THE PEOPLE’S CHURCH Symbolism of Resistance

By Carlos “Carlito” Rovira

Located in the center of New York City’s East Harlem community, also known as El Barrio, is the site of historic significance described by many as the People’s Church. On 163 East 111^th Street, co-named “Young Lords Way”, on the corner of Lexington Avenue, is a church structure administered by the First Spanish United Methodist Church (FSUMC).

Constructed in the 1880s, the People’s Church has stood in the midst of one of the most impoverished and repressed working-class communities. During the McCarthy Era West and East Harlem were heavily surveilled by police and Federal authorities. El Barrio’s legacy and its connections to activism goes back to the time of Socialist Congressman Vito Marcantonio, during the 1940s-50s.

But the history of the People’s Church became most notable with the December 28, 1969, takeover by the revolutionary youth group known as the Young Lords. The idea of using a church to implement desperately needed community services originated from Chairman Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez and the Chicago Young Lords, Armitage Avenue Methodist Church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The symbolism of the People’s Church goes beyond religious faith. It represents the aspirations, hopes and sense of strength of a historic community accustomed to abuse and neglect, mainly of Latinx origin. Maintaining this church facility open and accessible to residents, in itself makes a political statement which poses a challenge to developers and government officials who aim to displace our people to benefit racist gentrification.

The Young Lords boldly took over the building on December 28, 1969, after repeatedly being denied permission to use the space for a free breakfast program for children. Prior to that action, on December 9, 1969, in addition to the Reverend Dr. Humberto Carrazana (a counterrevolutionary Cuban exile) refusing to grant the Young Lords space, he provoked their determined stance by summoning the police into the church.

What resulted was the militant youths being severely beaten and arrested. Thirteen Young Lords were taken into custody, including three young women. As a consequence, many people viewed Reverend Carrazana’s refusal to make his church available to feed poor children and having Young Lords beaten by police as a show of religious hypocrisy.

During the 11-day occupation, they transformed the church into a community hub. The Young Lords used the building to provide essential services to underserved neighborhood residents. In addition to free breakfasts, the Lords provided a daycare, clothing drives, health screenings (mainly for Tuberculosis), and liberation school classes.

In recent years, various programs were established at this church to benefit the poor in this working-class community. Food pantry distributions, acupuncture treatment, exercise classes, educational film showings, and so much more, programs that are consistent with all that the Young Lords had hoped to create for the people of El Barrio, in this small and intimate place of gathering.

However, one does not need to be imaginative to figure out the lust of greedy developers who anxiously look for opportunities to build condominiums for the wealthy in targeted neighborhoods with rising real estate value.

The thing to remain on guard about is the greed of real estate interest, especially as the capitalist economic crisis intensifies. There is always the threat that the people of this community may lose this oasis amid poverty and despair, due to lack of funds. That should never happen, and we must always be ready to wage a relentless struggle to prevent the People’s Church closing and ultimately being demolished.

Losing this bastion of history shall be a victory for the complete gentrification of El Barrio and other Black and Brown communities. For that reason, under no circumstances should we allow further insult to injury on our people. The People’s Church is more than just a building; it is a monument of the people’s struggle which we cannot lose to profiteering developers.

Long live the rebellious traditions of THE PEOPLE’S CHURCH!