1031 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/40f7fd48ec978ee791cb5cfea9300131.jpg e16c55971b097579a371f98205bf075d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_V_26_009 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-04-26 Title A name given to the resource Vernal and Nevada Falls Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a person standing on a mountaintop next to several trees. Mountains, a valley, and a waterfall are visible in the background. Subject The topic of the resource California Waterfalls Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/61dbc67777e0591e075f92ead206f1de.jpg 12379f49be38db6a5a3b5a6707e66018 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_EastmanAlbum_1_1909_089 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909-09-02 Title A name given to the resource Vernon St. Bridge, Milleport Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the construction of Vernon Street Bridge, Milleport. Subject The topic of the resource Bridges Engineering Milleport (N.Y.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1145300dd5fb5be3b8c13953e8e8d4fe.jpg 9ee9773e5409b34827e79cebedb5780e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_EastmanAlbum_1_1909_100 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909-11-01 Title A name given to the resource Vertical Wall berme 5015 Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of vertical wall for berme 5015, New York State Canal System. Subject The topic of the resource Canals New York Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/92bbbee8a3127f0928f2fa6c30aa0736.jpg 8aca25ebef9721f1344676183ed0ce53 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_4_008 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-03-19 Title A name given to the resource Vesta restoration Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Vesta restoration site. The image depicts ruins with buildings in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Archaeology Archaeological sites Vieste (Italy) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c54ddc81999d328add6ae0ec51a1c83c.jpg 5eb117e7f5c7c5f589bc1d20d1d9684b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_5_007 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-03-28 Title A name given to the resource Vesuvius from Castellammare di Stabia Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Mt. Vesuvius taken near Castellamare di Stabia. Subject The topic of the resource Italy Vesuvius (Italy) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9db41917c35688c13e286df796966da1.jpg 06e0456b8036f76dde8ec67b70e06238 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_5_008 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-03-28 Title A name given to the resource Vesuvius from Pompei Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Mt. Vesuvius taken from Pompei. Subject The topic of the resource Italy Vesuvius (Italy) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ed5c6b78f340309cd758403bc248cae.jpg bacdddccc310fb0376c5ba9f962ee2d4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_5_009 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-03-30 Title A name given to the resource Vesuvius from rim Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Mt. Vesuvius taken from the rim of the volcano. Subject The topic of the resource Italy Vesuvius (Italy) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/316e0d85e2492835e9c738d0a10d3190.jpg b6964487f9c9e20f68c675fef7232ce0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_FilmPacks_5_010 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-03-30 Title A name given to the resource Vesuvius from rim Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Mt. Vesuvius taken from the rim of the volcano. Subject The topic of the resource Italy Vesuvius (Italy) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3514581ea368c3e65d23dddba3e40c6.pdf 3c6ccf4434c09d6604b9619c743e5059 PDF Text Text 6-11 PM- DORR MICH/GAN.AMERICAN LEGION 1-IALL EVERYONE WELCOM! TO DANCE, SING, FcAST, I-IONDR. ANO RfMEHBE'R POf LUCK BRING A D,-su TO PASS PlUS YOUR OWN TABLE SERVICE Geo~e /VL.._rl,;, '11'1 793-J 4bl Ft-dnk. 81-1sl, ,16 79Z-6J$ § � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-dance-feast_1981-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Dance and Feast, November 1981 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Dance and Feast flyer, Dorr MI, November 11, 1981, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b47ed73f0fa73b663e77fc4888cef5af.pdf a556b2e8f2d21e8183791be784d77761 PDF Text Text f,- I l PM-AMERICAN LEGION HALL. DO RR MICHIGAN 1 EVERYONE 'w'ELCOME TO DAHCE,SING, FEAST; HDNOI? AND REMEMBER , POT LUGK. BRING A DISH TO PASS AND YOUR OWN TABLE SERVICE � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-dance-feast_1982-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Dance and Feast, November 1982 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Dance and Feast flyer, Dorr MI, November 11, 1982, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8a28474a9e806accd5d6b60987a1dd4f.pdf c36a5c940670c688ebe2eb6641233eb2 PDF Text Text / t... . . 1 b·II PM·· U.A.\J. .1-IALL ALL'EGAN, __·_ MICHIGAN -·__-_ EVERYONE WflCOME TO DAHC£.,S1HG,.F£AST, HONOR AND_REMEMBER ~ POT LUGI( BRINGA DISH· 10.PASS~ANl> YOUR O\JN TABLE 5ERVIC INFnPMATlf>~ r~tbl 792-6335 - C616J 71J3·4'-04<J · . ~~_____., ��WELCOME 'UA lu. !-IA LL to the CITY of ALLEGAN / I iN LOrlf I' I -...__ I II ~, CHICHESTfR I I :1 I I I I I I I -' HOOK(ti I I I / I I JACKSON STREET STll.TE THE ALLEGAN AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE P.O. BOX 304 • ALLEGAN, MICHIGAN 49010 Phone:616/673-2479 TRUNKLINE COUNTY PRIMARY COUNTY LOCAL MAJOR SYSTEMS •• w ::::::c STREET LOCAL STRE_E_i -- - -- - . - . .,,, - - - - � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-dance-feast_1983-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Dance and Feast, November 1983 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Dance and Feast flyer, Allegan MI, November 11, 1983, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b6effb29e83a802a50e2a13188cc7de.pdf 661dccd5c8d45bce8ac94f30efe3d058 PDF Text Text (,·If PM· U.A.W .HALL, ALLEGAN,_ MICHIGAN, EVERYONE WELCOME TO .DAHCE.,SING., FfA.ST, HONOR AND REMEMBEJ?., , PDT LUCI( BRINGA DIS/.1 ro PASS AN]) YOUR O\JN TABLE SERVICE �Ghosf Fea.s+ A\\ RCI pi els /nf( v--Tr I b,d °-o u vi (!_i / ~ S Lex in3+on N.W. Dq_te._ ·. NoveVV1.ber I) ICf f'-/ Gro.Y)d 1- 9 PM Ti W\e..,,·, G'I m Whe_V'C.,·. +o LOLtv\<!.,,\ · C\ Y\d +o.6\e.- q me°"-+ c_~f'ee, Pot\ucJ:. +o 'P ~urnls~ - ss 8r;n.j o, di sh cxv\ cl "/ o u ., o w n ser-v,'c.e. �•• ... NON NOm O!tO, Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council U. S. POST:A.GE P .A I D PERM ,: 45 Lexington, N.W., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49504 ~.J G . 690 GIJ't-<iD ~_.;_p·( . ~. '·' " Edward V. Gillis 2512 Union NE G. R., Mi 49505 \ . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-dance-feast_1984-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Dance and Feast, November 1984 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Dance and Feast flyer, Allegan MI, November 11, 1984, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abce2cd9b24299ec462c592a52bed943.pdf d75c148eae9002296c38e80106742b89 PDF Text Text Saturday November 9, 1991 Grand Entry 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Seniors 55 up free Persons 16-55 $1.00 Children 6-16 .50 Children under 6 free NO OUTSIDE · RAFFLES Location G.R. Community College Ford Field House Lyon & Bostwick Free Parking at ramp next door Sponsored by: G.R. Community College; Vet's Center Grand Rapids Inter-tribal Council Highlighting Native American G I Education Native American Dancers, Singers and Drums For info call: 774-8331 Native American Traders � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-pow-wow_1991-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Pow Wow, November 1991 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Pow Wow flyer, Grand Rapids MI, November 9, 1991, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8b090d27990ea8814d11aac6fe04ad7b.pdf 7807bbce9da905c5a8d20a9e861cb9f0 PDF Text Text I ' U / ~ VETERANS POWWOW SATURDAY NOVEMBER 13, 1993 /v() '/o ) u u J ) 0 U ~ ,) Remembering The Forgotten Warrior ,° {) FORD FIELDHOUSE Grand Rapids, Michigan Public Welcome �DEDICATED TO ALL VETERANS WHO HAVE SERVED THEIR NATION. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICES AND WELCOME HOME • • This program is made possible by donations from ·••• UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL UAW LOCAL 730 2151 187 1231 828 730 2151 730 8000 VETERANS COMMITTEE VETERANS COMMITTEE VETERAND COMMITTEE VETERANS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP MEMBERSHIP MEMBERSHIP RETIREES STATE EMPLOYEES ®~ 119-M �~ cteran Pow-ffro _Hcmoring All Veterans ~ November 13, 1993 Head Veteran Dancers ................... Frank Bush and Josie Cogswell Host Drum ............ Little Weasel Thunderchild Singers (Shingue-sase) Head Dancers ................................. George and Syd Martin Master of Ceremonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Memberto Arena Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ron Peters Barz GRAND ENTRY 1 :00 PM AND 7:00 PM FLAG SONG INVOCATION INTRODUCTION OF HEAD DANCERS VETERANS' SONG INTER-TRIBAL DANCING CLOSING CEREMONIES 9:00 PM (Break for dancers 5:00 pm - 7 pm) Sponsored by: Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Grand Rapids Community College Assisted by: VET Center �THE POW-WOW The Anishnabe people have been honoring their veterans for as long as there has been warriors. The teachings tell us that the Veterans POW-WOW was initiated by the women of the Midewi win Society to honor their warriors. During the 70's this POW-WOW was held in Hopkins burg, MI, later in the 70's it moved to Allegan, MI, and in the latter part of the 1980's came to Grand Rapids and was held as a cultural gathering at the West Side Complex, where it was sponsored by the Grand Rapids Inter-tribal Council. In 1991 the Grand Rapids Community College invited the Anishnabe to the Ford Fieldhouse as a Co-sponsor with the Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council with the assistance of the Vet Center, and has been held there 3 years. The POW-WOW has historical, spiritual, and social value to Native American people. In addition to participating in the traditional dance and song, Native American people visit with family and friends, make new acquaintances, and trade their arts and crafts. The POW-WOW has also become a means of providing an opportunity for cultural sharing with non-Native American people. During the POW-WOW, wisdom passes from elders to the children. To Native American people, the elders and children are particularly important. Both the young, who are just beginning their journey through life, and the elders, who are near the completion of their journey, share a closeness to the Creator. To those who have newly arrived and to those who will soon leave it, the world is especially beautiful. �BEAD POW WOW PEOPLE Coordination of events during a Pow Wow is very important. In order to keep things running smoothly, the "Head People" are asked to take major responsibilities for the Pow Wow. They are selected for their knowledge, skill, and ability to carry out their tasks. It is a great honor to be selected as one of the Head People. BEAD VETERAN DANCER The Head Veteran Dancer is one of the most important dancers in the Pow Wow. He is the dancer who carries the eagle feather staff during Grand Entry and represents all Native Americans who have given their service and lives in defense of our country. He leads the rest of the dancers into the arena during Grand Entry. Head Veteran Dancer - Frank Bush , U.S. Marine Corps , Wounded WWII The Head Veteran Dancer is one of the most important dancers in the Pow Wow. He is the dancer who carries the flag during the Grand Entry and represents all of the Indian people who gave their lives for our country. He also is the dancer who leads the rest of the dancers in the Grand Entry. Frank Bush is of the Eagle Clan Potawatomi from Southwestern Michigan. He belongs to the Huron & Pokagon Bands of Potawatomi. Frank Bush has dedicated his life to Indian causes and culture . He is a respected elder and teacher of the Native American ways Head Veteran Dancer - Josie Cogswell, Grand River Band Ottawa, U.S. Women's Army Corp., 1955 to 1957. Head Veteran Dancer, 1stannualBuckyTeeple POW-WOW, Muskegon, Ml, Three Fires POW-WOW , Grand Rapids, Ml, 1992and 1993. Vets POWWOW, 1992. �HEAD DANCERS George and Sydney Martin consider being selected as Head Dancers for the Veterans POW-WOW an honor. They begin each dance and guide or direct the other dancers in the proper social and cultural tableaus that have been and are so much a part of the Indian tradition and culture. They are knowledgeable and respectful of the POW-WOW protocol, history and traditions as well as each being able dancers in their own right. George is a Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwa, Lynx Clan, First Degree Mide', Three Fires Lodge, Midewiwin Society. He is dedicated to the traditional ways and on passing them along to his children and grandchildren and is sharing with other interested Native Americans. George has given many years of "We're mindful and thankful of the revitalization and responsibiliservice to the Native and non-Native community at ties of our activism whenever we're asked to share the traditions the State, regional and local levels. Some of his of our culture with old and new friends." current involvements are the Spirit People Inc. Board of Directors, Dorr American Legion, Hopkinsburg V.F.W., and conducting Mide' ceremonies for Anishnabe inmates at both Jackson and Muskegon Correctional prisons. George served in the U.S.A.F. during the Korean arid Vietnam eras and was honorable discharged in 1964. Since that time he has worked for and retired from Rockwell International, Allegan, MI. George's father served in the U.S. Army in W.W. I, as did two of his uncles. George points out that they served, as did many Ojibwa men, before the Native Americans were granted American citizenship by an Act of Congress in 1928. George and Sydney have been married for 34 years and are the parents of four children. They have three daughters and one son who is currently serving as a U.S. Army Sergeant in Kuwait. Sydney Martin is Pottawattorni, Wolf Clan, First Degree Mide', Three Fires Lodge, Midewiwin Society. Syd is the only child of renowned basket maker Gladys Sands. Syd's father was Harvey Harper, WW II M.I.A. Sydney too, creates an occasional basket but enjoys making traditional clothing. In September, Sydney was named by the Kellogg Foundation (administered by the Nokomis Learning Center) as a Great Lakes Native Woman Artist (for clothing art) to a year long learning project. Sydney is a life-long resident of the Hopkins area except for the U .S .A.F. years. Syd's current involvements include serving on the Board of Directors of West Michigan Environmental Action Council (W .M.E.A. C.), County of Allegan Leadership League (C.A.L.L.) and M.S .U. Extension for Allegan County �MASTER OF CEREMONIES It is the responsibility of the M.C. to coordinate the POW WOW activities and keep events running smoothly. All announcements, information and explanation of events are made by the M.C. The M.C. must have knowledge of all the songs, dances, customs, culture, tribes, and general information about POW WOWS as he is expected to explain all aspects of POW WOW activities. He must be active for the entire duration of the POW WOW. Bill Memberto is an Odawa/Ojibway from the Western Michigan area. He has been active in the Pow-wow circuit for many years. He has been a member of several drums from the Michigan and has served as M.C. of various Pow-wows throughout the Great Lakes area. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army serving from 1962-1966. Bill has served as a community activist at the local, state and federal levels. He has worked for and directed various health and human services initiatives both in the Western Michigan and the Southeastern Michigan areas. He was a member of the Governors Commission on Indian Affairs from 1979-1981 for the Southeastern Michigan area and then from 1982-1988 for the Western Michigan area. He is presently the Chairperson of the Multi-Cultural Standing Committee for the Department of Mental Health. Bill received his bachelors degree form Ferris State University and his Masters Degree from Grand Valley State University School of Social Work. His daughter Angie lives in the Houghton Lake area and attends college and directs a photography studio in that area. Bill is presently employed by the Counseling Center at Ferris State University and also teaches in the Social Work Department. ARENA DIRECTOR The Arena Director is often the busiest person at the Pow Wow. He is responsible for coordinating everything which will ensure the dancing commences smoothly. If any singerordancer has a problem with anon-site deficiency, the arena director makes every effort to remedy the situation. He must make sure all the drummers and dancers have everything they need to participate in the pow wow. He coordinates Grand Entries and specialty dances plus deals with anyone who may be behaving inappropriately during the dancing or in the arena. �THE GRAND ENTRY The Grand Entry is the first dance of the Pow Wow. The dancers enter the dance circle arena from the east in a single file. The Eagle Staff (representing Native American nations) and the United States flag are carried atthe head of the line. The dancers at the front of the line have a place of honor, respect, and responsibility. The dancers create a circle on the outer perimeter of the dance area, representing the sacred circle. Participants signal Grandfather and their ancestors to witness this physical testimony of the continuation of traditional values. MEN'S TRADITIONAL DANCE Acting out feats of bravery through dance, dancers use story telling movements. They represent an older, distinguished sector of the Pow Wow. The Southern, orstraighttraditional dancers, wear ribbon-skirted regalia with bead work piecesof hide, and a red roach headdress of porcupine quills or horsehair, but no bustle; they assume a dignity of movement. Moving clockwise around the drum, Northern dancers imitate animals with side-to-side movements of their heads. Typically, they wear buckskin, on bustle, leggings, a breast plate of bone and a roach; they often use mirrors to reflect back what is given. What to watch for: Most interesting is watching the story line develop as each dancer challenges the enemy. Even with the slow tempo, the rhythm must be in harmony with the drum. Try to interpret each motion and compare the different ways dancers imitate the eagle or the porcupine. Jerry Pigeon, Sr., Eagle Clan, Potawatoml, Traditional Dancer, Weekaun (spiritual officer) of the Mide' Widjig, Vietnam Veteran. WOMEN'S TRADITIONAL DANCE This dance of honor reflects the women in Indian society, including their roles as givers of life, keepers of home and family, decision-makers, and heads of households. Northern dancers dance in one position or area. Southern dancers move clockwise around the drum. Although styles of dress vary, buckskin or cloth dresses with ribbons and shells are often worn. What to watch for: Discipline is essential to the slow, graceful movements of the dance. Dancing in perfect harmony with the drum, while never breaking the sedate spirit, is the essence of the dance. The dips and sways are executed with no break in dignity. Virginia Pigeon, Traditional Dancer. Elder and member of Cedar Women's Society, Mide' Wldjig. �INTER-TRIBAL DANCES The dances are sometime called friendship dances and are a chance for everyone to join in the dancing. It is not necessary to be dressed in regalia to participate. The Master of Ceremonies will often announce the inner-tribals, which make up the largest portion of the dances, and encourage the audience to join in. GRASS DANCE The people travelled and often made a new camp. Different tasks were given to those most suitef for them. The energy of young men made it natural for them to help set up a dancing place. As the grass was very tall in the days before the land was worked into farms, a group of young men moved around the common area and with their feet pushed down the grass, pressing it again and again until the area was more comfortable to move through. Their movements recalled the wind restlessly swirling the grass. ..L MEN'S FANCY DANCE WOMEN'S FANCY DANCE Today's men's colorful Fancy Feather dance based on the traditional and Warrior Society dances. The dancer's talent and skill is reflescted in his foorwork, body movements and his ability to stay in step with the drumbeat. What to watch for: Following the rhythm of the drum with the steps, the motion of the head and the flow of the body are important elements in the Fancy Dance. Since the steps are individual, the expression of the emotion of the music and the change of pace from the slowernorthern style to the faster southern beat are important. As in all Native American dancing, the finish in exact time with the song is significant in the judging. This dance is popular with young women today as a competitive piece at Powwows. It may have originated as the Butterfly Dance. When her mate is killed in battle, the female butterfly mourns and goes into her cocoon as interpreted with the shawl. Her emergence celebrates freedom and a new life. The dancer makes her colorful shawl, worn over the shoulders, dance with her. Creativity and smoothness are the keys to an outstanding performance. What to watch for: Since each dancer has her own individual style, the essence is how well the steps and motions express and harmonize with the drums. Being in time with the beat is important, as is the ability to end the dance precisely. �THE JINGLE DRESS DANCE At a time when there was widespread sickness and weakness among the people, many people were searching for a way to restore the health of the community. A young Chippewa girl had a dream in which she saw how effective prayers could be made. The next day she went to a wise grandmother, a medicine woman, who helped her with the realization of her dream. They sewed onto a dress of beautiful fabric many small cones of metal. Each one went with a prayer. And, when it was worn in the dance, the dress made a jingling sound recalling the saying of constant prayers. THE SACRED We dance within the Sacred Circle and become all that it represents. All things contained within the Circle are equal within it. The Circle is the Universe. It is change, life, death, birth, and learning. It is the cycle of all things that exist; our way of touching and experiencing harmony with all other things. All things of the Circle have life and spirit; the rocks, Earth, sky, plants, and animals. Our spirit is determined and made whole only through the learning or harmony with all our relatives, the other spirits of the Circle. And the Circle is the way of seeking this understanding; it is our mirror. (Adapted from Seven Arrows Hyemeyohsts Storm) The Pow Wow grounds are arranged in a series of circles: the drum, the drummers, the singers, the dancers, the dance area, and the traders. "You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days, when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us form the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and al ways come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children." (John G . Niehardt, Black Elk Speaks, 1959, p. 164-165) �Vietnam Veterans of America KENT COUNTY CHAPTER NO. 18 P.O. Box 1766 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501 616-361-8175 - Home 616-534-3133 - V.V.A. �GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION Food Centers, Inc. Grand Rapids Area Plants JOO 1 Orchard Vista Drive Post Office 13ox 878 Grand Rapids. Ml 49588-0878 ~U/l0/4J, ~~ .. to support the veterans in our community... o/o/F~Pn A~/e~~ In support of the Pow-Wow personal donations by: Kenneth and Juanita Leash Jerry and Mary Roberts In support of the veterans Gift Certificates from: The Bun Basket Palermo Pizza Place Wise Buys Fields Fabrics 1• I All hospitality food donors The student volunteers of the following colleges: Grand Rapids Community College Grand Valley State University Calvin College Aquinas College �Woro WoMAJ.J ,, Karin Orr, PH.D. Columnist, Food and Features Writer, Television Host, Speaker and Workshop Presenter Trade-mark ® 1975 Timber Trail, Ada, Ml 49301 (616) 676-2300 • Fax (616) 676-8861 Thank you, forgotten Warrior Potpourri Flowers & Gifts that last Honoring all veterans of the community ... , SHELDON Ji/ q We Salute the Veterans Barb Bush (616) 245-4962 2404 Eastern Avenue S,E. Grand Rapids, MI 49507 ©• • •itmark MIKE'S RESTAURANT AND CATERING Your Place or Ours Wedding Receptions Bowling Banquets Class Reunions Rehearsal Dinners Anniversaries Business Meetings Menus For Any Occasion 3526 Chicago Drive, Hudsonville 669-0340 Salutes the Vet RANDY DISSELKOEN LTD. 3090 - 28th Street, S.E. Grand Rapids, Michigan 616 I 942-2990 ,, MEIJER. 2929 WALKER AVENUE, N.W. GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 49504-9428 gordon food service Tony Betten Ford �In Touch D E F . A R ~ STORE 1001 W. 28th ST. • GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 49509 • 616-538-6000 Remembering our for gotten Warriors EDS HELPING FRIENDS OF THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL Volunteers EDS/ CLCD Grand Rapids Metal Center • Sharon Mortensen - Mary Carr EDS / AC Rochester %~ · Pat Spoelhof · Dawn Braford · Delores Bigelow EDS / Inland Fisher Gulde · Bill Nebe · Chris Talsma· McLean In Touch Volunteer Jack C. De Boer Jr. We're proud of you. At NBD, we're proud to serve you from our offices throughout the area. We're also pleased to belong to a community rich in organizations that provide high-quality programs and activities. Thank you for making this a great place to live and work. WJ The right bank can make adifference. Copyright 1993, NBD/Member FDIC �MICHIGAN REGIONAL OFFICES DONALD W. RIEGLE, JR. CENTRAL MICHIGAN COMMITTEES : BANKING , HOUSING , ANO URBAN AFFAIRS: Chairman FINANCE: Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured: Chairman BUDGET tlnittd ~tatt.s ~matt WASHINGTON. DC 20510-2201 (202) 224-4822 800 Washington Square Bldg. 109 W . Michigan Ave. Lansing, Ml 48933 AGING (313) 226-3188 EASTERN Su1te910 SOUTHEASTERN Century Center Bldg., 3d Floor 35 2 S. Sagmaw St 30800 Van Dyke Flint, Ml 48502 Warren, Ml 48093 1313) 766-5115 (313) 573-9017 UPPER PENINSULA 200 W. Washington Marquena, Ml 49855 WESTERN Suite 7 16 Federal Bldg.· · 110 Michigan Ave .. N.W. Grand Rapids. Ml 49503 1906) 228-7'57 (616) 456-2592 Telecommunications Device for the Deaf NORTHERN-LOWER 309 Front Street Traverse City, Ml 49685 (517) 377-1899 Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council 45 Lexington, NW Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504 Suite 343 Detroit, Ml 48207 1517) 377-1713 Room 323, P.O. Bldg. November 13, 1993 WAYNE-MONROE 1155 Brewery Park Blvd. (616) 946-1300 Dear Friends: Thank you for your thoughtful invitation to the Grand Rapids area annual Veterans' Pow Wow. As much as I would like to join you today at the Ford Fieldhouse, prior commitments will not allow me to do so. t As you honor area veterans in this very special ceremony, we are reminded of our nation's heritage and diversity which unites us and is the source of our strength. We shall never forget the Forgotten Warriors - those special servicemen whom you honor today - for their bravery and devoted service. Ceremonies like today's Pow Wow demonstrate our people's resolv~ nev~r to jorget the ultimate sacrifices of so many of our loved ones. I will truly miss being with you. DWR/smj SPECIAL RECOGNITION OF FORGOTTEN WARRIORS Korean War July 27, 1993 marked the 40th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. The War lasted three years and 32 days. The war was fought between the communist North Korea and China against South Korea and 22 United Nations (U.N.) including the United States. This was the first major war of the nuclear age. Korea turned out to be struggle of wills - whether communism or individual freedom would prevail. The Allied men and women fighting there met that test and the tide against communism was turned into a victory often forgotten by history. Welcome home honored American Korean war veterans and veterans of the armed forces of South Korea and the Allied Forces. Vietnam War March 29, 1993 marks the 20th year since the last American troops left South Vietnam. The war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and the free world forces lasted over 11 years. The free world forces consisted of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States of America, Australia, New Zeeland, Thailand, the Philippines and volunteers from Canada. Welcome home honored Vietnam Free World Forces. November 11, 1993 marks the dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Welcome home to the women who served . .{#Jt=+=G=45•:.c::~=ng=-~cnd=N:::,,~oc.~=,~::::,ndac:d= ••=:.•~c::~=:=.•~cnr=4::::,,5:ocr=i::::,baca=/•Cc::,~=16"":c1~=.~=>3oc:::~~ 1940 Eastern SE Grand Rapids, Ml 49507 �:-· :•>.,.•••., ...............,,::::::: .. THE POW·WOW COMMITIEE WISHES TO THANK THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO MAKING THIS POW•WOW A SUCCESS D & W Food Centers, Inc. Coca-Cola Randy Disselkoen, Ltd. WBYV810AM General Motors Corporation Grand Rapids Area Plants Rogers Department Store NBD The Right Bank Mike's Restaurant - Hudsonville UAW Veterans' Committee VET Center Members Of The Pow-Wow Committee Vietnam Veterans Of America Chapter 18 All Veterans And Veteran Organizations Represented Here Today Glen Steil Keebler Anazeh Sands Gordon Food Service Kent Litho Printing, Inc • � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14_veterans-pow-wow_1993-11 Title A name given to the resource Veterans Pow Wow, November 1993 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-11 Description An account of the resource Veterans Pow Wow program, Grand Rapids MI, November 13, 1993, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/98e2bb9791be730f25d5ea50cb6ee72a.jpg a1fb077afd106ac26119c43889b928c2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000213 Title A name given to the resource Vice President Buchen discusses soil survey Description An account of the resource Vice President Buchen discusses soil survey with Soil conservation Service and Grand Valley building and grounds staff. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f05e5f5d4ad99c0e39cec9f41222323b.jpg 43383ebe5eb20afa43e33cd7fd4549f1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000455 Title A name given to the resource Vice President George Potter looks through album collection donated to the library Description An account of the resource Vice President George Potter viewing record album collection donated to the library. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Facilities Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/22c51f86c303852dcb4f97650ca1684c.jpg d95afa6ec9dd9f3716bbd6a6230197da Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000216 Title A name given to the resource Vice president George T. Potter in his office Description An account of the resource Vice President George T. Potter in his office. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5db6e53207013af03483114a426218a5.jpg 1b986d72484c77e9014ab0741875a7c6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000211 Title A name given to the resource Vice President Philip Buchen and chairman of the West Ottawa Soil Conservation District Description An account of the resource Vice President Philip Buchen and chairman of the West Ottawa Soil Conservation District standing by the Grand Valley State College's first sign. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Signs (Notices) Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c6fa015db1019d9d761ed113b67a10de.jpg 5400f07d547b14adad26d7809fa29e0a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000210 Title A name given to the resource Vice President Philip Buchen discusses soil survey Description An account of the resource Vice President Buchen discusses soil survey with Soil conservation Service and Grand Valley building and grounds staff. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ce4d76e860870c4ff521c2a37649ff1b.jpg fc2958e20ad008c6ac4100ba19d2d457 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000212 Title A name given to the resource Vice President Philip Buchen shown soil sample Description An account of the resource Vice President Philip Buchen shown soil sample by Soil Conservation Service and building and grounds staff. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/91092a4e70ff540c76771a4bcc43ec6d.jpg 1a889b12ca57461e7f9b876d41b954a2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000115 Title A name given to the resource Vice President Philip W. Buchen reviews campus map Description An account of the resource Vice President Philip W. Buchen reviews Grand Valley State College's Allendale campus map, 1963. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Buchen, Philip W. (Philip William), 1916- Universities and colleges College administrators Architectural rendering Property Facilities Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1963 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86bc18479d064e5b9c40b55f30031d91.pdf b791bf441d3a05f14c6e32b0c6428574 PDF Text Text Young Lords In Lincoln Park Interviewee: Vicente “Panama” Alba Interviewers: José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 5/14/2012 Biography and Description English Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self- determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López. Spanish Vicente “Panamá” Alba es un Young Lord quien nació en Panamá, migro a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1961 y ahora vive en Puerto Rico. El a trabajado por muchos años con la organización Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) de AFL/CIO, quien defiende los trabajadores inmigrantes y los indocumentaditos en los �industriosas de recicla y las eliminación de los desechos. Durante la rebelión de Attica, (Septiembre 9, 1971) Señor Alba soportó reclusos en sus negaciones. Señor Alaba ha sido parte de dos tomadas de la Estatua de Libertad, la primera es plantando la bandera de Puerto Rico en la Estatua en parte de una campaña para libertar los Nacionalistas Puertorriqueños que fueron encarcelados y el segundo fue en soportar la lucha de la gente de Vieques. Un ferviente admirador de Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Señor Alba continua abogar por autodeterminación por Puerto Rico y a sido parte de los Nacionalistas y otros grupos, incluyendo unas organizaciones en la comunidad que hacen campañas para libertar los prisioneros de política, uno siendo Oscar López. �Transcript JOSE JIMENEZ: Okay, now we’re going to do it again. Name, date of birth. VICENTE ALBA: Vicente Alba, called Panama, and I was born April 3, 1951, in Panama City, Panama. JJ: So, you were born, so when did you come to the States? VA: I went to New York in 1961 at the age of 10. And I think it’s important to understand that I went to New York with a lot of dreams, a lot of illusions about where I was going to. And that very quickly turned into a nightmare. JJ: What about your parents? Did they come with you? VA: My father, my father was already in New York. My mother came and my sister came with me. JJ: And your father’s name? VA: My father’s name is Tito -- was Tito Alba. JJ: He’s passed away? VA: He’s passed away. [00:01:00] My mother also passed away; name is [Espere Alba?]. And my sister Maria. JJ: Your sister Maria? VA: And I. So, we settled in the southeast section of the Bronx. The place was very segregated. JJ: We’re talking about what years? VA: Nineteen sixty-one. JJ: It was segregated. 1 �VA: Very segregated. I mean, south of the Bronx River was all Black and Latino. Where my parents got the apartment, which is just north of that, in the southeast section of the Bronx. It was mixed, but right -- JJ: [San Risa?]? VA: Soundview. JJ: (inaudible) [00:02:00] VA: Soundview was mixed, and right north of there, right after the overpass to the Bronx River Parkway, it was white. And if you got caught in that side of the tracks, you were done. JJ: And when you say white, Italian, Italian, Irish? VA: Italian Irish. You know, as I said, I came very naïve, very sheltered. JJ: What do you mean, sheltered? VA: Sheltered, I mean, my, you know, my parents were very protective of me. I had no sense of the streets. But I had a very rapid transformation. By the age of 14, I was totally rebellious. JJ: So, you came from very sheltered, [what do you mean by that]? VA: Let me explain. I’ll do that. I, [00:03:00] you know, I had encounters. For example, I started rebelling first with -- what happened to me was this. I didn’t even know how to speak English at the time. I was about 13. The police raided my neighborhood, there was something called the TPF Tactical Police Force, and they were the riot cops, the riot police. When they were not involved in a siege in a community where there was upheaval, they hit Black and Puerto Rican communities throughout the city. One day they came to my neighborhood, and it 2 �was early summer, and they grabbed all the kids and took us into a backyard. And I had never experienced anything like this. These [00:04:00] white cops, they was big mountain boys, huge white guys, calling me dirty fucking Puerto Ricans. And, you know, cops, they used to carry rubber hoses, and beat you with, and blackjacks. The cop is beating me with a rubber hose that’s calling me a dirty Puerto Rican, so I’m trying to get out of an ass whipping, I said, “Officer, not Puerto Rican, Panamanian.” He says, “I don’t give a fuck what kind of Puerto Rican you are, I’m just whipping you.” And I got very angry. I said, “Motherfucker, I am a Puerto Rican. Whatever that is, I am now.” You know? Um, you gotta remember the time that it was. It was a time of a lot of social upheaval. I mean, it was the time of Malcolm X, the time of Black Power, the time of the antiwar movement -JJ: Sixty-four, sixty-six? [00:05:00] VA: -- ’62, ’63, ’64. And, you know, the youth revolution, the antiwar movement, the Black Power movement, the Civil Rights movement, all of these things are happening. JJ: And when you come in here from Panama, you already (inaudible)? VA: No, I’m not. Well, I mean, that’s another story. Because see, in Panama, my grandfather owned a boarding house. And my first social consciousness had to do with the fact that there were a lot of Cuban exiles, young men, mainly college students, that were exiled because Batista wanted to kill them because they were supporting Movimiento 26 de Julio. So, that was my first recollection as a child. And Fidel was a hero in Latin America. You know? [00:06:00] He was a hero, 3 �until he declared that he was a Communist, and then all of a sudden, he was the devil, you know? But he took on a dictatorship backed by the United States when there were a lot of dictatorships backed by the United States, and he beat them, and took over and created a society that was for Cubans. So, that was my first political experience. And my grandfather, my grandfather had been an anarchist, and fought against Franco in Spain. So, I had those things, you know. But when I came to the United States, none of that made any sense to me, initially. I just got very rebellious, became very self-destructive. I mean, some of us were self-destroying from gangs, others were self-destroying from drugs. [00:07:00] I turned to a lot of drugs. JJ: So, you were involved in a gang, too? VA: I didn’t join the gang, but I was doing a lot of drugs. JJ: (inaudible) you got into the drug scene. VA: I got into this drug scene, very heavy. JJ: And you’re talking about hard drugs, too? VA: Very hard drugs, because I was shooting heroin at the age of 14, you know? Um, I got into a lot of the rock scene. I went to the Fillmore East, I went to Woodstock, you know, the heavy drugs. And I was very confused. I mean, I was just angry. Angry because the world was really fucked up. And I had come to this place that was supposed to be the home of democracy and the land of the free, and it was hell. You know? JJ: You were already a little bit (inaudible) angry, anyway. VA: Sure. 4 �JJ: And then the drug scene and all that is putting you down, putting you down, [00:08:00] more or less. Or at least, you know, people using drugs were put down at that time, (inaudible). VA: Yeah, but I mean. I was at the point I didn’t give a fuck. I frankly didn’t give a fuck. I stopped giving a fuck about everything. JJ: (inaudible) VA: You know, I used to see the Black Liberation movement, the Black Power movement, I used to see Malcolm X on TV, then the Black Panthers hit the scene. I didn’t know about these other movements in the United States, but I knew about the Black Panthers. And I was struggling with my mind that I want to join the Black Panthers. JJ: When was the first time you heard about the Black Panthers? VA: In the newspapers. The shootouts, everything that was going on. When they marched on the governor’s, you know, the Capitol in California, all of that caught the press. And, you know, [00:09:00] I didn’t speak good English, but I read, and I watched the news. And then I’m into the drugs and I’m thinking, you know, like, I gotta do something. The world’s fucked up. I gotta do something. Um, and then one day, it’s around Christmastime, I put on the TV, and there’s this group called the Young Lords took over a church in El Barrio, New York. And I said to myself, damn, now we’re in the fucking scene. Finally, we -- you know, we’re now a part of all this that’s going on around the world, the Vietnam War, people are fighting all over the world and -- but, you know, and I would have joined the 5 �Panthers. But Young Lords came on the scene. But I had a problem. Drugs. I struggled with that. The Young Lords -JJ: For how many years? VA: I struggled since I was 14. Now I was 19, [00:10:00] 18, 18 or 19. JJ: And you were shooting every day. VA: That’s how I got into that, yeah. JJ: That’s how you got into it. VA: I was evicted. And I saw the Young Lords for that takeover of the church, and I’m struggling with this. And then the Young Lords with the Puerto Rican Student Union held a conference at Columbia University, and they called for a demonstration to the United Nations. That was October 30, 1970. And the kids from all the schools, just pouring out that day to go to this demonstration. I was so hooked. I went, but I got there late. I got to the march late. So, when I got to the march, the people that I was supposed to hook up with [00:11:00] already marching. This was the biggest demonstration that had come out of our community. I had been to marches against the Vietnam War. I had gone to Washington to the Pentagon, on the bus ride. But from our own community, at least 10,000 people marched down from El Barrio or to the United Nations. And there were three demands. Top demand was (Spanish) [00:11:27]. The second demand was the freedom of Nationalist prisoners. And the third demand was an end to police brutality. And all of this just touched me, in a way. Now I’m not Puerto Rican, but I had come into a city where there were maybe 5,000 Panamanians, where there were maybe 10,000 Dominicans, and 20,000 6 �Cubans, [00:12:00] and 1 million Puerto Ricans in the City of New York. So, the Puerto Rican people defined what being Latino was. You know what I’m saying? And the Young Lords coming into the scene were saying the Latinos are now in the movement. Now there’s a face to our -- and after that demonstration, I struggled a couple of days. And then I had met a woman by the name of Cleo Silvers, who was a Black Panther. And I had never forgotten that. One day I ran into her and decided we would sit down the street. She always used to [kicker?] to me, you know. And one day we’re talking, and she points, and says, “Look over there.” And when I did, it was cops selling dope out of a patrol car. And she says, “See that’s where you’re giving your money. You hate the cops? Look [00:13:00] who’s taking your money.” And that stuck with me, you know? And I decided that I had to be one thing or the other. I couldn’t be a dope fiend and be a revolutionary. And I decided to give the revolution a try. Had to get off the dope. So, I took my last shot of dope, broke my works, and went up to the Puerto Rican Student Union. Cleo, I’d spoken to her on the phone, and she had (inaudible). What she had not told me was the next day, which was November 10th, they were going to take over Lincoln Hospital for the second time. It was a takeover by the Young Lords, and it was a takeover to begin a drug abuse treatment center. JJ: Cleo was in the leadership in those [00:14:00] days? VA: Cleo was in the leadership of this movement. JJ: Of taking over Lincoln Hospital. VA: Yes. 7 �JJ: With the Young Lords. She was a Young Lord, too? VA: Let me explain it to you. There was something called HRUM, Health Revolutionary Unity Movement. And Cleo had been working with the health workers and working around health issues that had been involved with the first take over Lincoln Hospital. And she was, at that moment, in a process of transitioning from the Black Panther Party to the Young Lords. The Black Panthers were involved with the first takeover, but they had the Panther 21 case, and they were like, totally tied up in defending themselves by this point. Cleo was working with HRUM, so she started -- and was recruited into the Young Lords because they were doing the work that she wanted to do. And so she called me. I go the next [00:15:00] day. I’m kicking a dope habit. And, you know, I go to Lincoln Hospital, and they had just taken over the hospital two hours ago. You know, police have surrounded the place, I mean, people was picketing outside, and I walk into the scene, and I said, “This is it. This is beautiful,” you know. So, I literally kicked the dope habit while starting a drug program for other addicts, although I wasn’t taking Methadone, I just quite cold. But that was something that I had decided to do. I was testing myself. And that’s how I came to become active in the movement. I worked for like, it was a matter of weeks, two weeks, three weeks, with the detox program exclusively. And then on Saturdays, I went out to do lead testing, TB testing, with the Young Lords HRUM, [00:16:00] and they asked me to join the Lords. I didn’t know it at the time, but see, there was a group of people that knew who I was that were involved with the Young Lords, Mickey Melendez’s father, Richie Pérez’s father, 8 �and my next-door neighbor, were really tight. They were three merchant seamen. That’s how they knew each other. So, they knew where I came from. So, when I go to the -- and then, there’s another very important thing I need to... I had gotten -- [00:17:00] I was in Monroe High School. They kicked me out of Monroe High School. JJ: Monroe. VA: Okay? Richie Pérez was the youngest teacher in Monroe High School. And me and Richie had become good friends. And then he had quit his job at Monroe, joined the Young Lords. That summer, before the demonstration, July the 4th, 1970 I never forget that day, because it was a full-scale riot in Orchard Beach in Bronx, and we battled with the police for hours. We were just angry, you know? And in the middle of this battle, I ran into Richie with a squad of Young Lords that had been on the beach selling pamphlets. Now we were battling together against the police. I said, “My God, this is my high school teacher, guys, doing battle with the police.” It doesn’t get any better than that. You know what I’m saying? I was very angry. [00:18:00] I think I was angry since the day that the copper whipped my ass. I had kept that inside of me. And, you know, the builtup racism, (inaudible). I almost got killed by a gang of white boys because I was going out with an Irish girl. I mean, these kids beat this shit out of me. I was saved by a Black bus driver. You know? Um, I had all this anger, and that’s what motivated me at the moment of joining the movement, was anger, you know? I thought that we have to do something to change the world. This world that we were living in, it’s no good. Okay? Um, one of the things that happened 9 �to me immediately is that I really began -- and I think it helped me overcome the drugs and everything -- was that I really got to understand, [00:19:00] by working and becoming a Young Lord that it was -- revolution was not just something that you waged against the system. Revolution was something that you waged within yourself. It was about changing. And one of the first challenges was the challenge about machismo. Chauvinism. You know, it was two, three weeks after I kicked dope, I saw women, and it was like, “Oh, baby, come here. I want to talk to you.” JJ: And (inaudible) VA: Yeah. And there was a sister that called me a chauvinist pig. And I was highly offended her calling me a pig. And she ranked onto me because of my conduct throughout the course of the day. It was a Saturday, and we had gone out to do TB testing and lead [00:20:00] poison testing, you know. And I was out there, “Hey, baby, come here, I want to talk,” you know, it was like -- and she really cut into me in such a way that I began to really question myself and the way -- and to understand that you could not talk about liberation while you were oppressing other people, you know? And that stood with me to this day. But it opened my mind to also understanding that I had to challenge everything that I had learned before, all the values, everything. And at the center was the sense of individualism that society teaches you, you know, and that revolution is about fighting for everybody else, sacrificing yourself to fight for everybody else. That’s what Che Guevara talked about; you know? And I began to read. Now they had kicked me out, [00:21:00] they didn’t even let me drop out of high school. 10 �JJ: So, it was more -- nothing to do with -- it was against individuals. VA: Exactly. JJ: More about team. VA: Exactly. About the people. JJ: Collectively. VA: Loving your people is being willing to live, fight for, and even die for, for your people. JJ: And you say Che? VA: Che taught that, talking about socialism and man, the booklet, you know, talking about the new person. And so I joined the Young Lords, you know? And what I understood the Young Lords to be when I joined was a revolutionary Nationalist youth organization. We were about making revolution by the state, the government, for the liberation of our people. And that fight, you know, [00:22:00] sadly, we did not understand at that time that it was a long-term struggle. We thought it was an immediate struggle, because the world was on fire. You know? I mean, people were fighting for liberation around the world. And so we thought that revolution was imminent. Liberation was imminent. We were in a process of revolution. Some things happened in the Young Lords in New York that really put me on my path. Because the other thing about Young Lords for me, when I joined, was this. I had an attitude, you know what? They created the Young Lords, it’s all good, so just tell me where the fuck we gotta go to do war, you know? Like, that’s all. I don’t want to hear all this. JJ: I’m ready. I’m ready. 11 �VA: Yeah, I don’t want to hear all the study this, no, no, you tell me where to [00:23:00] go, I go do it. Fuck it. It’s done. Very simple attitude. Except the summer of 1971, I’m in the Young Lords now just a few months, six months, seven months, very intense months. The Puerto Rican Day Parade is an event that had become highly commercialized and very abused. It was touted as a celebration of Puerto Rican-ness. But the biggest contradiction was that the police led the parade. The police kicked our asses all day long, and then they want to lead our parade. That ain’t happening. [00:24:00] The Young Lords made a call and got the whole Puerto Rican movement to agree to set up an operation to take over the front of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. It was a very poor political decision, simply because, you know, while you’re studying guerrilla warfare, you know, you never take on a greater enemy head on. But they decided to do that. And I was one angry man. I was [the defense ministry?], I was like, “Yo, yeah, that’s it, that’s me. Whatever we’ve gotta do, let’s go do it.” And I was so sold on this idea, although I had nothing to do with the decision, because I was not the leadership. I was so loud. I was the soldier. I was the cadre, that we were trained to go do battle. We [00:25:00] called them Suicide Squad. We were going to take on the police head-on, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. And the day before the parade that Saturday was our last training session, we were like running down to Randall’s Island to train, and I slipped on the ramp, and I fell, and I scraped my whole back raw. And it’s very hot. June. So, they sent me back to the headquarters. They patched me up, and they put on medical tape, and, you know? And I’m allergic to medical adhesive, and welts 12 �pop up on my shoulder. And our minister of defense, Juan Gonzalez, comes to me, he says, “You’re off the Suicide Squad.” And that was my first act of insubordination. I said, “You know what? You purge me on Monday, but Sunday, [00:26:00] I’m kicking some cop’s ass. Have absolutely no doubt about it. I’m going to war tomorrow. On Monday, you could purge me. I don’t give a fuck. I’m out of here. I’m done.” Okay? I went on the Suicide Squad. It was a very poor decision, and it was a very poor decision, not because we had no chance of beating the police. It was a poor decision because while you can be suicidal about yourself, you have no right to bring the wrath of the police on your community. The cops beat people all up and down Fifth Avenue. There was no question about whether you’re a Young Lord, not a Young Lord. If you look Puerto Rican, they’re going to bust your ass. And very rightfully, the people were very angry with us the next day. [00:27:00] And that day changed the relationship of the Young Lords in New York with our community. And I know that is something that we never recovered from, all right? But it also brought some other problems, and it was that all the sudden, there was nobody in the leadership that took responsibility. There was no evaluation afterwards, no criticism, or some criticism. You know, I had been put very rapidly in charge of the Bronx office, and I’d recruited people from that office to join this action, we go do battle, we get our asses kicked. The whole relationship between Young Lords and our community, [00:28:00] people that came by our office every day the day before would not come into our office. They would go across the street the day after. And there was nobody to talk about this to. And it became very difficult in 13 �the Young Lords. I had recruited [Tony Copeland?] into the Young Lords who brought a fella named [Deleone?]. I had recruited a lot of people. I recruited some former gang members from Bachelors into the organization. And, you know, now people were saying -- I couldn’t respond to anybody. What I did not understand is that there was already a process of transition. A lot of things that happened. First of all, in early ’71 the Young Lords engaged in this campaign called [00:29:00] “Ofensiva Rompecadenas,” Break the Chains. And it was a campaign that sent Young Lords from the United States, to Puerto Rico, where we are today. It was also a very [focusing?] idea, because people were sent here that didn’t have a sense of what the political reality was, the social reality, what the economic reality of this place is. They were Puerto Ricans, but you were urban ghetto Puerto Ricans. The children, okay, of the people that had migrated there before, you know, years before. And, um, we didn’t have a sense about what was going on here. [They needed?] the independence of Puerto Rico, but that’s where it ended. I mean, we had no ties to the communities here. None of that. [00:30:00] We came from the community there. And I think it’s really important to understand what Young Lords were. JJ: So, what happened at that time? VA: well, you know, what happened with that was that a lot of human resource and material resources were drained to make that move to Puerto Rico. And then it fell apart in Puerto Rico. And people were abandoned in Puerto Rico. JJ: Abandoned? What do you mean? VA: Abandoned. They were left here, you know? 14 �JJ: So, there was no money paid for the trip. VA: Yeah, and offices were opened up in Aguadilla, in Caño, and then, you know, people here wrote letters to send to committee saying, this is a mistake. We’re not being effective here. We can’t. And they were, you know, dismissed. And people just walked away from the organization. [00:31:00] JJ: They were dismissed? VA: They were irrelevant. But there were other problems also growing. And I think it’s important to understand that, see, unlike Chicago, where the Chicago Young Lords originate in a street gang, New York was a coming together of two groups, actually, one from El Barrio, one college students from Old Westbury. And at one point it was very beautiful because it was really representative of our community. We had gang members, ex-gang members, college students, high school students, some workers in the organization, teachers. But with the [00:32:00] tendency towards intellectualism, there are some people that gravitate to the theoretical studies. And one of the dynamics of the American left, of which we were a part of, was this process of building a new revolutionary communist party. And then there was the infiltration within the Young Lords, [this shift?] that led to certain things being pushed. JJ: What do you mean infiltration? VA: Infiltration, like, you know, we uncovered a number of police agents operating. And some people that were never proven to be agents, I think, I know in my heart were [00:33:00] agents, because they led the organization to destruction. Part of that move was this move to become a party. And in order to do that, everything 15 �that had made the Young Lord successful was shut down. All our community offices were shut down. All the, you know, all the work that we did in the community, the housing work, the anti-police brutality work, you know, the antidrug all that stuff was abandoned, because everybody was supposed to abandon all the work and study Marxism, Leninism, and organize workers in the workplace. And so the incident at the Puerto Rican Day Parade, in retrospect, played right into the hand of that because there was no caring about what had happened with the community. You know, at least none [00:34:00] that I saw. And, you know, the Young Lords were being transformed into this thing called PRRWO. And many people, some good people, got sucked into that. You know, um, I remember real clearly that it was, I believe, late in 1972 or early 1973 that there was a call made for all the Young Lords to report for this conference that we were going to have at the Hunts Point Palace. And I went to report, as instructed. And it was a dance hall, and it had been decorated for this [00:35:00] Young Lords conference. There was a lot of Young Lords in there. And the place was decorated in such a way that you had Marx, Lenin, Engels, and Mao. And one of the brothers got up and says, “You know, I really have no problem with the posters that are here. The problem that I have with the posters that are not here. Where’s Don Pedro? Where’s [Lolita?]? Where’s [Letansas?]?” And it was, in my view, an intellectual takeover of what our movement had been. Now everybody has to study Marx and Mao, Engels, dialectical [00:36:00] materialism, but the thing that had distinguished us was our love for our people and served the people in our communities, that was gone. I went to that 16 �conference, and I called the national, told them to go -- because I used to run the Bronx office at Cyprus Avenue. And [Olgie?] had already been pulled out of there. You know, people had been -- Cleo, she had been sent to Detroit to work with Black Workers Congress, all this movement to get people out of the community and to build this party. You know, they had these meetings with the LLN, with all these other organizations, and all these discussions, [00:37:00] and we got orders to study this, study that. And after that conference, I said to myself, “You know, this is not what I joined. This not what I came to join. I came to join a revolution, but I don’t see it happening here.” And I walked away. In walking away though, I -- you know, and it was also about growing up politically, because I found myself saying, “You know what? I cannot allow people to make political decisions for me. I gotta take political responsibility for myself.” It was no longer about you tell me where to go and I go do it, fuck it. That’s over. I have, you know, I gained some tools to think for myself. And one of the things that I saw was that there was a thing that had been abandoned. [00:38:00] For example, there was a case in New York called the Case of the New York Five, and it was Black Panthers and one Young Lord, accused of bank robberies and killing cops with the Black Liberation Army. And now, with our movement collapsing, it was like we were abounding them; you know? Nobody wanted to talk about this case. The PROs didn’t even want to touch it, because it was not a proletariat struggle, it’s a revolutionary Nationalist struggle. So, I joined with some Black Panthers that was formed, [The Committee to Free the?] the New York Five. And two of the five brothers were Boricuas. One of them was a 17 �member of the Black Panther Party, and the other was his brother’s blood brother, who was in the Young Lords, Gabe Torres and Francisco Torres. So, I began doing that work. And I had hooked up with my [00:39:00] compa-- Mickey Melendez, who was doing the work around the freedom of the Nationalists. And so I continued doing that work, to free up political prisoners. And then I became an independent political activist at that point. I have never stopped. In 19-- I think it was the fall of ’75, I got word that they had kidnapped Richie Pérez. Richie Pérez was one of those people that stood [withdraw?]. And I lost contact with him. But then I heard about his kidnapping and his torture of him and Diana Caballero. And by that time, because he was doing the work around the Nationalist prisoners, Mickey Menendez [00:40:00] and I had come to Puerto Rico and gotten sworn in as members of the Nationalist Party in Puerto Rico. Mickey and I went to a bar here in El Condado to have a couple of drinks that we waited for the time to go to the airport to return back to New York. I never forget this place. It was a basement bar, called [El Barrito?], and we walked in there, and who do we run into? Richie Pérez and Diana Caballero. They were in the darkened corner. When they saw us, they got very paranoid, because they didn’t know who to trust. Since I had been a high school student of Richie’s, I approached him. I said, “Whoa, we ain’t come here to hurt you. It’s just accidental. But here’s my number. When you feel up to, [00:41:00] give me a call.” And about a week later, back in New York, I got a call from Richie, and we reconnected, and we continued. We began doing the work around Nationalists, all of that. We had a meeting of former Young Lords who denounced the 18 �kidnapping and the tortures. The kidnapping and torture was orchestrated by Gloria Fontanez (inaudible). She had, through a series of purges, okay, purged Juan Gonzalez, who used to be her compañero, had purged David, had purged Yoruba Guzman, had purged all the people in the leadership. JJ: All the Central Committee, (inaudible) of the Young Lords. VA: Exactly. And [00:42:00] um, ordered the kidnapping and the torture. JJ: And how did she get that type of following? (inaudible) VA: That’s a very interesting -- because one of the things about her, Gloria Fontanez approaches or hooks up with our movement. She was a hospital clerk in Gouverneur Hospital in the Lower East Side. And because of the work through HRUM, she had become chairwoman of HRUM, and through HRUM, joined the Young Lords. That’s a key question. How did this hospital clerk gain all of this political sophistication and Machiavellian maneuvering and ability? You know, she was a very skillful organizer, but she -- I mean, she has skills that you need to question where they came from. [00:43:00] I say she was a highly trained agent. And she married [Bruce?] Wright, who was another agent. And they took control of the Young Lords when they converted it to PRRWO. JJ: And when she split up from Juan Gonzalez, married this guy (inaudible). VA: Yeah. JJ: And you’re saying that he was an agent. VA: He was an agent, so was she. JJ: On what grounds are you saying this? VA: Because of everything she did, okay, was to destroy the Young Lords. 19 �JJ: What did she do to destroy the Young Lords? VA: She climbed the ladder of leadership -- dismantled the leadership -- JJ: She was able to climb the ladder of leadership from Juan Gonzalez because he was a leader. One way -- one way. VA: It was more than Juan Gonzalez. JJ: Okay, then what other ways? VA: You know, she had the skills that we as a young organization didn’t have. And she presented herself with those skills. JJ: She [00:44:00] was working in the hospital (inaudible). VA: How does the hospital clerk get all this organizing skills? Right? That’s the question. You know. She was very skillful in setting people against each other and dismantling the leadership of the Lords, one at a time, turning everybody first against one, then against the other, and, you know, until she was in complete control. Once she took complete control, then the kidnapping and the torture began. That’s not a mistake of a revolutionary. That’s classic COINTELPRO operation. Same thing that happened in the Black Panther Party. JJ: You’re saying she was trained as an agent. VA: Or she learned these skills from where? [00:45:00] JJ: When you talked to her, when you knew her, she was very skillful. VA: Very skillful, very eloquent, very pretty. JJ: And you’re an organizer, yourself. VA: Yeah. JJ: So, you can see if somebody’s an organizer, really. 20 �VA: Listen, she was my leader when I was in the Young Lords. But she did things that were so authoritarian, like she had the authority to tell you how to run your personal life. And those are things that I began to question very early on in saying myself, this is something wrong here. This woman tells me that I have to tell my compañera to get an abortion because the party is having too many babies. My response was, the party ain’t having no babies. My compañera and I are having a baby, and she ain’t getting an abortion. But that was, [00:46:00] like, you know, if I would have allowed her the authority to follow up on her orders, she would have controlled my life. Then I would have been a puppet of hers, like the puppets she used -- listen, when Richie Pérez was kidnapped and tortured, people who did it were people that he recruited into the Young Lords, that he trained. And then she took over and ordered them to kidnap and torture him. That’s very skilled. JJ: But she was not just a control freak. You think she’s an agent. VA: That’s my belief. And I’ll say it to her face. I’ll tell you, the last time I saw Gloria Fontanez was about three years ago, when [Lori Delagron?] died, and I was in New York, and we organized a memorial for Lori Delagron. And I was in charge of security, [00:47:00] sadly, for her. Because Iris Morales was there and approached, he says, “Look, Gloria’s here.” And I went up to her, says, “Excuse me, I need to talk to you outside.” And then her boyfriend came. “What’s the problem?” I said, “You’re with her? Then you and me gotta go outside, too.” And I took them outside, and I threw them out of the place. JJ: This is Gloria. 21 �VA: Oh, yeah, yeah. JJ: And her boyfriend, too. VA: And her then-boyfriend. JJ: [Wilbert?] Wright? VA: No, no, this is somebody else. She’s been through a hundred boyfriends. That’s the truth. The truth. JJ: Because who was her boyfriend again after González? VA: Her first boyfriend was Juan Gonzalez, and she went to, Don Wright. JJ: Don Wright. VA: Um, so that’s -- JJ: What do you know about Don Wright? What about him? VA: I don’t know anything about Don Wright, because when he came into the scene, I had left the Young Lords. I was doing political work independently. JJ: So, you were -- [00:48:00] VA: Anyway, as far as Young Lords, I would say the following. That in the United States, we have been and sadly to say, there have been other organizations that have risen since and tried to erase the legacy of the Young Lords. The Young Lords have left a lasting legacy for our community. You know, we were very young. We lacked a lot of political insight that, you know -- but we left. I mean, you and I were talking before, for example, about electoral politics. The Young Lords, see, we created a political movement that gave our community a sense of the [00:49:00] power that we had. What we lacked, at least in New York, was the insight about understanding this, this was a long-term struggle, and because we 22 �saw it as an immediate struggle, for example, we never considered electoral politics in New York, but we left the vacuum that was moved into, people, poverty, pimps moved into that, you know, the other (Spanish) [00:49:26] of the world, and you know, the [Napoleons?] on the Lower East Side, people who capitalized on that movement, that sense of empowerment that the Young Lords brought. You know, one of the things I learned in the Young Lords was that their commitment is not to an organization. It’s to [00:50:00] a cause. And, you know, that cause that brought the Young Lords into existence is still very much alive. So, I continue to struggle. JJ: Which is what? (inaudible) VA: Which is the liberation of Puerto Rico, which is the equality, the fulfillment of all of our rights, our human rights, our democratic rights, our civil rights in the United States and anywhere in the world. And you know what, to the creation of a better worlds. In Puerto Rico and outside of Puerto Rico, wherever we go. The Young Lords taught us to live like Che Guevara. JJ: So, after the Young Lords folded (inaudible). VA: Well, [00:51:00] what happened was that we were carrying on the campaign for the freedom of the Nationalists. In 1977, I was the first person arrested and accused of being a member of the FALN. Actually not the first, because David Pérez was arrested in my house. He went to my house, and they arrested him when they were trying to arrest me, and they -- I went into hiding, and I surrendered a week later, um, because they didn’t have anything. They tried to 23 �pin a bombing on me in New York, of the Mobil Oil building. That was on August 8, 1977. JJ: Okay, 1977? VA: Yeah. And so, you know, they dropped charges on David, they kept harassing me. They rearrested me in March of ’78. JJ: But David Pérez was arrested? VA: He was arrested in my house. Yeah, he came knocking on the door, the feds [00:52:00] grabbed him, you know? And they actually put his picture in the papers with my name on it, you know? (laughs) JJ: So, they were actually looking for you. VA: They were looking for me. They raided my house. JJ: (inaudible) a few Young Lords were connected to the (inaudible). VA: Yeah, so then back in ’78, in March of ’78, I was rearrested, spent six months in jail. I went to trial five years later, I was acquitted in 45 minutes, okay? But, you know, the time I spent in jail and all the drama that surrounded that case, again, with accusations of being a member of the FALA. JJ: You were acquitted. VA: I was acquitted by a jury in 45 minutes. They went in there, locked the door, said, “Not guilty,” came back down, go home. You know? Um, [00:53:00] in that process, we freed the Nationalists, the Nationalists were freed in 1978. I was out on bail at the time. JJ: And how did you [feel?]? 24 �VA: Well, there was an international campaign that -- we did a lot of work in our community, educational work, educating people as to who these people were. And for a long time, people are saying, “You guys are crazy, they are never going to be released,” because we’re talking about four people that shot up the Congress of the United States and the fifth who tried to kill President Truman, okay, in the cause of court deliberation of Puerto Rico. And our people kept telling us, “You guys go waste your fucking time, but these guys ain’t never coming home. [00:54:00] Lolita Lebrón and them are going to rot in jail.” But we were able to force the US government, with very strong mobilizations in our community, we took over the Statue of Liberty in 1977, put the flag on its crown, demanding their release, and the support of the Cuban government. JJ: Wait a minute. So, when you took over the Statue of Liberty, you went upstairs, and -- VA: That was a Young Lord action carried out by three ex-members of the young roads, Richie Pérez, Mickey Melendez, and myself. JJ: So, Richie Pérez, Mickey Melendez, and you, yourself? VA: I was not arrested because I was out on bail. I had just gotten out of jail. JJ: What exactly did you (inaudible) talk about that now, if you can. I mean, without getting into any details [of that action?]. VA: What we did was -- JJ: Because if you do that, I’m being an accessory. I don’t want [00:55:00] that. (laughter) 25 �VA: We had been going, over a number of years, going to Washington, demanding the freedom of the Nationalists, the United Nations. And in ’77 that summer, we were in the process of another mobilization to Washington. JJ: Was this meaning a demonstration? VA: A demonstration, yeah, a massive demonstration, taking thousands of people to Washington and demanding the freedom of the Nationals. Um, and, you know, it was like something that had kind of like ran its course. It was beginning to lose energy. So, Richie, Mickey, and I, we were coordinating the committee, and we met. And it was Mickey Melendez who said, “You know what?” I mean -- no, the deal was, I said, “We gotta do an action, a militant action. We gotta take this to the next level.” [00:56:00] Now remember, already, the FALN was putting, you know, armed actions, you know, armed propaganda actions in Chicago, in New York, in Washington, wherever. But we said, we need to now collaborate with this effort by a militant mass movement action. And Mickey says, “Statue of Liberty.” Right? So, we took turns going to case the place, you know, like one day, Mickey went, another time Richie went, another time I went, and to assess it, you know, how it operated, lay of the land, how many guards, all of that stuff. JJ: And you were kind of planning, it was just a protest, basically. VA: Sure. Whatever you say. [00:57:00] JJ: (laughter) VA: Then what we did was that each one of us took on the responsibility of developing a list of activists who he trusted, okay? And who had to trust us, 26 �because we agreed not to tell anybody what we were going to do. The only three people that knew was Richie, Mickey, and I. JJ: And this case is closed, right? VA: This case is closed. And we would check with each other of our list. You know such person? What do you think? Is he trustworthy? Yeah. Should they be approached? And we, one on one, approached the individuals that got arrested there, and asked them to make a commitment to get arrested for the freedom of the Nationalists, without knowing what they were going to do. [00:58:00] So, once we had a -- you know, we prepared, we planned, everything was done, we told people, the three teams, each one of us led a different team at different parts of city, like the people that I had on my list, meet me down in Times Square at seven o’clock in the morning. Then somebody else met in Queens, you know, like that. And we converged in Battery Park in New York City. JJ: (inaudible) VA: Battery Park is in the tip of Manhattan, across from the Statue of Liberty. And everybody got on the boat except me, [Yana Pérez Gallejero?], and a third person, [Cesar Torres?]. I was in charge because I was already on bail. Like, we had a big fight about that, like, “I’m going in there,” they say, “No, you’re not.” I said, “Yes, I am.” [00:59:00] And they overruled. They didn’t allow me to get arrested, because if I would have gotten arrested again, I would have never gotten out of jail, you know? So, Richie and Mickey led the group of people, they got on the first ferry onto the Statue of Liberty Island, and then ran and got into the Statue of liberty to prevent the other tourists on the boat to get in, so there 27 �wouldn’t be a problem of kidnapping or any of that crap, right? And they shut down the island. They took it over. You’ve gotta remember, back then, there weren’t cellular phones available to us, okay? So, we already gotten the telephone numbers to all the public phones in the Battery Park area. We took control of the phones. The thing that got interesting was that we had assessed that the arrest was going to happen pretty soon after the takeover, because there were -- [01:00:00] you know, they were going to come in and get people arrested. What we did not count on was the fact that the police, in fact, were fighting among themselves. The NYPD was fighting with the FBI and the US Parks Department police who had jurisdiction. So, this thing started dragging on for hours and hours. They shut the power off in the Statue of Liberty; they shut off the water. We hadn’t counted on that, okay? We should have planned for that possibility, but we never did, frankly. So, it was very funny, because since I was the person in charge outside, I called the person that controlled our bank account, said, “Take out all the money in the bank and find me a helicopter. I’m going to rent a helicopter do a food drop on the ledge of the Statue of Liberty.” And then Yoruba Guzman was a reporter for Channel Five News [01:01:00]. We’re in the middle of shopping. I got people shopping, he comes and tells us that the feds just banned any flights 10,000 -- around the Statue of Liberty. So, we killed that idea, you know? Anyway, the people were out there without water, food, cigarettes, were dying, going nuts, until late that evening, when they finally settled their fight and then went in and arrested everybody. JJ: What happened to the people that were arrested? 28 �VA: People who were arrested were taken to court -- JJ: Who were some of the people that got arrested? VA: Mickey Melendez, Richie Pérez, [Madeline Gonzalez?], a number of activists, okay? Twenty-seven people, I think, were actually arrested. Yuri Kochiyama, you know, people that we knew and trusted and trusted us. Because, you know, (inaudible) I don’t know what you’re playing, what are [01:02:00] you dragging me into, but I’m gonna go do it. You know, these people did, and, um, it was very successful, because we never -- we were concerned that we will be able to hold the Statue of Liberty long enough for the New York press to be able to cover, right? What happened was this thing was so long, this became the front-page story around the world. I’m talking about we got paper clippings from Belgium, from Russia, from China, from England, from France, everywhere. It’s a beautiful picture of the Puerto Rican flag draped over the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Um, eventually, people were released, and after making a statement in the court, we paid a fine. Interestingly enough, some of those people, like the MLN, [01:03:00] okay, who have been a Marxist-Leninist organization, in discussions with the PRRWO, and who was now pretending to be the sole movement, denounced the action. They didn’t like it because they weren’t in control of it. It was, frankly, another moment that I’m really proud of. It was a Young Lords action that was planned by Young Lords, even though we were no longer an organization in New York. We continued, and 1981, we founded the National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights, almost a year traveling around the country to different -- 29 �JJ: How did that (inaudible)? VA: [Mecca?] was part of that, (inaudible). We went to Chicago, we went to Connecticut, went to Pennsylvania, you know, all the areas of high concentration. [01:04:00] JJ: Who was (inaudible)? VA: Okay, actually, that idea was put -- came from Juan Gonzalez, our former Minister of Defense. He had been purged from the Young Lords, was living in Philadelphia, and was active in local community work in Philadelphia. JJ: He was purged from PRRWO, right? VA: From PRRWO, right. JJ: Not really the Young Lords. The Young Lords had turned, changed into -- VA: Exactly. JJ: So, now this is the national what? VA: The National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights? And that had been as the result of -- I mean, there’s some of the things that is more important to mention here. In 1975, there was a big rally in New York City at Madison Square Garden for the independence of Puerto Rico. JJ: I recall that. VA: It was something that was pushed by the by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. JJ: (inaudible) [01:05:00] VA: Exactly, Mecca had joined the PSP, all of that. And I think it was probably the last hurrah in a lot of ways, of the mass movement as based in New York. Things had begun to rapidly fall apart. Young Lords were dead, (inaudible) 30 �JJ: What year was this? VA: Seventy-five. JJ: And actually, Chicago had the campaigns (inaudible). But publicity wasn’t coming out. VA: Right. That day, the day of the rally at Madison Square Garden, was also the first day that the FALN took mili-- did the bombing. JJ: A militant stand, yeah. VA: Okay, in support of Puerto Rican independence and defending the freedom of the Nationalists. I think that all of that changed the character of our movement in New York. [01:06:00] So, then we went to the campaign for the freedom of the Nationalists. And like I said, it was a lot of efforts, from petitions to the Cuban government, put all that energy and all that strategy together that got the release of the Nationalist prisoners in 1978. But our movement was pretty decimated by then. You know, the PSP falling apart, the Young Lords didn’t exist. JJ: Why do you think this fell apart? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) VA: Because COINTELPRO was a major -- the Counterintelligence Program by the federal government, had created all these divisions in the organizations. JJ: So, one of the things they were doing, you’re saying, [01:07:00] was divisions, creating internal divisions. VA: And destroying organizations. I mean, the way that the Young Lords were destroyed. 31 �JJ: And I mean, like, for example, you’re in the Central Committee of the Young Lords of New York, a strong regional chapter of an organization, right? And the entire central committee is being purged. VA: Decimated, yeah. JJ: Is being purged by new people that come out of nowhere. VA: But it’s not just the purging of the leadership. JJ: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) VA: Understand that the strategy was to develop the kind of politics that justify us cutting ties with our own community. How sick is that? JJ: But that’s another -- exactly, that’s one of the strategies. (inaudible) VA: And I think, in retrospect -- again, I can’t prove this, but that plan -- JJ: (inaudible) VA: -- the plan to take over the front of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, somebody with political astuteness [01:08:00] planned that shit out, because that was a part of our department. That was a part of our destruction. JJ: I don’t understand, the Puerto Rican parade? VA: Listen to me. You’re a revolutionary organization. You study urban guerrilla warfare tactics. Who comes up with the idea to take on a larger police department, 35,000-person police department, well-armed, a superior force, taking them head on? JJ: So, they created a riot. VA: Yeah. And who lost? The Puerto Rican people lost. Who lost the Young Lords lost. Okay? We broke, we lost our ties with our community. People that loved 32 �us the day before resented us the day after. That was politically planned. Somebody. I’m not saying that all of the leadership planned it that way, but somebody knew what they were doing. JJ: Well, it is very clear that COINTELPRO [01:09:00] would infiltrate and create riots. I mean, they had agents who (inaudible) to create riots. So, here’s a good example of a riot, (inaudible) Young Lords of New York were involved in. VA: It’s a piece of history that people do not want to talk about. JJ: I understand (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) VA: Let me say this, okay, for the record. There is one documentary -- there’s two documentaries about the Young Lords that I know of, El Pueblo Se Levanta and Palante Siempre Palante! Neither one of them mention the Puerto Rican Day Parade. We need to study the history of the Young Lords. We need to study that history. JJ: And what year was that? VA: Nineteen seventy-one. June. Second Sunday of June of 1971. JJ: And this was a strategy to try to take over the Puerto Rican Day Parade. And [01:10:00] they created a riot. VA: Listen to me. The Young Lords initiated this call, and the whole movement bought into it. At the end of the day, the ones they got blamed was just the Young Lords. And our relationship with our community was never the same. Now, somebody’s responsible for that. 33 �JJ: But another situation is, I mean, there’s been ups and downs in any movement. So, they could have picked back up again, the Young Lords, but they were not doing any door-to-door work. VA: Cha-cha, listen to what I’m saying to you. This strategy around the Puerto Rican Day Parade is implemented at a time in which the Young Lords have an overall plan to convert to PRRWO and to close ties. All is working together. JJ: Exactly. So, that was a (inaudible), don’t you think, or what do you think? VA: I’m saying that this is all part of a strategy to destroy the Young Lords. It all worked together to the same goal. [01:11:00] JJ: It takes me a little while to comprehend, but I see what you’re saying. So, the whole strategy is to get to an ideology, is to get an ideology that’s divorced you from the masses. VA: Sure. JJ: (inaudible) VA: Sure, what was left of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, we closed down the offices anyway, so there was no relationship. What was left was a group of people intellectualizing revolution or pretending or trying to intellectualize revolution. You know? The struggle between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks and all that other craziness, that was totally irrelevant to the life of our people. The reason the Young Lords were [01:12:00] successful because we were the pulse of our people. When we stopped doing that, it was over. JJ: That’s really good, the pulse of our people. To you, what does that mean? 34 �VA: That means that we live amongst our people, we struggle with our people, we listen to our people, we respect and love them and earn the right to lead them. Not proclaim the right to lead them, earn the right to lead them. Because we are them. We don’t come from outer space to lead them. We come from them. JJ: And what other (inaudible)? VA: No, bro, listen. We’re still not free. We’re still a colony. Colonialism is the enslavement of a nation. What you see here is a beautiful nation enslaved to the United States. And when you leave El Condado and Isla Verde [01:13:00] in Puerto Rico, you find a nation being destroyed, being done away with. We have to liberate Puerto Rico, because if we do not, Puerto Ricans will be a footnote in history. “There was a people called Puerto Rican,” it’ll be no more. The governor of Puerto Rico pushing to make Puerto Rico the 51st state, talking about a plebiscite, and they got people scared to death, that Puerto Rico was starved to death if the United States is not feeding us. It’s not feeding us; it’s ripping us apart. But the myth, the belief, this country right now is being decimated, is being dismantled, [01:14:00] and being given to the corporations. The people in this country right now, you have a crime epidemic in Puerto Rico unlike anything I’ve ever seen here before. You have a drug and alcohol epidemic. It’s the only nation in the Caribbean where the main form of drug use is not smoking a little marijuana, but it’s intravenous heroin addiction in Puerto Rico, in the year 2002. This is the great result of the experiment with the United States. This is what we have left. 35 �JJ: Since you’ve been living here for a year and a half, what is the perspective that you see here? (inaudible) in terms of being colonized. VA: I’ll give [01:15:00] you an example of how much work we need to do here. Right now, we are on the beach of Loiza Aldea. Loiza Aldea is a Black township, okay? [Una?] Aldea is ex (Spanish) [01:15:21], a village of ex-slaves that were not allowed to live in San Juan, so they created this village. It’s one of the strong points of support for Luis Fortuño and the pro-statehood party. This is the same Luis Fortuño that leaves Puerto Rico, goes to the United States to give speeches at the John Birch Society. Now, how crazy could it possibly be? [01:16:00] A Black township supporting a guy who goes speak -- is a guest speaker at a white supremacist organization, my God. That’s how disconnected, okay, the politics are here. They just brought the third police commissioner under Fortuño’s term, okay, and the guy is a retired head of the FBI in Miami, Florida, with strong ties to the right-wing Cuban movement in Miami, Florida, who has been involved in assassinations in Latin America. That’s who they brought to run the police department in Puerto Rico. Has to tell us something. [01:17:00] You have a country where the marketing has made it where people look forward to eating Burger King and McDonald’s, food that kills people, when you have the quenepas falling off the trees and rotting, and the mangoes and the pineapples falling off the trees and rotting, because they destroyed the agriculture and we no longer have the know-how, how to raise our own food. This is to do away with the people and a nation in the year 2012. It is, I think, very important to understand that Puerto Rico has undergone [01:18:00] the most sophisticated 36 �form of colonialism in the history of humanity. And what do I mean by that? Very simply, that they have refined the ability of colonial control. And be real clear, they will kill anybody. Be real clear, they will kill. They assassinated Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, on Grito de Lares, 2005. But they have developed the ability to control -JJ: Who is (inaudible)? VA: Let me finish saying this first. They have developed the [01:19:00] science of controlling a people. If they lose the control, they will assassinate them. Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was el comandante of Los Macheteros. He was assassinated by the FBI on September 23, 2005, on the day where the Puerto Rican people celebrate their cry for independence, on Grito de Lares. The FBI surrounded his home, shot him, and then left him for over 24 hours bleeding to death, refusing to give him medical, okay? Um, it was a cowardly -- one of many cowardly acts of by the FBI in this country. JJ: And this was a team that came from Atlanta? VA: They came from the United States, like over 100 FBI agents came for that [01:20:00] operation. What they don’t understand is (Spanish) [01:20:07]. That’s what they don’t understand, because you can’t kill Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. You cannot kill Don Pedro (inaudible). Like they couldn’t kill (inaudible). Any other questions? (laughs) END OF VIDEO FILE 37 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6d33fadd6d99e3d3133650b4849f616b.mp4 50b81a8a4ebf20e006053e9df53087e8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives. The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2012-2017 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Título Spanish language Title entry Vicente “Panama” Alba vídeo entrevista y biografía, entrevista 1 Descripción Spanish language Description entry Vicente “Panamá” Alba es un Young Lord quien nació en Panamá, migro a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1961 y ahora vive en Puerto Rico. El a trabajado por muchos años con la organización Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) de AFL/CIO, quien defiende los trabajadores inmigrantes y los indocumentaditos en los industriosas de recicla y las eliminación de los desechos. Durante la rebelión de Attica, (Septiembre 9, 1971) Señor Alba soportó reclusos en sus negaciones. Señor Alaba ha sido parte de dos tomadas de la Estatua de Libertad, la primera es plantando la bandera de Puerto Rico en la Estatua en parte de una campaña para libertar los Nacionalistas Puertorriqueños que fueron encarcelados y el segundo fue en soportar la lucha de la gente de Vieques. Un ferviente admirador de Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Señor Alba continua abogar por autodeterminación por Puerto Rico y a sido parte de los Nacionalistas y otros grupos, incluyendo unas organizaciones en la comunidad que hacen campañas para libertar los prisioneros de política, uno siendo Oscar López. Sujetos Spanish language Subject terms Young Lords (Organización) Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Panamañians--Relatos personales Narrativas personales Justicia social Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago Puerto Rico--Autonomía y movimientos independentistas Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65_Alba_Vicente_1 Title A name given to the resource Vicente “Panama” Alba video interview and transcript, interview 1 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alba, Vicente Description An account of the resource Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self- determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Panamanians--Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Puerto Rico--Autonomy and independence movements Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-05-14 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/621d6f0738d7f8ead3df51abfbe8ada1.pdf 3bc9b0b01c0be93c6ea337f66c2c64da PDF Text Text Young Lords In Lincoln Park Interviewee: Vicente “Panama” Alba Interviewers: José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 5/18/2012 Biography and Description English Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self- determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López. Spanish Vicente “Panamá” Alba es un Young Lord quien nació en Panamá, migro a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1961 y ahora vive en Puerto Rico. El a trabajado por muchos años con la organización Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) de AFL/CIO, quien defiende los trabajadores inmigrantes y los indocumentaditos en los �industriosas de recicla y las eliminación de los desechos. Durante la rebelión de Attica, (Septiembre 9, 1971) Señor Alba soportó reclusos en sus negaciones. Señor Alaba ha sido parte de dos tomadas de la Estatua de Libertad, la primera es plantando la bandera de Puerto Rico en la Estatua en parte de una campaña para libertar los Nacionalistas Puertorriqueños que fueron encarcelados y el segundo fue en soportar la lucha de la gente de Vieques. Un ferviente admirador de Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Señor Alba continua abogar por autodeterminación por Puerto Rico y a sido parte de los Nacionalistas y otros grupos, incluyendo unas organizaciones en la comunidad que hacen campañas para libertar los prisioneros de política, uno siendo Oscar López. �Transcript JJ: Okay, so Panama, if you can tell me when you arrived here, what was that like? VA: Okay, I didn’t arrive here. I arrived in New York, and in New York I arrived at the age of 10, with my sister and my mother. My father was already in New York. But I came -- I went to the United States with a lot of dreams about what I thought the United States was. You know, the dream that they’re selling you when you’re in Latin America, that the United States is the land of equality and democracy, the home of the free, and all of those myths. And I came as a little kid. And reality set in very rapidly. I was not wanted in my neighborhood. The neighborhood was overwhelmingly Irish [00:01:00] Italian. We were not wanted there. I didn’t speak English. And I was not welcomed. The color of my skin wasn’t welcomed. My features weren’t welcomed. The fact that I spoke Spanish wasn’t welcomed. I mean, even though there were a lot of Irish and Italian immigrants, but I was a different type of immigrant. I was an immigrant of color. When I went to public school, I was sent back. I was sent back to start the fifth grade over again. And while education in Panama was not as supposedly advanced as the United States, I knew the subject matter, I just did not know the language. And because of it, I was put in a class for the mentally challenged, [00:02:00] like I was emotionally disturbed, or, you know, which -- there may be a lot of problems, that was not one of them, you know? They had it set up in the school system where people that were challenged and needed help, not help with the language, but help like psychological help. And most of the class was 1 �like that, but I was not that. My reason for being in that class was that I didn’t speak English. Um, racism became, you know, a very new and ugly experience [00:03:00] in New York. My neighborhood was a neighborhood in transition. I was the second, third, Latino family in the whole block. There was a Spanish grocery store across the street, but one Black family at the end. And then there was the public housing projects, you know? The neighborhood, as such, was in transition, and I guess that was part of the resentment that white folks had in seeing us come into the neighborhood. I had a couple very ugly experiences. My first girlfriend, because one of the things that I did was very soon after I got there, you know, the whole [00:04:00] (inaudible) invasion and everything, and I started letting my hair grow out, like it was something that I felt I had [ingo?] hair. And I didn’t like cutting it, you know, the way it was used to be worn the hair back there, very, you know, military looking like. And my first girlfriend was an Irish girl named [Susan Duffy?]. And because I started going out with her, one day, I went to see her, and there was a gang of white boys waiting for me, and they almost beat me to death, calling me and calling her all kinds of ugly names for being with me. But they didn’t touch her, but they -- I mean, I fought, fought, and I was saved. I mean, I’m alive because a Black bus driver saw what was happening. He drove his bus and opened the door, and I fell into the bus, and he took off, you know? Um, there were [00:05:00] -- the neighborhood was segregated. You know, just north of where I lived, it was an area where, you know, the St. Lawrence train station, it was an area where a white gang ran, the Young Crusaders. I’ll never forget that. There were Italians and, you know, like, elder 2 �people of color were not really allowed to walk out of the train station and walk a couple of blocks to the housing project, the Monroe houses and Bronx [rail?] houses. But I mean, young kids couldn’t walk the streets [during the day?], you know, in that neighborhood. You got caught there, you were done. Um, I dropped out of school when I went and tried to get a job in construction, and my next-door neighbor, [00:06:00] who was Sicilian, [Mr. Giambrone?] very nice family, you know, they didn’t have that prejudice that the American whites had, something that, you know, I guess the family inherited later on, but he offered to take me to his jobs, to get me a job. He knew they were looking for people. And, you know, construction was paying good. I walked into the construction site, and all these white guys surrounded me, it was like, “What the fuck are you doing here?” “Mr. Giambrone invited me to the job.” The guy told me, he says, “None of your kind work for me. Get the fuck out of here.” They were laughing, you know? And you gotta -- it was not even about if I was capable of working, could handle the jobs, none of that. It was I was a person of color. And they didn’t tolerate that at their job sites. You know, [00:07:00] down the road, that led to a whole industry in New York of coalitions that fought for jobs or Blacks and Latinos in construction. But life was segregated. I didn’t see that in my country. I didn’t know that, you know, that experience, and it was very traumatizing for me. So, by the age of 14, I had gotten into drugs, and I found haven in drugs. And I think that it was kind of eased getting into the drugs because of the youth culture. You know, it was the Beatles and smoking weed and dropping acid and so, you know, all of the myths that they talked about drugs, you know, it was like, 3 �it's all bullshit, you know? You don’t get hooked on marijuana. I didn’t know that you did get hooked on heroin. So, eventually, that happened very rapidly with me. But it was a very ugly scene, you know? And it was, I think, perhaps, an even bigger shock [00:08:00] coming from outside the United States and believing all the hype outside that they tell people that the United States is, you know. And in a lot of ways, my salvation, in a sense, was the Puerto Rican community. And we need to really understand what that was, because in New York, they might have been, I don’t know, 8,000 Panamanians, or less, maybe 10,000 Dominicans or 15,000 Cubans, and at that time, there were literally 1 million Puerto Ricans in the city of New York. So, Puerto Ricans defined what being Latino was. [00:09:00] It was a community that me and my friends, you know, the ones that spoke Spanish, but it for me was very confusing, because I got the nickname Panama right away, because, they asked me, you know, “Where you from?” “Panama.” And Panama stuck. But I will say that, you know, I’m very proud I’m Panamanian. And when I would ask my friends, (Spanish) [00:09:25], you know, what are you? They would say, “I’m Americano,” but they couldn’t convince me, they couldn’t convince themselves, because, you know, of the dilemma of -- and then I began to really understand that my peers, my contemporaries, were young Puerto Ricans, and mainly the sons and daughters of Puerto Ricans that had recently arrived in [00:10:00] the United States, that mass wave that I later on, learned was Operation Bootstrap. And as I began to learn about the history of Puerto Rico, you know, and I learned about the (Spanish) [00:10:15], and the Nationalist uprising of 1950, and the myth of the 4 �citizenship, it must have been even more confusing for young people coming from Puerto Rico or from Puerto Rican parents, because Puerto Rican parents had lived through the repression that the Puerto Rican people had faced on the island and been told that they were Americans, and brought to the United States with the promises of gold in the streets, and, you know, only to face that as Latinos, we weren’t wanted, you know? As mestizo people, we were not wanted here. You were a citizen, but you were a [00:11:00] citizen for the purposes of going to war, but not for the purposes of being treated and welcomed and treated equally, or anything like that. And it was a very interesting time, because very rapidly, you know, [every time?] you’re challenging orthodoxies, everything that was talked about was supposed to be, was questioned, and it was questioned by a large sector of my generation. And it was confusing, because on the one hand, we were beginning to develop a sense of absolute optimism about, yeah, we could change the world. You know, the antiwar movement, the war, you know, all the myths that were said about Vietnam, [00:12:00] you know, and exposing the lies about Vietnam. And it gave people a sense of, you know what, we could really change the world. At the same time that for me, personally, like for many young people in my generation, drugs had become a haven. An emotional haven. And, you know, it had, at least among ourselves, it had lost the stigma attached to it. You know, it wasn’t bad to get high. Everybody got high. So, much so that by 1970 in the Bronx, in the South Bronx, specifically, it was estimated that 15 percent of the overall population was addicted to drugs. Now think about 15 percent of the population [00:13:00] in terms of a population that 5 �includes the newborn baby all the way to the little old lady or the little old man that’s just about to pass on, 15 percent of the whole population, and it was concentrated in that pre-teen, teenage, young adult sector of that population where there was massive addiction, and the drug that was pouring into our community, the drug that we were consuming primarily, was heroin. We didn’t bring it in, but it was there for us to consume. And those are issues that later on, you know, I began to really look at, but at the time, it was just the way it was. Um -JJ: Wait a minute. VA: Yeah. JJ: Okay, so [00:14:00] how did you get from the heroin to the political? VA: Well, what happened was that -- I think it’s important to point that the political was something very tangible. You could feel it. You could breathe it. You could taste it. People talked about it. I mean, you know, and it wasn’t so much around Puerto Rico, but that would come soon. I was struggling because I was so impressed by the Black Panthers, you know, the daring to tell the truth and to stand up to that and fight for that to pay the consequences whatever they were. And that’s when I saw, in Christmas 1969, the Young Lords on TV. [00:15:00] The Young Lords had taken over a church in El Barrio, East Harlem. And I mean, I don’t even know how to say what the feeling was like. But it was -- to me, it was like we arrived. We are here now. Now we are a part of all of this is going on, worldwide, to change the way the world is. That was the feeling. But I was on drugs. I remember that. I remember watching the news and seeing this. 6 �And that created a conflict then, because it was for me the first real hope, you know? Now there’s a place for me, you know? I mean, I guess the primary racial aspect of me is Indigenous, it’s [00:16:00] not African. You know, you don’t see my Africanness. And so although there were other Puerto Ricans in the Black Panther Party, but you know what I’m saying, it was not ours. And actually, it was a young man, a Dominican young man who loaned me the biography of Pedro Albizu Campos, you know, and I was still in that stage and, you know, and trying to make sense. And I read where Don Pedro Albizu Campos traveled throughout Latin America, looking for volunteers, recruiting volunteers for the Puerto Rican revolution. And while [00:17:00] I didn’t quite understand yet why there were so many Puerto Ricans in New York, to me, it was a call to me. This guy’s looking for me, you know? And I began to learn about Puerto Rican colonialism. And it, to me, was a very logical link between colonialism and the way we were treated as people. And I had an experience that, you know, police were very abusive. And in New York, there was a unit of the police department called the TPF, Tactical Police Force. This was the riot squads. And they had been set up because of all the social upheaval in the communities. And they traveled, you know, to Harlem when there was a riot. I mean, they were sent around the city. But when there were no riots, what they used to do was basically invade a community. And one summer day, they came into my block, and they dropped all the kids on the block, took us kids from both sides of the rock, grabbed everybody. [00:18:00] We were hanging out. Too us into a backyard. And I never forget this big Irish guy, the guy was a yahoo. He 7 �was like a mountain man. He had me by the collar and he was whipping the crap out of me with a rubber hose. They used to carry two things very openly, which were rubber hoses and blackjacks, blackjack being a lead ball wrapped in leather. And rubber hose, and they used to use that, learned this later on, the rubber hose, because they could whip you, and because the hose is round, it doesn’t leave the welts, the marks. It’ll bust you up inside. But eventually the mark goes away, even though you’re busted up. And this guy was whipping the shit out of me and calling me a fucking dirty Puerto Rican. I’ll never forget this. And I’m new to this. I still don’t understand why this is happening. So, I say, “Officer, Officer, I’m not Puerto Rican, Panamanian.” [00:19:00] He says, “I don’t give a fuck what kind of Puerto Rican you are.” And kept hitting me, and I said to myself, “Well motherfucker, I am Puerto Rican now.” If that’s what it is, it was what it is. Because they couldn’t -- you know, in their ignorance, racist ignorance, they have no conception. Much later, to this day, they look at a Latino, all Latinos are Mexicans. They don’t understand what south of the border is, or the countries south, you know, Ecuador, or Bolivia, or Argentina, or Chile, or Honduras, Nicaragua, no, no. If you look like a spic, you’re Mexican. You know, they had to deport Puerto Ricans, you know, out of the United States, because they thought they were Mexicans, in this late age, you know? But going back to that, that was the experience. And it took me about eight months [00:20:00] to terms with making the decision that you could not be about what I wanted to be about and be a dope fiend. And by coincidence, my decision to stop using drugs coincided with the second takeover by the Young Lords of 8 �Lincoln Hospital. And that takeover was specifically to establish a drug abuse problem, program, in Lincoln Hospital, understanding that Lincoln Hospital was an institution that was built in the 1800s to receive slaves coming from the South, and this was the only hospital that served the people the South Bronx. It was a disaster. And people referred to it as the butcher shop. So, I started kicking dope, [00:21:00] withdrawing from heroin the day of that takeover, and I joined that effort through a sister friend of mine, Cleo Silvers, who was a Panther and was transitioning to work with the Lords. JJ: So, how did you handle the detox? VA: I quit cold turkey. JJ: Okay, where? In the hospital? VA: Yo, working. Working in the Lincoln Hospital during the day and the night going to a -- we had a mess hall. The Puerto Rican Student Union had a mess hall on Brown Bridge, and I slept there. And then I moved from there, you know. But those first four or five days were hell. And I dealt with them by being totally involved in the detox, working and building that while -- and going through the doubts of, you know, I don’t think I could last the day. I think I want to walk out of here and just go get high one more time. You know? It was the constant, one more time. [00:22:00] You know, it was a challenge that I had placed upon myself, to see how -- whether the revolution meant something to me or not. And I wanted to be a part of changing the world and so ultimately, that won out. You know, I never shot dope up after that day, and never. In fact, let me just say this, that summer, I went to Orchard Beach and ran into some of the fellas, and the 9 �first guy that I ran into told me, “Panama, come on, man, let’s go get high. I got some dope. Let’s go get high.” And my -- and I think about this in retrospect, because my reaction was, I punched him in the mouth, you know? And it was like a safety valve, you know what I’m saying? Nobody else is gonna tell Panama let’s go get high, because he’s capable of punching somebody in the fucking face, you know? [00:23:00] And it was a way of me defending myself from the doubt that I had that maybe I would, I think. I never did, though. JJ: So, what you’re saying is that now you’re changing your belief system, or the way you’re looking at the world, and that contributed to your detox. VA: I mean, I think that the thing that was easier then than now is that a movement and social change was tangible. You could feel it. It was happening. Look, the people of Vietnam took on the mightiest empire in the world, and they were kicking their ass. No matter what the newspaper said, you knew that they were kicking their ass because, you know, the United States could not win. A people without the weaponry and the might [00:24:00] and the planes and the, you know. I mean, they were fighting M-16s with bamboo sticks at one point, you know? And eventually they persevered. And that is very inspirational. To say, you know, if you really determined to do something, you can, you will. And then when I joined -- there was one other thing that helped me tremendously was that before I got, or just about the time that I was getting into drugs, for a brief period of time, I also joined martial arts. I used to go on Saturdays to a dojo and take up jiujitsu. And I had a sensei, Mr. V, he was a Filipino. The guy was like 90 pounds wet, you know, [00:25:00] but he went away to Thailand, if I remember 10 �correctly, and came back with a series of pictures, you know, of a sequence of him breaking a block of ice. And I was the wisest little ass, you know, I’m 13 years old, 14 years old, whatever. And I saw the pictures, and I told him, I said, “That’s what I want to learn how to do.” Not this bullshit, this [cop outs?], fighting the air and all this is like you’re saying to me, course it didn’t make sense, then. He asked me, he said, “So, you want to break a block of ice. What do you aim for?” And you know, in my infinite wisdom, I told him, “That’s a dumb question. I aim for the block of ice.” And he said, “Well, that’s why you will never break one.” I said, “What? What were you aiming for?” He said, “For the other side.” [00:26:00] And you know, I was too wise for that to make any kind of sense to me. But when I was kicking that dope habit, I started thinking about that. He had said to me that the ice was an obstacle to get to where he wanted to put his fist. And that was an attitude. That’s a state of mind that you have to get into and it’s about -- it’s not about jiujitsu. So, it’s about living. It’s about life. It’s about the challenges of life and your goals for life. And going back to it, thinking about it, I don’t know why that came to mind. I remember when I was kicking a dope habit, I said, “This is just that. The block of ice is in the way of my fist here, you know what I’m saying? This addiction, this pain, it’s in the way, and I got to get through it to the other side. The other side is being free of drugs.” You know, you can’t [00:27:00] talk about freedom and be a slave to a substance. And so at the age of 19, I leave drugs and joined the movement. I was very rapidly recruited to the Young Lords. The Young Lords, I think -- and I’m talking to the founder of the Young Lords, okay, but I think that you need to understand what he meant to us 11 �and why I think it was so successful when it was successful. You know, it was a response from our community to the reality we were living. And it was not a pretty reality. It was not nice. And see, the class of people, it’s not enough to say Puerto Ricans. Yes, Puerto Ricans, but Puerto Ricans were [00:28:00] poor Puerto Ricans, it was working Puerto Ricans, people that were not the owners or in power. And that’s a certain class of people. And these are people that were in the United States because they came from that same class of people. You know, there are Puerto Ricans that are three, four generations on the island, but they were more privileged. They did not get affected in the same way by, you know, the hurricanes and the Depression, the way the Depression impacted Puerto Rico, and the machinations that were made in Puerto Rico to steal people’s, you know, land and uproot them and change the economy and leave them outside [00:29:00] impoverished and homeless and hungry, you know, and then provide them with a promised land, you know, a ticket to the United States and a job in a factory making shit money, you know? But that was better than what was here. But what was here was created in order to uproot Puerto Ricans and take what belonged to Puerto Ricans. And so the movement that the Young Lords initiates in the United States, a movement that arises not out of intellectuals, it arises out of desire to fight for something better. And we were heavily influenced by what was happening in the United States. We were influenced, you know, a lot -- at the beginning, it was not so much about [00:30:00] (Spanish) Puerto Rico. It was what was happening around us in the United States. It was the Black Panther Party, the Civil Rights movement, the 12 �Black Power movement, you know, and then begin to realize in other parts of the United States, it’s the Chicanos, Mexicanos, the Brown Berets, and the American Indian Movement, and in the Asian communities, you got the Red Guard, and you got [Awakun?], and the people are on the move, you know, and doing the best that they can to obl-- and we’re not coming from pretty places. We’re coming from gangs, coming from drugs, coming from poor working families, you know, and I don’t think we need to make any apologies for that. You know, the young people that made up the Young Lords in New York, [00:31:00] the leadership was primarily first-generation college students. Nobody else in their family had been to college. Many had -- their parents had not graduated from high school. But you know, I mean, I’ll give you an example. In the City of New York, there was a free university system. CUNY was free. But it kept us out, because we were not educated to go to college. And when the movement for social justice begins to take hold, young people start fighting for the right to have access to higher education. So, now it’s time to implement tuition. So, [00:32:00] you can’t -- you know, you open admissions and, you know, we want to maintain free tuition -- and the tuition now is keeping our kids out of school. You know, now there’s a privilege once again. There’s not so much Black and white or Brown and white or yellow and white or red and white, it’s now rich or not rich, you know? But I mean, those are the processes. And I mean, like in some instances, you also have to recognize some of the doors that we opened, like for education. It got people into positions where now they don’t want to struggle, they’re too comfortable. There’s a group of our community who has 13 �made it, or they think they have made it, and so they are privileged within our community. [00:33:00] That wasn’t so much a reality back then. You know, it was an overwhelmingly very poor community and a very devastated community. And, you know, people talk about the drug epidemic that hit our community. They don’t talk about the alcohol epidemic that was very acceptable. You know, the alcoholism that was just rampant, not just in the Puerto Rican or Black community, but in the white community. And the drug epidemic was not acknowledged until it hit the white community. while it was ravaging our communities, it was something that, you know, let them die, and you know, the ones that go to jail, go to jail, and the ones that kill each other, kill each other, and let’s just pretend it’s not happening. And you know it was -- I don’t think -- I think it makes a lot of sense that my political work started out fighting against the [00:34:00] drug epidemic, you know, with this program we established at Lincoln Hospital. The program itself was recognized by the United Nations for its success. However, the City of New York still shut us down. The contradiction, right? We were the most successful drug program in New York, but they shut us out because they don’t have control of it. JJ: And the way they used acupuncture, also, is that -- VA: Yeah, we read in a journal that an acupuncturist in Thailand was treating a person for respiratory problems, and in stimulating the lung point of the ear, he had accidentally discovered [00:35:00] that this person was also an opium addict, and that he relieved the withdrawal symptoms from some opium. And we went down to Chinatown, we bought some [yin charts?], and we bought needles, and 14 �we started practicing with each other, trying to figure out, where’s the lung point? That’s how the acupuncture started. You know, it was the time when Richard Nixon was opening up the issues with China, because, you know, capitalism, buying new markets and resources are real product and all that. So, um, yeah. So, another part of the world was becoming exposed. It was being exposed to us. And so, yeah, we’re the first to utilize acupuncture to treat people with HIV/AIDS. It was a [00:36:00] very innovative program. Very innovative program because we also used our social politics, our insights, into the impact of racism, sexism, classism, to address the plight of geographics, use it as part of the therapy. And I think that, in retrospect, looking back to the question of the Young Lords, it was one of the most successful moments, okay, for the Young Lords in New York. I think that another -- and I think this has to do with the transition the Young Lords took later on, but it was another, I think, very impactful moment that I was a part of the Young Lords was the Attica [00:37:00] uprising. When Young Lords established themselves in New York, at first, there was a lot of abuse taking place against inmates in the county jails. And out of that, there was some riots that occurred in the county jails, in the Tombs, and Brooklyn House of Detention, and Rikers Island and like that. And inmates coming out of jail that joined the Young Lords formed the Inmates Liberation Front. Um, some of the people that were engaged in that, the people in the leadership of that turned out to be very opportunist and started using that as a front for hustle. So, the Young Lords shut it [00:38:00] down. But then, in 1971, in August of 1971, a young man named Jose Paris, who was a Young Lord, knocked on the door the Young 15 �Lord’s office says, “Jose Paris, GI, reporting for to The Young Lords branch of Attica.” We didn’t even know that there were Young Lords in Attica. And he came down to tell us that Attica was about to blow. And in September, it blew. And we did a lot, a lot of work around Attica. But understand that work around prisoners’ rights, work around drug addicts was not the work that some intellectuals considered honorable, um, [00:39:00] you know, dealing with a certain class of people. And I think some intellectualizing tendencies among some of the people, and the influence, the bad influence of some of the leftists got the leadership of the organization, or some people, and I contend, me, this is my opinion, that the police infiltration all worked together to move the Young Lords away from what had made the Young Lords successful. JJ: What do you mean? VA: For example, [00:40:00] putting an end to the prisoner support work. For example, disconnecting itself from the Lincoln detox program that we helped founded. It would eventually became a political program of the Young Lords to disengage from all community work, meaning not just in those areas, but meaning in housing, in the community offices that we had. I was running the last office that we had, which is in the Bronx, Cypress Avenue on 141st. Eventually, the Lower East Side El Barrio offices were shut down, as were other community offices [00:41:00] around the country. And there was a planned agenda to “transform,” quote-unquote, the Young Lords into the P-R-R-W-O, the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization. And that meant that they had to cut ties with all the other work, according to them. What, in fact, it did was put an 16 �end to the Young Lords in New York. You know, there was an assembly held, I think I mentioned this before, but there was an assembly held in Hunts Point Palace, I believe it was 1973, early 1973, and I never forget that one brother got up and said, “I have no problem with the posters hanging,” they had Marx, [00:42:00] Lenin, Engels, Mao, he says, “What problem I have is with the ones that are not hanging. Where is Don Pedro? Where’s Lolita? Where’s Blanca Canales? Where are the Nationalists?” You know, Letansas, Hostos, none of those people. You know? And it was an effort to steer the organization away from its Revolutionary Nationalist roots into being a part of this Marxist-Leninist Communist rebuilding process in the United States. JJ: (inaudible) just to the workers, instead of (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) VA: Yeah, I think that there was -- first of all, my opinion, there was a misconception about Lumpen. Okay, the misconception had to do with -- Lumpen is a parasite, okay? The mafia is a Lumpen. We weren’t Lumpens. We were the unemployed sector of the working class [00:43:00] -- JJ: (inaudible) VA: -- which the Black Panther Party called the lumpenproletariat, okay? But there was a move to ignore that part of society and to focus on the workers of the means of production, theoretically, because what in reality was intellectuals locking themselves up in rooms, holding meeting after meeting, debating each other, cutting each other down, about who supported the Molsheviks -- the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, this, you know, the Albanian line, the China line, the Russia line. I mean, it was, you know, all stuff which I consider important, but it 17 �was totally irrelevant to the people in our community, [00:44:00] since we are not -- in our community either through words or deeds the way we did before. And I think the ultimate act of that was, I believe, that the police led us into a confrontation with the police in 1971 at the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and that that confrontation changed the relationship that we had with our community. I remember being that person running the Bronx office in June of 1971. I remember the day before people coming to bring us food, make sure that we ate. And I remember going back to open that office after the Puerto Rican Day, and people walking across the street. JJ: So, you said the programs were sacrificed. (inaudible) VA: Everything was sacrificed. Everything was sacrificed, even the cadres that were assigned to details were pulled out. Like I said, I was the last [00:45:00] -- I ran the last office in the Bronx, and, you know, I went to that assembly, and I thought about it, and, you know, part of growing up politically was coming to terms with understanding that the commitment was to a cause, not an organization, and that the Young Lords that were becoming PRRWO was not something that I wanted to be a part of anymore, but that the commitment had to continue to the cause. It’s another way of saying, you know, if you’re going someplace in a car, and the car breaks down, then you get on roller skates, you get on whatever it is that takes you where you want to go. One of the things that, [00:46:00] to me, was very disturbing was I felt that PRRWO just wanted to turn the page on people who were our heroes, who had sacrificed themselves for the cause, you know, and it’s not about whether you agree that their actions were the most correct. 18 �They did the best they could. And one of the cases -- the case that when I walked away from the Young Lords, the first thing I did was work on the campaign to free the New York Five. The New York Five were two Boricuas and three Black brothers of African-American ancestry. All three. All five were Black, two Boricuas, two brothers, one who had been a member of the Young Lords, Gabriel Torres, [00:47:00] and who had been gone underground with the Black Liberation Army, had gotten caught, and his brother Francisco, which years later, Francisco “Cisco” Torres would once again become the target of the government recently, about a year ago, the State of California dropped the charges against the former members of the Black Panther Party known as the San Francisco Eight. Cisco Torres was the last defendant that they dropped the charges on. So, we go back to 1970, you know? But those people, when they were arrested, this Marxist-Leninist movement completely ignored them, like they told them, “We’re going to build a party,” [00:48:00] you know. And I felt that if we can’t stand up for our own, we can’t stand up for anybody. And so, you know, we built a committee. I, along with other former members of the Black Panther Party, which was also in turmoil at the time, there had been a split between the Huey faction and Cleaver faction, so called. And, you know, Safiya Bukhari and myself, and [Zeit?] and some other folks created a committee to free the New York Five. Mickey Melendez -- I think it’s also important to mention that, when that assembly took place at the Hunts Point Palace, the one that I referred to, there had been an operation in place within the Young Lords, [00:49:00] also to build a clandestine military movement operation that was predicated upon having 19 �a political above-ground organization that really responded to. It was not to be a fly by night military adventure. It was something that was to be guided by a political above ground organization. The same time that the assembly was taking place at the Hunts Point Palace, folks that were involved in the military were meeting, and they decided, based on this change that occurred in the Young Lords, the so-called change to the PRRWO, that they closed up shop because the organization that they were committed to didn’t exist anymore. So, we all walked away from that process. [00:50:00] But we continued. One person that I can say that was part of that, because he’s written it in his book, is Mickey Melendez. If you read Mickey Melendez’s book -JJ: He wrote that in there. VA: Yeah. You know, he was a person that had, first of all, founded the Young Lords in New York, and secondly, was assigned to build that military operation. JJ: That’s the only one we’re going to talk about, because he wrote that in the book. VA: That’s the only reason I’m mentioning it now, you know. He had moved on, and had been working with -- and I had been working with, you know, before I left the Lords -- JJ: And it no longer exists. VA: No, no, no. It was shut down that day. We had [00:51:00] been working politically with the case of Carlos Feliciano. And through the case of Carlos Feliciano, Carlos’s case was a very interesting case in that -- and the attorney that worked with us was very much in solidarity with our movement, William Kunstler. Bill was defending Carlos Feliciano, and he made an incredible 20 �maneuver in the court. Basically, Carlos Feliciano had spent about, I think, almost two years in jail before going to trial and being found guilty of placing some artifacts on, you know, some stores in New York. He was sentenced. Now under New York State law, you have to serve at least one year in the state penitentiary before you are considered for parole. But because he had served almost two years in county jail, they [00:52:00] didn’t count that. You have to go and begin -- now if you’re a rich man, okay, you get arrested today, you get bailed out tomorrow, you get convicted, and then you serve the year, you have the possibility of parole. But poor person that can’t afford the bail has to sit in county jail, and that time doesn’t count. And so Bill Kunstler appealed that in the state court, and the Court of Appeals opted for resentencing Carlos Feliciano to a time served to get him out of jail, because they didn’t want to deal with that issue. So, Carlos gets out, the committee gets transformed into the committee to free the Nationalists. So, I began working with Mickey, [00:53:00] the committee to free the Nationalists, and at the same time, the case of the New York Five. The organization that grew out of the Young Lords, PRRWO, continued in its process of degeneration. And by, I believe it’s late 1975, the beginning of 1976, it had become almost like a cult. And in the same tradition that had destroyed the Black Panther Party, COINTELPRO operations, it [00:54:00] began engaging in kidnappings and tortures and all of that, of people inside the movement, in the name of purifying the politics. And they kidnapped and tortured Richie Pérez -- I need to speak about Richie Pérez. Richie Pérez, I met in my neighborhood. Richie Pérez is one of the fellas who lived in my hood, okay? A brilliant, brilliant 21 �man. He was the youngest teacher in Monroe High School where I went, where I went very briefly, since I was -- they didn’t even allow me to drop out of high school. They kicked me out of high school. I was banned from the public school system. I was, like, totally rebellious, self-destructive, you know? Um, and [00:55:00] I ran into Richie. Richie was a good friend, you know, in the neighborhood. Then I stopped seeing Richie around the neighborhood, and I ran into Richie in the middle of a police riot -- I mean, in the middle of a massive arrival that occurred in Orchard Beach in the Bronx on July the Fourth, 1970. He had already joined the Young Lords. And I was still trying to struggle with my demons, and I go to Orchard Beach, a fight breaks out when a cop hits one of the fellas with a night stick who was sitting on the handrail, and my boy kicked him in the face. That was the end to that. I mean, all hell broke loose. The beach was packed. And we went to war, (Spanish) [00:55:55] you know? And in the middle [00:56:00] of this madness, I see Richie Pérez, who was heading a team of Young Lords who are in the beach, selling Palante, Palante being the Young Lords newspaper. And I said, “My God, look at my teacher. Oh, you’re Richie,” you know, like, I viewed him in a very special place. He was a very special person. And he’s throwing down, you know? He’s throwing down against the police. That was very inspiring, too. I think that he had a lot to do to help me ultimately make the decision that I made, people that I respected being in the Young Lords, and now I knew people personally. Anyway, Richie, sadly, went on with PRRWO for a period, until they kidnapped and tortured him. And we heard about it, Mickey and myself and [00:57:00] [Nathan Rodriguez?], who 22 �was also a former Young Lord working with us on the case of Carlos Feliciano and all that, campaigning for the Nationalists. Heard about it, we denounced it, and then we got close to -- because the only role models that we had in our community about the politics that we were espousing were old Nationalists. And Carlos Feliciano was an old Nationalist. He invited us to come to Puerto Rico and to join the Nationalist Party. He professed to be committed to reactivating the Nationalist Party. So, in that spirit, we came to Puerto Rico, I believe it was ’76, come to Puerto Rico to a Nationalist Party assembly, and the day that we are leaving back to New York, we stopped at a bar in El Condado [00:58:00] for a couple of drinks, we have hours to kill before heading to the airport. And we walked into this bar, and in the dark bar in the back was Richie and Diana Pérez, his compañera, both of them had been kidnapped and tortured together. And Richie had disappeared after that happened. Nobody had contact with him. And so we meet accidentally, you know. And I know that Richie was leery, you know, but because I was the closest to him between and Mickey, I, you know, I knew him since I was a kid, we knew each other. I went up to Richie and I gave him my telephone number, I said, “Listen, if you feel like it when you get back to New York, give me a call. Know that we’re not here to hurt you,” [00:59:00] you know. He took the number. They walked out of the bar, and we let them walk. And he called me a couple of weeks later back in New York. That’s how Richie really integrated himself into the Puerto Rican movement. And Richie was a very, very special person, a very special Young Lord, because he carried out that commitment throughout his life, all the way until his death. He passed away from 23 �cancer. Richie and I, after that, we moved in together for a time, and you know, when he broke up with his compañera, we were part of the campaign that were about the release of the Nationalists. We helped found the National Congress of Puerto Rican [01:00:00] Rights. We engaged in the campaign against that racist movie called Four Apache in the Bronx, which was a tremendous campaign. We initiated in New York under the National Congress, the whole campaign against police brutality. And we continued to work together until his death. But a very, very special person in my life and in our lives, politically, and in New York Young Lords. JJ: He continued, also, some other projects after that on his own? VA: Well, no, he worked. He worked as a job for the Community Service Society and helped open up that space for us to use as a base of operation, you know, to carry on the work around police brutality and all that. [01:01:00] So, I think those are the important points that I wanted to add to the interview that I didn’t touch on before JJ: Anything else? VA: Well, I mean, yeah. I mean the other things in, you know, the work in 1975, when I came back from Puerto Rico, a struggle began to develop in New York, which is very important. New York went into a financial crisis, and the first thing that they opted for attacking was institutions that service Black and Puerto Rican communities. So, for example, they decided to close down Sydenham Hospital, served the Harlem community. They decided to close two community colleges, [01:02:00] one of them Hostos Community College had only opened up in 1971, 24 �now in 1975 they wanted to shut it down. It was a community college was based in an abandoned tire factory, a warehouse in the South Bronx. I got a call from one of the brothers that was in a prison release program, a prison study release program that was at the tail end of his sentence, and he was serving time for drug-related offenses, not for violent offenses. And they had this program where they would release inmates from Sing Sing early in the morning, put them in the train to New York City, they will go to school and then go back to Sing Sing at night. And it was a program called [01:03:00] (Spanish). And one of the participants in that program was a friend of mine who I met through his brother, who was a supporter of the Young Lords, Rookie Alanis. I forgot what his name is, we called him Rookie all the time. And he called me, says, “Oh, man, they gonna shut down out our school. And, you know, like, I’m down with this, except that I’m already in jail and if I get busted now, I’m in a release program, I’m never coming home, you know?” So, through Rookie’s call, I got involved in the campaign to save Hostos Community College. That campaign led to the longest takeover of any college in the City of New York. I think we spent, if I remember correct, 29 days, [01:04:00] until they couldn’t take it no more and they busted all of us, sent us to jail. But it was a very successful campaign. It was a campaign that brought -- at that time, I was a member of the Nationalist Party, former Young Lord, and we worked in a coalition with the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. It was one of their cadres who, in fact, led that campaign successfully, Ramon Jimenez, um, who eventually got purged from the Puerto Rican Socialist Party because they thought that he was not following their lead. One of the things that 25 �I think is important to recognize is that the vacuum that existed in New York in the progressive politics of the Puerto Rican community, [01:05:00] existed because the movement, those people that had come from Puerto Rico to New York, had come with an agenda that was different. Their agenda was basically to use New York as a resource for their organizations in Puerto Rico, but nowhere in their agenda did they have the Puerto Ricans that were in New York and their issues. JJ: So, they were not connected at all to the community. VA: Exactly. And that was one of the problems that we had with the Puerto Rican Socialist Party group that was part of the Hostos takeover, were about the issues there. JJ: Which is vice versa which was accused of the Young Lords when they went to Puerto Rico. They were not connected. VA: Exactly. Well, the thing with the Young [01:06:00] Lords of Puerto Rico, is a whole other matter. I mean, I think that, you know, we -- see, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party members that were part of the Hostos takeover, people like Ramon Jimenez, people like [Victor Bacques?], people like Liz -- my God, I’ve forgotten her name right now, she’s a judge now. A number of them, they were, you know, people, many of them were rooted in the Puerto Rican community in New York. They knew what was going on, they had a sense for that. One of the efforts of the Young Lords from New York made, Young Lords party in New York was an effort to open up fronts of struggle here in Puerto Rico. And that failed. [01:07:00] It failed miserably, because the people that came here were Puerto 26 �Rican, were the children of Puerto Rican parents, but did not have a connection to the Puerto Rican reality. JJ: Right, over here, in Puerto Rico. VA: Exactly. JJ: Which [goes back?] we’re a divided nation. VA: See I don’t agree with that. We’re not divided nation, okay? This is a very important point. Listen, the nation of Puerto Rico, it’s intact. We are a divided people, okay, but no, because see that -- JJ: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) VA: -- that issue has come up repeatedly and is a misrepresentation of a reality that continues to get us into political jam. The nation isn’t Puerto Rico. It’s a colony. JJ: I get that from (inaudible). VA: But that also came from the [01:08:00] Puerto Rico Socialist Party, and the MPI, that’s in the same position, and there are people even today that say that. And I think -- JJ: So, you’re saying we’re a divided people. VA: We’re a divided people by forced migration, living, you know -- being Puerto Ricans, part lives on the island of Puerto Rico, and the other part lives a different reality in the United States. It’s a different reality. We’re not living the Puerto Rican reality in the United States. If you’re in Chicago, you’re not living Luis Fortuño’s government. You’re living [lady?] government. You know? You’re living that. You’re living in a different environment with a multiplicity of people from other nationalities of the whole racial culture of the United States. It’s all 27 �very different from -- you know? In fact, I’ll tell you a very quick story. I have a very dear friend, a young lady who came from Puerto Rico to New York, and who I met when we took over the Statue of Liberty [01:09:00] the second time. I was arrested with Tito Kayak; we took over the Statue of Liberty during the campaign to get the Navy out of Vieques. JJ: But the first one, you put the flag up. VA: Yeah, the first one, it’s this one here. Okay? That was the first takeover. Then Tito Kayak came to New York, we hooked up in New York, and he got on top of the Statue of Liberty, on the crown here. Um, and she got arrested the same day with me. That’s how I met her. But the point of the story is that [Camila?], one day asked me, “Why is it so important for people here,” in New York,” being Puerto Rican?” And see, and I thought about that for a while. [01:10:00] It was really quite simple. You know, in Puerto Rico, everybody assumes everybody else is Puerto Rican. In the United States, being Puerto Rican is something that they never let you forget. When you go to school, they never let you forget. When you go and rent an apartment, they never let you -- you go to buy a house, they don’t let you forget. You go to apply for a job, they never let you forget. The discrimination, the attitude, you know, the apartheid culture of the United States makes it so that Puerto Rican is something that you live every day. Even though you’re not living the Puerto Rican reality of the colony, you are discriminated -- I know a case, for example, Professor Rivera Garcia, who was a muralist, [01:11:00] renowned the worldwide muralist of Puerto Rico, brought in an exchange from the University of Puerto Rico to the university system in New 28 �York, and they sent an American professor from New York to Puerto Rico. Except that CUNY and the university system forgot to make arrangements for his living situation here and his family for the year they was going to spend in New York. And this guy was a pro statehooder who was put in the National Commission of the Arts by Bush, father, I think was, and he gets in New York, very white-skinned, blue-eyed Puerto Rican, has a son with blue eyes and blonde hair, wife is blonde, they get to New York, they rent an apartment in the [flock neck?] section of the Bronx, an Italian section. No problem. [01:12:00] Until one day, this widower, Italian widower in the building kept seeing him come up and down, and one day they said, “Excuse me, where you from?” He said, “From Puerto Rico.” Says, “I thought you were Greek. We don’t like Puerto Ricans. You gotta get the fuck out of my building.” This guy started a campaign of terror against that family, cutting their lights, their water, confront him, threatening him, his kid, his wife, destroying his car, his motor-- I think it was a motorcycle. I’m sorry. And until one day, defending himself, he shot this guy. And it became a big case in New York. This guy thought he was an Americano, until they asked him where [01:13:00] he came from. He said, “I’m Puerto Rican,” and even though he was white-skinned, blonde hair, blue-eyed, all that crap, all of a sudden, he was no good. See, that’s the experience. JJ: This was the case, what year it happened? VA: Oh, my God. This was, I think it’s like the early ’80s. A very, very important case. The head of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund at the time, Ruben Franco, was the attorney who defended him. It was heavy. It was heavy. You 29 �know, and it was a wake-up call for a lot of blanquito Puerto Ricans, that thought that they -JJ: (inaudible) VA: -- that they could get, you know, [01:14:00] pass for being American, you know. Yeah. So, you know, I was arrested in 1977. I was the first person -- actually, not the first person either, because David Pérez was arrested when he came and knocked on my door, they thought that he was me, and then -- JJ: Everybody says the first. You were the first in a cell block? (laughs) VA: No, of people accused of being the FALN, before they were prisoners, you know. And I went to jail, spent six months -- JJ: Six months? VA: -- in jail, was bailed out, and I was acquitted in 45 minutes. JJ: A few Young Lords did that for support. VA: Yeah, but I’m saying I was the first of, you know, of that new wave of repression that [01:15:00] came against our movements. They first accused me of the Mobil Oil building bombing in Manhattan, and then they dropped those charges, and a few months later, they rearrested me and accused me of entering a court with a gun. That’s what I was acquitted in 45 minutes on. It was, you know -- they created such a drama about something that didn’t happen, that they lied, they stumbled all over themselves, and the jury saw right through it. But you know, it’s part of what happens when you believe in something and then you stand for something. So, yeah. That’s it. I mean -- one of the things that I think it’s important to note, historically, [01:16:00] in a way it’s very sad, is that the Puerto 30 �Rican movement has been the only national movement capable of freeing political prisoners in the United States. And obviously, there are two ways of freeing political prisoners. You either go and break them out of jail, or you wage a political campaign for their freedom. It’s incorrect to say the only movement, because the Black Liberation movement freed us out of [Shakuma?]. But in terms of political campaigns. In 1950, on November 1 of 1950, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attacked [01:17:00] Blair house, which was then the residence of President Truman. Griselio Torresola was killed, Oscar Collazo was arrested, sentenced to death, his death sentence was commuted, and he was one of the Nationalists in jail. Then in 1954, Lolita Lebrón, Irvin Flores, and Figueroa Cordero, and Rafael Cancel Miranda attacked the Congress of the United States. Together, they became the five Nationalists in prison. It was those Nationalists that we marched for in 1970, my very first Puerto Rican demonstration down to the United Nations. That was our demand for their freedom. [01:18:00] One of the demands. Also, the independence of Puerto Rico, and the end of police brutality. But the point is that that was the campaign that we were engaged in after I left the Young Lords with Mickey, and [Mifda?], Rodriguez, and other folks. Um, in 1977, after years of mobilizing people to Washington, constantly demanding the release of the five Nationalists -- and I gotta say that a lot of people used to tell us that we were crazy, that those people are gonna die in jail, forget about them people, you’re wasting your time. But we continued, and continued educating, organizing, mobilizing people, [01:19:00] and 1977 came into, for some reason, a moment in that campaign where people were just like, 31 �you know, we’ve been going to Washington for years, and this year, it was becoming difficult to mobilize. In 1975, a second front for that campaign had been opened up when the FALN began bombings, you know, propaganda, acts of armed propaganda, raising the issue of the Nationalist prisoners. We felt that we needed to open up a third front, which would be a front of mass militancy that went beyond just [01:20:00] demonstrations and petitions. And we looked at the Statue of Liberty and we said, “Hm, (laughs) you know, that’s a great image for us to use to do that.” And we went about the business of identifying people who we trusted, who trusted us, our political judgment, so that we did not -- so that we were able to get their commitment to be a part of an action in which they would be arrested without them demanding or needing to know what the action would be. There were only three people that planned this action. It was three former Young Lords, who were Mickey Melendez, Richie Pérez, and I, and we went about [01:21:00] the business of casing the place and studying all the security and transportation, and, you know, all the possibilities, and how to carry this out, and identifying the people, checking the people that we were approaching. And one day, we asked people to meet us in different parts of the city, three teams. We converged on Battery Park in the Lower Manhattan, which is where you take the ferry to Statue of Liberty on the first boat. Um, I was out on bail at the time of the takeover. We had a tremendous battle, Richie, Mickey, and I, about the role that I was to play, because I was out on bail, and they felt, they says, “You get locked up again, you ain’t going home.” [01:22:00] And I was arguing that I was going to go in, no matter what nobody said, you know, and like that, that I 32 �couldn’t lead people to something that I was not going to be about, you know, taking the risk that I was asking people to take. But it was a very tedious process. The night before that morning, we met at a bar, Richie, Mickey, and I, a bar on 14th Street, it was, uh, Blarney Stone, one of those Irish bars. It was [larizula?] trying to talk, and guys were literally swinging from chandeliers, crashing, throwing glasses and bottles, you know, fighting among themselves, and we’re trying to have -- but in a way, it was a great cover for our meetings. We used to have our meetings, you know, in different places all the time. So, you know, the [01:23:00] next few hours later, we went about the plan, executing the plan that we had put together with some variations, because, for example, we have thought about using thumbtacks and Krazy Glue to cement the thumbtacks up the stairs so that the cops would have a hard time getting to the top of the Statue of Liberty to arrest people. And we were going to spread the stairs with motor oil so they would slip down the stairs and fall on thumbtacks. (laughs) And then in the process of our conversation, we say, “Holy shit, but those are the same stairs they’re gonna be bringing the people on.” So, we discarded that idea, you know? And we frankly expected that the takeover [01:24:00] was going to be short lived. We had concerns about the ability to hold the Statue of Liberty long enough for the media to cover the fact we have it taken over. And it didn’t turn out that way, though. What happened was that, because of all of the aura around issues in Puerto Rico, which had to do with the campaign, which had to do with the bombings that were taking place, all of that, it was a media frenzy. And it was also a law enforcement frenzy. When the Statue of Liberty gets taken 33 �over, they start fighting among themselves about who is going to have jurisdiction to do [01:25:00] the arrests of the people in the Statue of Liberty? So, you have the New York City Police Department, you have the FBI, you have the Federal Parks police, you have all these people arguing among themselves, and the hours begin to drag, you know. Something that started out with the first of boat in the morning to the Statue of Liberty, now it’s midafternoon, and these people are still arguing, who’s going to go ahead to arrest these people. And meanwhile, they’re creating all of this drama, the fact that most of the people arrested were not just Puerto Rican, but were North American people, Asians, African Americans, they started circulating amongst the news that [01:26:00] this was a standoff with the FALN and the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground. I mean, it was just all kinds of craziness that happened that day. Eventually, they decided they went in and arrested everybody. Twenty-seven people, I believe, were arrested. Involved in the process were 31, I believe it was total, people involved in that action. And it went way beyond our wildest expectations, because that picture became the front-page picture in newspapers around the world. I mean, Belgium, France, Paris, London, England, Australia, [01:27:00] everywhere. We got copies of this papers -- this picture from papers all over the world. And it raised worldwide attention about the case of the five Nationalist prisoners and the colonial case of Puerto Rico. So, we were successful beyond our dreams, and you know what we are projecting. It’s one more thing that we did. JJ: All right. 34 �VA: Yeah. END OF VIDEO FILE 35 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7f882233001b834b8cc2cfdb0a51460b.mp4 5e7c3e30a5b3552aa3dbef1e58f51ebe Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives. The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2012-2017 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Título Spanish language Title entry Vicente “Panama” Alba vídeo entrevista y biografía, entrevista 2 Descripción Spanish language Description entry Vicente “Panamá” Alba es un Young Lord quien nació en Panamá, migro a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1961 y ahora vive en Puerto Rico. El a trabajado por muchos años con la organización Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) de AFL/CIO, quien defiende los trabajadores inmigrantes y los indocumentaditos en los industriosas de recicla y las eliminación de los desechos. Durante la rebelión de Attica, (Septiembre 9, 1971) Señor Alba soportó reclusos en sus negaciones. Señor Alaba ha sido parte de dos tomadas de la Estatua de Libertad, la primera es plantando la bandera de Puerto Rico en la Estatua en parte de una campaña para libertar los Nacionalistas Puertorriqueños que fueron encarcelados y el segundo fue en soportar la lucha de la gente de Vieques. Un ferviente admirador de Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Señor Alba continua abogar por autodeterminación por Puerto Rico y a sido parte de los Nacionalistas y otros grupos, incluyendo unas organizaciones en la comunidad que hacen campañas para libertar los prisioneros de política, uno siendo Oscar López. Sujetos Spanish language Subject terms Young Lords (Organización) Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Panamañians--Relatos personales Justicia social Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago Puerto Rico--Autonomía y movimientos independentistas Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65_Alba_Vicente_2 Title A name given to the resource Vicente “Panama” Alba video interview and transcript, interview 2 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alba, Vicente Description An account of the resource Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self-determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Panamanians--Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Puerto Rico--Autonomy and independence movements Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-05-01 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/85b80ee7c0edbbecde8fb0e0554f80b4.jpg 6bf7b965aa3aa0e3235d18afdb02e441 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Naval Recognition Training Slides Subject The topic of the resource Slides Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition Warships--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource Slides developed during World War II as a training tool, for top-side battle-station personnel on board ship and for all aircraft personnel, by the US Navy. In 1942 a Recognition School was established by the Navy at Ohio State University where the method of identification was developed. In 1943 the school was taken over by the US Navy. The importance of training in visual recognition of ships and aircraft became even more evident during World War II. Mistakes resulting in costly errors and loss of life led to an increased emphasis on recognition as a vital skill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides (RHC-50)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1943-1953 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides, RHC-50</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50_973 Title A name given to the resource Vickers Valetta transport Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Vickers Valetta British transport, October 1, 1947. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Slides Great Britain Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Naval recognition slides (RHC-50) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1947-10-01 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives