this
and I feel like we can all learn from the
young lords, honestly, truly. Yeah, but that's who I saw

(42:33):
in that post. It was her name, Cadmerodriguez led to
the patient Bill of Rights, and I was like, God,
me Rodriguez, And that's how this happened. Not another Carmen.
Are all Carmen's just like amazing, I'm I think so
I agree, yeah, and then like I'm including Carmelita and
that so of course, yeah, of course. But yeah, that

(42:55):
is the end of this episode. Did you have anything
you wanted to say? I don't think so. All right, well,
I guess this brings us to the end of the episode.
Thank you everyone for listening. If you want to hear
us yap about current events, screaming to the void about
said current events, make fun of JD events for killing

(43:17):
the Pope, and sometimes about SI later and a drama,
although not much of that lately. No, no, then you
can sign on to our Patreon where we have our
episodes and which is yeap yes, and also whatever we
get from that, twenty percent of that goes to an
organization doing good work, like you know. Last time it

(43:37):
was Aloo, who provides legal funds to migrants for lawyers
for their asylum, you know, and also has a water
dart program where they drop water in the desert for people.
And I still have to look for a new organization.
I have two pa It's it's going to take longer,
but yeah, no, no, that's it. Grama has to be,
so we'll go. I hope that this will one that's

(44:00):
Hisstoria Unknown for you, and the rest will be in
part two. Bye bye. Estoria's Unknown is produced by Carmen
and Christina, researched by Carmen and Christina, edited by Christina.
You can find sources for every episode at Estoria's Unknown
dot com and in our show notes. Creating the podcast
has a lot of work, so if you want to
help us out financially, you can do so by supporting

(44:23):
us on Patreon at Patreon dot com, slash studio as
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