“We need health, but above all we need to create a grounding for healthy public policy that redresses and salvages the growing inequities. We cannot achieve a healthier us without achieving a healthier, more equitable health care system, and ultimately, a more equitable society.”
– Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias (July 7, 1929 – December 27, 2001) Pediatrician, Educator and Woman’s Rights Activist
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By Carlos “Carlito” Rovira
Below is my latest portrait of a true revolutionary in every sense of its meaning. Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias’ life was filled with greatness. A passion for science and empathy for humanity. She always demonstrated an attraction for the anti-racist cause and Puerto Rico’s struggle for independence. Dr Rodriquez -Trias was also a proud feminist, always promoting the cause for the equality of women.
As a child, Dr. Rodriquez-Trias showed great academic abilities. However, despite having good grades and being bi-lingual, she was placed in a class for children with learning disabilities. The NYC public school system in the 1930s has many stories of open and systemic racism. It wasn’t until Helen participated in a poem recital, that a teacher realized how intellectually gifted she was.
As Dr. Rodriquez-Trias grew older, her interest in medicine became a priority. She moved to Puerto Rico and received a scholarship in Medicine from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) . It was there where she became drawn to the Puerto Rican independence struggle and decided to join the student component of the Nationalist Party.
Despite family opposition to her political involvement, in 1960 having earned her doctorate in medicine with the highest honors, Dr. Rodriquez-Trias stayed in Puerto Rico for several years working to help eradicate the widespread community health issues due to the lack of basic health care.
My portrait of Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias, 20″ X 24″, acrylic paint on canvas.
The decision to stay in Puerto Rico combined with her passion for justice defined the special kind of medical professional she became. Dr. Rodriguez-Trias is credited for establishing the first center for the care of newborn babies in Puerto Rico. As a result of her efforts, the death rate for newborns decreased by 50 percent within three years.
In another well documented genocidal act against the Puerto Rican people, between the 1930s and 1980s, one-third of the child-baring female population was secretly sterilized. This strategic genocidal project was designed by the notorious Dr. Cornelius P. Roades.
Dr. Rodriguez-Trias was an adamant, tireless and outspoken activist against United States colonialism using Puerto Rico for birth control pill experimentations as well.
After Dr. Rodriguez Trias moved back to New York City in 1970, she became active in the fight for patient-worker’s rights, specifically at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx where she was employed as head of its Pediatrics department.
Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias caring for a child at Lincoln Hospital’s pediatrics unit.
Upon her arrival at Lincoln Hospital, Dr. Rodriquez Trias was so appalled to witness first-hand the racist healthcare reserved for poor, Black and Latino people that it inspired her to attend meetings of the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM), an entity of hospital workers and community activists.
On July 14, 1970, the Young Lords staged the dramatic seizure of Lincoln Hospital. The aim was to expose the deplorable conditions there. Dr. Rodriguez Trias was among many doctors throughout the country who supported this action.
Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias was recognized for her efforts by many in the medical profession, esteemed organizations and government entities. She was the first Latina director of the American Public Health Association. In January 8, 2001, Dr. Rodriquez Trias was awarded with the Presidential Citizen’s Medal.
Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal from President Bill Clinton.
This portrait is 20” X 24”, acrylic paint on canvas. It was inspired by my Queen, Lisa B. Jones who urged me to paint the image of Dr. Rodriguez -Trias for several years by educating me about this outstanding heroine.
I also wish to thank Sister Cleo Silvers who helped me with the facts of this article. Cleo Silvers was a member of HRUM and worked at Lincoln Hospital with Dr. Trias in the 1970s.
Long live the legacy of Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trias!
Of all revolutionary leaders during the Nineteenth Century in Puerto Rico’s anti-colonial struggle Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances is of profound significance. He is among the most recognized figures in Caribbean and Latin American history.
Ramon Emeterio Betances’ convictions provided a roadmap for future generations. Dr Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party, Arturo Alfonso Schomberg, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Puerto Rican Independence Party, Los Macheteros, the Young Lords, and so many more, came about due to traditions in the national liberation struggle firmly established by him. Today, Betances’ legacy carries the title of honor, Father of the Puerto Rican Nation.
This legendary figure held several titles and professions, which he utilized as assets in the service of the liberation struggle. He was a poet, novelist, journalist, public health administrator, social hygienist, medical doctor, surgeon, ophthalmologist, scientist, diplomat, politician, in addition to being an abolitionist and revolutionary leader.
Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances
The son of a White-Dominican father and an Afro-Puerto Rican mother, Betances was reared in a relatively wealthy and privileged family. However, as he became of age, Betances questioned the causes for the social and economic inequalities that existed under a slave-owning colonial system.
During his formative years, the young Ramon was educated by a private tutor. When Betances was 17 years old, his father sent him to study at the School of Medicine of Montpellier in Paris, France. It was there where he finished his degree in Medicine and Surgery.
While in France, Betances was influenced by the 1848 revolutionary upheavalin Europe. This period of historical unrest is when both the Monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church were losing political control as the masses rose to rebel against them.
My portrait of Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances. 24″ X 30″, acrylic paint on canvas.
Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Betances opened his medical practice. Being a physician and humanist, he was empathetic of the human suffering he witnessed.
During the cholera epidemic of 1856, Betances defiantly clashed with colonial officials in the city of Mayaguez. He risked arrest and imprisonment because he prioritized medical care for enslaved Africans over the colonizing white-Spanish born soldiers and officers, who were also infected by the widespread deadly disease.
Influence of the 1804 Haitian Revolution
Betances gradually evolved a contempt against foreign tyranny. He was influenced by the revolutionary storm of ideas in France but was profoundly impacted by the boldness of the Haitian Revolution.
The militant example of the Haitian people was a beacon of hope and inspiration for enslaved and colonized people throughout the Caribbean, Africa and United States – similar to the Soviet Union in the early part of its history. As a result, Betances was motivated to become active in the clandestine movement for independence and the abolition of slavery.
Haitian and Puerto Rican Flags
Haitian leaders understood quite well the necessity and benefits for oppressed people of different lands to forge unity, if they are to survive the onslaught of colonizing powers. This was a feature of the Haitian perspective that became most attractive to Betances.
In collaboration with fellow revolutionist Segundo Ruiz Belvis and others, Betances led an organizing effort to create the Revolutionary Committee, an organization devoted to the struggle for independence and the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico by preparing for revolution there. Organizing these committees was most important in areas where enslaved Africans and other downtrodden sectors of the population were concentrated.
Monument in Lares, PR dedicated to Ramon Emeterio Betances.
Betances became the central figure in the movement which brought about the 1868 Grito De Lares, an uprising that attempted the overthrow of Spanish colonialism. El Grito De Lares is also an event that affirmed the existence of the Puerto Rican Nation.
It was with enthusiasm of the moment as Puerto Rican revolutionaries prepared to wage armed battle with Spanish colonialism when Betances and a woman leader of the movement named Mariana Bracetti, a professional Stitcher, collaborated to create the first Puerto Rican flag.
The first Puerto Rican flag, symbol used at El Grito De Lares uprising.
A few weeks before the scheduled date for the Lares uprising, Betances returned to Puerto Rico from the island of Española (Haiti and Dominican Republic) on a schooner filled weapons and ammunition for the battle. These were weapons confiscated from the French during the Haitian Revolution.
Unfortunately, the revolutionaries were betrayed by an informant in the group. As the schooner approached the Port of Arecibo with the much-needed cargo Betances and his crew found themselves surrounded by Spanish warships. After their apprehension Betances was exiled to France.
But Betances was unstoppable. Between 1869-1870, he visited Haiti with Jose A. Basora, a fellow leader of Puerto Rico’s Revolutionary Committee. The two prominent Puerto Rican figures met with Haitian revolutionary leaders in an effort to collaborate for their mutual quest.
Ramón Emeterio Betances’ mausoleum located in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.
In the truest internationalist spirit and despite the failure of the 1868 Grito De Lares uprising, Betances traveled throughout the Caribbean forging relations with Cuban, Haitian, Dominican and Jamaican revolutionaries. He was not deterred from striving to build a united federation of the Greater Antilles, a force capable of challenging the colonizing powers as the Haitian Revolution had envisioned.
Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances paid close attention to socio-economic and political developments in the U.S., especially after it freed itself from the greatest hinderance to its growth, the system of chattel slavery. Based on his perceptions of U.S. expansionism Betances believed the U.S. was destined to become a tyrannical power posing a threat to Puerto Rico, all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Weeks before his death and shortly after the U.S. military invasion on November 16, 1898, Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances stated “I do not want to see Puerto Rico colonized by Spain nor the United States.”
De todas las figuras revolucionarias en la historia de la lucha anticolonial de Puerto Rico en el siglo XIX, la del Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances es la de mayor significado. Es una de las figuras revolucionarias más reconocidas de la historia del Caribe y América Latina.
Las convicciones de Ramón Emeterio Betances proporcionaron una hoja de ruta para la futura generación de revolucionarios. El Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos y el Partido Nacionalista, Arturo Alfonso Schomberg, el Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño, el Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, Los Macheteros, los Young Lords y otros más, cumplieron con las debidas tradiciones en la lucha de liberación nacional firmemente establecidas por él. Hoy Betances es considerado Padre de la Nación Puertorriqueña.
Esta figura legendaria ostentó varios títulos y profesiones, que utilizó como activos al servicio de la lucha por la liberación. Fue poeta, novelista, periodista, administrador de salud pública, higienista social, médico, cirujano, oftalmólogo, científico, diplomático, político, además de un líder abolicionista y revolucionario.
Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances
En los años de formación, el joven Ramón fue educado por un tutor privado. Cuando Betances tenía 17 años, su padre lo envió a estudiar a la Facultad de Medicina de Montpellier en París, Francia. Fue allí donde terminó la carrera de Medicina y Cirugía.
Durante su estancia en Francia, Ramon Emeterio Betances estuvo influenciado por el levantamiento revolucionario de 1948 que existía en Europa. Este período de agitación histórica donde tanto la Monarquía como la Iglesia Católica Romana estaban perdiendo control político a medida que las masas se rebelaban contra ellas.
Mi retrato del Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances. 24″ X 30″, pintura acrílica sobre lienzo.
A su regreso a Puerto Rico, Betances abrió su práctica médica. Como médico y humanista, sentía empatía por el sufrimiento humano del que fue testigo.
Durante la epidemia de cólera de 1856, Betances se enfrentó desafiantemente con funcionarios coloniales en la ciudad de Mayagüez, arriesgándose a ser arrestado, porque priorizaba la atención médica para los esclavos africanos y los pobres sobre los soldados y oficiales colonizadores españoles, quienes también estaban infectados por la enfermedad mortal generalizada.
Influencia de la revolución haitiana de 1804
Betances desarrolló gradualmente un desprecio hacia la tiranía extranjera. Fue influenciado por la tormenta revolucionaria de ideas en Francia, pero profundamente impactado por la audacia de la Revolución Haitiana.
El ejemplo militante del pueblo haitiano fue un faro de esperanza e inspiración para los pueblos esclavizados y colonizados en todo el Caribe, África y Estados Unidos, similar a lo que ocurrió con la Unión Soviética en la primera parte de su historia. Como resultado, Betances se vio motivado a participar activamente en el movimiento clandestino por la independencia y la abolición de la esclavitud.
Banderas haitianas y puertorriqueñas.
Los líderes haitianos entendieron bastante bien la necesidad y los beneficios para los pueblos oprimidos de diferentes tierras de forjar la unidad si quieren sobrevivir al ataque de las potencias colonizadoras. Éste fue un rasgo de la perspectiva revolucionaria haitiana que resultó más atractivo para Betances.
En colaboración con su compañero revolucionario Segundo Ruiz Belvis y otros, Betances dirigió un esfuerzo organizativo para crear el Comité Revolucionario, una organización dedicada a la lucha por la independencia y la abolición de la esclavitud mediante la preparación para la revolución. La organización de estos comités fue más importante en las áreas de Puerto Rico donde se concentraban los esclavos africanos y otros sectores oprimidos de la población.
Monumento en Lares, PR dedicado a Ramón Emeterio Betances.
Betances se convirtió en la figura central del movimiento que provocó el Grito de Lares de 1868, un levantamiento que intentó derrocar el colonialismo español. El Grito De Lares también afirmó la existencia de la Nación Puertorriqueña.
Fue con el entusiasmo del momento mientras los revolucionarios puertorriqueños se preparaban para librar una batalla armada contra el colonialismo español cuando Betances y Mariana Bracetti, líder del movimiento y costurera profesional, colaboraron para crear la primera bandera puertorriqueña.
La primera bandera puertorriqueña, símbolo utilizado en el levantamiento de El Grito De Lares.
Unas semanas antes de la fecha prevista para el levantamiento de Lares, Betances zarpó hacia Puerto Rico desde la isla Española (Haití y República Dominicana) en un barco cargado de armas y municiones para la batalla. Estas eran armas confiscadas a los franceses durante la Revolución Haitiana.
Desafortunadamente, los revolucionarios fueron traicionados por un informante del grupo. Cuando la goleta se acercaba al puerto de Arecibo con la carga necesaria, Betances y su tripulación se encontraron rodeados por buques de guerra españoles. Tras su aprehensión, Betances fue exiliado a Francia.
Pero Betances era imparable. Entre 1869 y 1870, Betances visitó Haití con José A. Basora, otro líder del Comité Revolucionario de Puerto Rico. Las dos prominentes figuras puertorriqueñas se reunieron con líderes revolucionarios haitianos en un esfuerzo por colaborar en su búsqueda mutua.
Mausoleo de Ramón Emeterio Betances ubicado en Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.
Con el más auténtico espíritu internacionalista, a pesar del fracaso del levantamiento del Grito de Lares de 1868, Betances viajó por todo el Caribe forjando relaciones con revolucionarios cubanos, haitianos, dominicanos y jamaiquinos. Se vio disuadido de desempeñar un papel en la creación de una federación unida de las Antillas Mayores, una fuerza capaz de desafiar a las potencias colonizadoras como lo había previsto la Revolución haitiana.
El Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances prestó gran atención a los acontecimientos socioeconómicos y políticos en Estados Unidos, especialmente después de que se liberara del mayor obstáculo para su crecimiento: la esclavitud. Basándose en sus percepciones del expansionismo estadounidense, Betances creía que Estados Unidos estaba destinado a convertirse en una potencia tiránica que representaba una amenaza para Puerto Rico, todo Latinoamérica y el Caribe.
Semanas antes de su muerte y poco después de la invasión militar estadounidense el 16 de noviembre de 1898, el Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances afirmó “No quiero ver a Puerto Rico colonizado por España ni por Estados Unidos”.
I have enjoyed painting the portraits of revolutionary figures for several decades, as well as images of loved-ones family members commission me to paint. But in 2024, when I decided to paint a 24” X 30” acrylic canvas portrait of my mother, Rosa Maria Barretto-Rovira, it was a completely different experience for me as a visual artist. Painting my mother’s portrait was not easy, it was emotionally challenging.
A 20″ X 24″ acrylic on canvas portrait I painted of my mother.
My mother was a proud Boricua woman who was never mistaken about our identity as Puerto Ricans. Nor was she ever confused about what was the correct side to be on in the anti-colonial struggle.
In 1949, my mother was compelled to leave Puerto Rico in search of a better life. She was among the 63,000 people per year forced to migrate due to economic hardships created by U.S. colonial policy. This exodus took place between the end of World War II and the 1960’s.
Doña Rosa, as what many community folks called her, worked as a stitcher in NYC’s Garment District. She was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). When having chats with her friends she would brag about work stoppages she partook.
Painting my mother’s portrait was the most emotionally challenging project I ever did.
I remember when at just 8 years old hearing my mother tell one of my schoolteachers: “We want our independence.” She referred to Puerto Rico. Eventually, that conversation had a profound impact on me.
At the height of the repressive McCarthy Era and the 1948 Puerto Rico Law 53, also known as the Gag Law, my mother, my father, Carlos M. Rovira, Sr., and aunt, Anjelica Rovira-Nieves, were members of a New York City-based secret committee of the banned Nationalist Party.
This committee served as a rear guard to support the Party politically and financially. It functioned under the leadership of Don Julio Pinto Gandia, a confidant of the Nationalist leader, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos.
My parents were superintendents of a tenement building on Broom Street in the Lower East Side, NYC where quite often they held fundraising events in the basement. The money raised was used to provide whatever necessary to benefit the efforts of the Nationalist Party.
This well-hidden story was not revealed to me until I became an adult decades later, by elders who were also members of this secret committee.
It is no wonder why Doña Rosa wholeheartedly supported theYoung Lordsand my decision to join them at just 14 years of age. In 1969 during the Young Lords takeover of the First Spanish Methodist Church in El Barrio (East Harlem), she was among supporters who mobilized to provide us with food and other necessities during the occupation.
Today, I’m proud knowing who my mother was. I shall always cherish the contributions she made to my personal development, as well as for having stood by me during the years I unfortunately served six years in prison for committing a regrettable stupidity. Doña Rosa was a mother in the truest sense of the word.
From the time I was a young child she taught me never to allow myself being bullied by anyone and to strike back hard with full force whenever someone laid their hands on me. If my mother were to hear the opposite as what she instructed I was punished, with the belt or her flip-flop slippers (chancletas). My siblings and I grew up in a supposed “rough neighborhood”, NYC’s Alphabet City during the 1960s, Doña Rosa did not want her children becoming pushovers or “chumps” for bullies to treat as easy prey.
Her sacrifices as a mother, under the difficult circumstances of poverty and cultural shock are unforgettable. Her life was not easy due to harsh experiences in Puerto Rico’s colonial reality and the racism she encountered in the U.S. as an immigrant woman of color who spoke very little English.
My dear mother’s examples of character and conviction are reasons why I vowed to always pay homage to her by continuing to raise the banner of Puerto Rican national liberation. If there is such a thing as “life after death,” I want her to know that I will always love her very much.
The February 8, 2026, Super bowl halftime performance by Puerto Rican superstar BAD BUNNY (Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio), is being viewed by extreme right-wing MAGA forces with the utmost racist hatred in a campaign openly endorsed by President Donald Trump. Their contemptuous reasoning is to prevent the Boricua singer from showcasing the beauty of Latinx culture through his musical lyrics in the Spanish language.
Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny.
These racists are so blinded by their own self-destructive backward traditions that they cannot bare knowing that a person of color will proudly entertain millions of people viewing this renown annual event throughout the world.
The 2016 Super Bowl
The BAD BUNNY controversy is not the first of its kind. Super Bowl 50 of February 7, 2016, in Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, California, when the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10, will be remembered for generations to come as the setting for another outburst of anti-Black racist hatred. This event will certainly be monumental in the history of race relations in this country.
For the most part, no one ever expected such a barrage of condemnation against the super-star African American singing artist Beyonce for her performance during halftime. The Super Bowl is an institutionalized extravagant sport event viewed by tens of millions of people annually throughout the United States.
The controversy began immediately after a dance troupe of about 50 Black women, with Beyonce at the helm, took center stage in a beautifully choreographed arrangement and dress attire that made references to the legendary Black Panther Party and Malcolm X.
To many people nothing could have been a better tribute to the annual tradition of Black History Month (February) than to depict figures so symbolic, especially on the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Beyonce and performing dancers beautifully simulating Black Panthers’ disciplined formation.
But in order to understand why this performance became such a controversy we must first explore the causes that triggered it. Anyone who closely examines the norms of this violent “sport” will easily see how it tends to present itself as a feverish gladiator ritual. The definition of “sport” has been changed to mean inflicting bodily harm among high priced members of opposing teams and in some cases with permanent damage.
With military music bands playing and jet fighters flying high above the airspace, the Superbowl has become an event that insidiously promotes a peculiar version of militarism. It accentuates sexism, white supremacy, big nation chauvinist arrogance, war – all of the not-so-hidden ideas that prevail in the general thinking of capitalist culture.
With this kind of historically rooted setting, it came as no surprise when arch racists and notorious figures like New York State Representative Peter King and the disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, launched a barrage of attacks against the prominent Black female performer.
Black Panther Party members in a drill exercise.
Every moronic die-hard white racist consumed by the militarized sports culture most likely had something derogatory to say about Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and the freedom struggle of Black people.
They were appalled that Beyonce would dare pay homage to heroic African American revolutionaries, even in the most minimized implicit manner. The vindictive outcry by these and other white supremacists has little to do with Beyonce or what they perceived as “offensive” during the halftime performance.
Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party and the mass upsurge that occurred during the 1960’s – 70’s, the height of the Civil Rights movement, continues to haunt the imagination of our oppressors to this day. Their apprehensions are attributed to the militant traditions of the African American masses which brought about the rise of Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party.
The lessons that came as a result of those experiences are indisputably applicable in our reality today – and that is precisely what these villains fear. Blacks, Latinos, Indigenous and other people of color continue to be brutalized and murdered by the police across the United States.
Black Panther Party co-founders Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton.
Unlike the lies asserted by Guilliani and King it was the police who attacked, imprisoned and murdered Black Panthers in a criminal campaign organized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) known as COINTELPRO. However, both Malcolm X and the BPP boldly advocated and practiced the right to use armed self-defense against the racist terror of the police in the Black community.
What the representatives of the ruling class are most upset about at Beyonce is that her Superbowl halftime performance reminded everyone of a period in U.S. history when Black people defiantly posed a threat to this racist system by galvanizing many sectors of the general population. This phenomenon presented the potential for revolution in this country under the impact of the Black liberation struggle.
The role Black people played in the events of that period in history is something the ruling class cannot forget or forgive. They will naturally dread the mere thought of a revolutionary upheaval until their final day of doom.
The Black Panther Party believed in the building a sophisticated revolutionary organization.
This is why former Black Panther and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has stated: “The tyrants, oppressors and racists who continue to hold political power in this country by using the most ruthless means cannot afford a repeat of the 1960’s.”
The plight of Black people, from the nearly 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow discrimination, mass incarceration and police brutality today, are facts that our oppressors and those who benefit from white privilege and entitlement would like us to ignore and forget.
Regardless, what Beyonce’s motives were, she touched upon a vulnerability of white supremacist America. If Beyonce’s halftime performance were a projection of jingoism, militarism or a glorification of white supremacy she would not have been targeted with condemnation.
Beyonce without a doubt merits our applause and praises for paying tribute through her performance to a historic symbol of African American defiance – the Black Panther Party.
LONG LIVE THE LEGACY OF THE BLACK LIBERATION STRUGGLE!
Below is a statement made by El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X condemning imperialism’s barbaric treatment of the Palestinian people. His remarks came at a time when Malcolm X began to understand the depths of the imperialist system and the commonalities between the Black liberation struggle and all oppressed people.
Malcolm’s defiant disposition then reflected the indisputable reality of Palestinians, horrors that continued to intensify to this day. Malcolm’s own experiences with racist oppression as an African American allowed him the ability to see through the ocean of lies used to preserve the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation of Palestine.
-Carlos “Carlito” Rovira
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This was originally published in “The Egyptian Gazette,” Sept. 17, 1964:
PALESTINE DOESN’T BELONG TO WESTERN IMPERIALIST
By Malcolm X
The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah,” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly gained land. This “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.”
If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its “divine” mission to rule all other nations with a rod of iron, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even than that of the former European Colonial Powers.
These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their “divine” authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized.
Camouflage
The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid” and other tempting gifts that they dangle in front of the newly independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the masses here in Africa were largely illiterate, it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with “force and fear.” But in this present era of enlightenment, the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century.
The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to maneuver the African masses into willing submission.
The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is “dollarism.” The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists … and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.
Portraits I made of two revolutionary figures, Laila Khaled and Malcolm X. Each of these portraits are 24″ X 30″, acrylic paint on canvas.
At the close of the 19th century, when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fear, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a “new weapon” and to find a “new base” for that weapon.
Dollarism
The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is Zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate, and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.
Zionist Israel’s occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.
LONG LIVE THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE!
And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people … thus, indirectly inducing Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.
“They cripple the bird’s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.”
The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can’t stand against fair competition; thus, they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.
Messiah?
If the “religious” claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy, where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was [United Nations mediator] Ralph Bunche who “negotiated” the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?
Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation … where Spain used to be, as the European Zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?
In short, the Zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history … not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?
In the center of the East Harlem community, also known as El Barrio, is the site of historic significance that is described by many as The People’s Church. Located at 163 East 111th Street, co-named “Young Lords Way”, on the corner of Lexington Avenue, this monumental structure is administered by the First Spanish United Methodist Church (FSUMC).
For many decades, dating back to the time of socialist Vito Marcantonio, during the 1940’s-50’s, the People’s Church stood in the midst of one of the most impoverished and repressed part of New York City. It was in that setting where this church became a symbol of the Puerto Rican diaspora’s struggles, especially after the rise of the revolutionary youth group the Young Lords.
Young Lords Way adjacent to the location of the People’s Church.
For an atheist, non-religious believer like me, The People’s Church symbolizes something beyond religion. It represents the defiance of the Puerto Rican diaspora in struggle. Maintaining it open and accessible to the community makes a political statement and a direct challenge to the racist displacement inflicted against our people everywhere in this country.
Memories of events at the People’s Church in connection with the Young Lords also have sentimental/personal value to me.
Young Lords in drill exercise on the streets of El Barrio.
It was at the People’s Church where I transcended from a boy to a man during the two takeovers; it was there where I learned the necessity of having a fighting disposition in the liberation struggle; it was from that experience where I learned from others the virtues of teamwork, responsibility and organization.
In addition, it was at the People’s Church on December 7, 1969, at 15 years old, where I was beaten by NYPD cops, along with thirteen other Young Lords, including five women. The violent frenzy of the police on that day was encouraged by parishioners when Young Lords came to a Sunday mass service asking permission to use the space for a free breakfast program for poor children of the neighborhood.
December 28, 1969, Young Lords being arrested after their nine days siege of the People’s Church.
In recent years, various programs were established benefiting this poor, working class community, such as food pantry distributions, acupuncture treatment, exercise classes, educational film showings, and so much more. These programs are consistent with all that the Young Lords had hoped to create for the community at this small and intimate place of gathering.
A child enjoying her meal at the Young Lords Free Breakfast Program.
The thing to remain on guard about, is the increasingly 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 such a lost.
What will follow, impossible to predict! 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.
Losing this bastion of history shall be a victory for gentrification while undoubtedly being a tragedy for the Black and Brown residents of this community. 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.
Long live the rebellious traditions of THE PEOPLE’S CHURCH!
Here I am half century later, standing by the People’s Church, 111th Street & Lexington Avenue, NYC.
Below is an account written by Sister Cleo Silvers on having the honor of working with Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Cleo is a long-time healthcare activist. As a member of the Black Panther Party and later the Young Lords she organized and fought for the human right to adequate healthcare. She is a founder of the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM) and played a leading role in the 1970 YLP takeover of Lincoln Hospital, in the South Bronx, NYC.
–Carlito Rovira
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Who Doctor Mutulu Shakur was to me
By Cleo Deborah Silvers
Doctor Mutulu Shakur is one of the most iconic and remarkable men We have had the honor of sharing space with on this Earth.
I say this because few human beings have walked the Earth who’ve made as significant a contribution to history, healthcare, and society in general as Dr. Shakur has.
Doctor Shakur was an intelligent young revolutionary brother when we met in December of 1970. It was soon after we (The Think Lincoln Committee, Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM), The Young Lords, the Black Panthers, and the Community Coalition against Drug Addiction) had occupied the sixth floor of the Lincoln Hospital Nurse’s Residence. We demanded and set up a drug detox program with the support of the medical staff.
The positive, overwhelming response from the community demonstrated the need for a drug-free detoxification program–a program that did not use Methadone (another opiate with properties similar to heroin) in the South Bronx and in Harlem, New York. When we met, he was only nineteen years old and already a critical organizer and leader in the Republic of New Africa.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur fought vigorously in the interest of the Black Community throughout his life. His commitment and effective organizing, especially in health care for poor Black and other communities of color, raised his profile and attracted the attention of the FBI counterintelligence program and local police and District Attorneys. They targeted Dr. Mutulu Shakur and framed him for crimes he did not commit. His conviction was part of a massive, sustained attack (1960s-1980s) on the U.S. revolutionary left, especially those rooted in the Black, Latino, and Native American working-class communities.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur was introduced to me by his older adopted brother, Zayd Shakur, a brilliant and respected leader in the Harlem Branch of the Black Panther Party. As a member of the Black Panther Party and a healthcare activist, I was mentored by Zayd Shakur and worked under his leadership in the BPP medical collective.
Cleo Silvers (left) at a Young Lords rally outside Lincoln Hospital.
As Director of the newly established Lincoln Detox program and strategist, as well as program planner and medical and methodology collaborator along with Dr. Steve Levin, Medical Director, I was being pulled in many directions, working almost twenty-four hours a day.
Zayd and the party’s leadership agreed that I was swamped, and Dr. Shakur could take over some of my responsibilities. I met Mutulu and, at the suggestion of his brother, interviewed him and immediately hired him to take over my position as Director of Lincoln Detox.
In the process of transferring the methodology and details of the Program to Mutulu, we automatically became fast friends. I should include one important note here; Mutulu and I, although we loved each other we, had widely different ideological positions and were known to struggle vigorously for our differing points of view. Mutulu was a Black Nationalist and I was a Marxist. Almost every time we saw each other, there were warm hugs and sharp ideological struggle.
With Mutulu, because of his brilliance and tenacity. As Director of the Program, I had no worries about the strength or sustainability of Lincoln Detox. Dr. Shakur more than exceeded my expectations. Dr. Shakur worked with the patients; he administered the Program; he went downtown and fought for the continuation of funding. He built an extraordinary collective of patients, workers, activists, community members, hospital workers, and doctors. They continued to ensure that political education was a part of each heroin addict’s healing and recovery.
During this period, the Black Panther Party was going through an intense internal power struggle (exacerbated by FBI Counterintelligence Program interventions aimed to weaken and destroy the Black Panther Party).
Concerned that the factional situation could undermine the Lincoln Hospital work, Zayd, Rasheed, and Lumumba took me to the Young Lords Party, which had a powerful position in Lincoln Hospital, so I could continue effectively organizing hospital workers and building the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM), patterned on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW). I continued to work there until James Forman invited me to join the LRBW in Detroit.
Dr. Shakur was always looking for ways to enhance the work of detoxing addicts without using drugs. He wanted to ensure a well-thought-out, comprehensive new methodology for healing our people.
One day, after reading an article in the newspaper about the use of acupuncture as a medical cure for several illnesses and the thousand-year History of the use of this practice, Mutulu was intrigued and rallied his collective to check it out. Dr. Shakur and several collective members headed down to Chinatown.
They did some research and spoke to everyone who might be able to point them in the correct direction to acquire what they needed to understand the elements of acupuncture. They were able to speak with some Chinese experts and some acupuncturists there. The collective and Mutulu came back to the Bronx with a full acupuncture body chart, better known as an acupuncture map, several sets of acupuncture needles, and other equipment.
They began reading as much as possible about the use of acupuncture in Eastern countries that had been using this healthcare method for millennia. This is when the team started practicing on oranges. (Dr. Shakur reminded me just a few weeks before he passed: “No, Cleo, we started practicing on onions first and then oranges to develop our skills using the acupuncture needles.”)
They began using the acupuncture pressure points on the detox patients as they learned, and it was very successful. Mutulu was elated! I don’t know all the details because I had been assigned to go to Detroit and begin my work organizing on the line in an auto plant (Dodge Truck, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM)).
Portrait by Carlito Rovira. 24″ X 30″, acrylic paint on canvas.
As Mutulu told the story, he and some of his colleagues were contacted and invited to go to China and then Canada to study acupuncture. I do know that the always astute brother, Mutulu Shakur returned from the Canadian Institute for the Study of Acupuncture with a certification to practice and a doctorate he had earned in the teaching and practice of acupuncture.
But this is just the beginning of Mutulu’s story of his incredible fighting spirit and contribution to healthcare, drug rehabilitation, and to the struggle for the legalization and use of acupuncture in the United States, not to speak of his ongoing work in the fight for justice and equality for Black people and people of color as well as his role and participation of leadership in the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Africa.
The most brilliant contribution from Dr. Mutulu Shakur, though, is his influential role in the development and design of the five-point auricle acupuncture protocol for drug detoxification and several trauma-induced conditions.
This protocol was used and demonstrated around the world by the last Medical Director of Lincoln Detox Dr. Mike Smith, as though he had developed this groundbreaking method of helping detox heroin addicts, but in fact, it was Dr. Mutulu Shakur and his collective who developed the five-point protocol for drug detoxification and any income received for the training, use or demonstration of this acupuncture protocol should have always gone to the estate and family of Dr. Mutulu Shakur and/or his colleagues.
Before his passing, Mutulu and I were discussing plans to help recover some of this income from the Mike Smith estate, and I plan to move forward on this struggle because it is only proper, and that Mutulu assured me that he wanted to engage in this struggle no matter the outcome.
Mutulu was the central figure in the creation of the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America (BAANA) and the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture.
Cleo Silvers and Dr. Mutulu Shakur.
After Mutulu was incarcerated, once I returned to New York from Detroit and Los Angeles, I began to work in the Committee to Free Mutulu, led by his late uncle and my friend Churney. Although we fought for his freedom, Dr. Mutulu Shakur languished in prison for some thirty more years and wrestled with a life-threatening illness until he was freed in December 2022 (just six months ago) to come home to his remarkable family and fight his debilitating cancer.
Mutulu was a heroic family man, including the time he was married to my other celebrated friend, Afeni Shakur. He was a brilliant star of the revolution, a continuous fighter for justice and equality for his people. He was also a critical mentor to the youth throughout time, including to his stepson Tupac Shakur. He is still a healer and a person who was before his time in ideas and practice.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur was and is my mentor, mentee, co-strategist, healer, student, and teacher, but most of all, Dr. Mutulu Shakur was and is my iconic, beloved friend and comrade.
On November 24, 1946, an unsung woman warrior named Cleo Deborah Silvers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sadly, on Monday, August 11, 2025, Cleo passed away due to an infectious condition that resulted in multiple organ failure. She is survived by her beloved husband and close comrade, Ron Painter.
Cleo was a revolutionary in the truest sense. Like all human beings Cleo had many traits, good and bad. However, her unique positive quality that defined her character was always striving to be a critical thinker. The state of the liberation struggle was usually at the center of her thoughts.
Cleo did not allow herself to be lured into the same toxic petty discourse the police state once used to destroy the Black Panther Party and Young Lords. She was well aware that the disruptive activities against the progressive movement, such as COINTELPRO, continue to the present day.
There were hardships in Cleo’s family history. They were among the millions of African Americans that partook in the Great Migration of the 1920s-1970s. Black people were compelled to uproot in an exodus to the Northern region and West coast to escape the racist terror of the Ku Klux Klan in the Southern states.
Photos of two stages in Cleo Silver’s life.
This was a period in U.S. history when blatantly racist Jim Crow laws were enacted throughout the South, while at the same time a not-so-hidden persecutive version existed in every part of the country. Although “Whites Only” signs were not the norm in Northern states what resulted from white privilege automatically implied anti-Black restrictions.
Cleo always recalled how she witnessed as a child anti-Black racism and discrimination. A cruel example that stood vividly in her childhood memories is when Black children were not allowed at department stores to partake on lines to give “Santa Claus” their Christmas gift wish list. Cleo’s mother, Deborah Benn, vocally expressed outrage, pressuring store managers to end the racist practice.
Cleo’s resilience in personal encounters with racism and her justified contempt for this system is what molded this freedom fighter’s character. Like so many Black youths during the 1960’s, Cleo Silvers was attracted to the political militant force of the Black Power movement, specifically Malcolm X, Queen Mother Moore, Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael), and the Black Panther Party (BPP).
Sister Cleo’s history of service in the liberation struggle is unique and merits the utmost respect and admiration. Moreover, she was a hospital worker and an organizer for the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM).
As a healthcare activist Cleo co-founded the Lincoln Hospital Detox Center and became its acting director. She was a close ally and collaborator of the late Black nationalist Dr. Mutulu Shakur, who she hired for a position that required professional knowledge of acupuncture treatment for drug addiction.
Heroine addiction was at the center of concern and political critique for the Black Panther Party and Young Lords due to the influx of the deadly drug in Black and Latino communities across the country.
My portrait of Cleo Silvers. 24″ X 30″, acrylic paint on canvas.
Before joining the YLP, Cleo was a member of the Black Panther Party first in Harlem and then in the Bronx branch. Due to the fraternal relationship between the BPP and YLP, it allowed members of both entities to transfer to the other organization on request. Cleo did precisely that.
Cleo’s decision to join the YLP came about when an unfortunate situation was about to occur which had a chilling effect on the entire revolutionary movement in this country. A factional split was developing headed by Eldridge Cleaver on one side and Huey P. Newton on the other. The FBI’s Operation COINTELPRO succeeded in manipulating internal differences to the point of open antagonisms.
Cleo was among African American members in the YLP who demonstrated their internationalist and revolutionary spirit, when they joined a predominant Puerto Rican entity. Cleo’s experiences in these revolutionary organizations defined her political perspective on the need to forge a united front to defeat capitalism.
THE YLP LINCOLN HOSPITAL TAKEOVER
In the early morning hours of July 14th, 1970, the YLP takeover of Lincoln Hospital angered top government officials. The Young Lords’ unexpected bold action managed to expose to the world the criminal practices of the medical industrial complex.
In military fashion, about one hundred Young Lords stormed out of a U-HAUL truck that came to a full stop on Lincoln Hospital’s sallyport, on Bruckner Boulevard in the Black and Brown community of the South Bronx. Within minutes Young Lords secured every entrance and window in the hospital to prevent the police from entering the facility when they arrived.
Cleo Silvers sitting at the far left in a press conference during the Young Lords takeover of Lincoln Hospital.
Once it became known to news media outlets what occurred at Lincoln Hospital then NYC Mayor John Lindsay sounded the alarm of attacks against the Young Lords. The rulers went into crisis mode due to the political embarrassment they faced. The YLP exposed the implicit policy for racketeering corporate profits using supposed “healthcare” for poor people who endure diseases that stem from social oppression.
Thanks to Cleo’s political skillfulness and familiarity with Lincoln Hospital’s physical structure, she was one of the key strategists of the takeover. When the Young Lords leadership decided to end the occupation with an organized retreat it was Cleo who is credited for proposing that the plan to withdraw include waiting for the shift change of hospital workers and, using the available supply of attire worn by medical staff to inconspicuously bypass the anxious riot police.
Since the events of the 1960’s-70’s mass upsurge, Sister Cleo continued to stay active and outspoken about the inadequacies in healthcare for Black and Brown people. In addition, she played a role in efforts demanding the freedom of political prisoners, specifically, captive Black Panthers like Mumia Abu-Jamal, the late Russell Maroon Shoatz, and the late Dr. Mutulu Shakur.
Along with Iris Morales, Cleo was among the sisters who created the Woman’s Caucus. This organ of the YLP structure empowered the females of the organization and helped the men understand many complex theoretical questions relevant to the liberation struggle, such was the interlocked relationship between patriarchy and white supremacy.
The legacy of this warrior woman is filled with many examples of resilience and valor, which impacted many young people inside and outside of the YLP. No matter the activity, in the internal political education discussions or community organizing, Cleo always had a presence.
Cleo Silvers proud and happy to receive an honorary doctorate from Lehman College in 2022.
Cleo’s knowledge of one of capitalism’s most vile features, the medical industrial complex earned her recognition from various mainstream circles, including UCLA and the City University of New York/Lehman College where she received in 2022 an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.
There was an aspect of her personal life Cleo was open about, her love and devotion to her husband and close comrade, Ron Pointer. As her medical condition became more debilitating Ron’s constant care and devotion supported Cleo until she transitioned. As Cleo often stated “Without Ron there would be no Cleo.”
Cleo Silvers and Ron Painter, on their wedding day, May 2, 2016.
This sister was among several Young Lords, men and women alike, who played a significant role in my formative political development, for which I am eternally grateful. Cleo has undoubtedly secured a special place in the archives of the class struggle along with Black and Puerto Rican revolutionary history.
Here is a canvas portrait I recently painted of an unsung woman warrior whom I hold very dear in my heart, Dr. Martha Duarte Arguello. Martha was among those who contributed to my personal and political development during our mutual experience as members of the Young Lords Party.
Portrait of a Warrior Woman, my dear sister Martha. On the right, is when I completed the painting.
As a young child, Martha was reared in a Dominican family that upheld revolutionary traditions and resisted the fascistic reign of Rafael Trujillo. Her revolutionary zeal and internationalist spirit allowed her to understand the meaning of solidarity to defeat a common oppressor.
It is without a doubt that this sister’s experiences in the Dominican struggle made a contributing mark on the history of the Young Lords. Martha was among other Dominican sisters and brothers who were in the ranks of the Young Lords, along with other Latinx and African American members.
Martha was both exemplary and selfless on many levels. She embraced the idea of organizing and politicizing the common people on the street as well as defending them from the racist police.
Her stern disposition and commitment to the struggle for human emancipation became apparent to many Young Lords. As a result, Martha’s leadership traits shattered many sexist myths and allowed her to become the first woman in the Defense Ministry – the special component in YLP’s structure responsible for the organization’s security.
Martha was also one of the founders of the Young Lords Women’s Caucus, which became famous for introducing to the general membership new and revolutionary concepts including the connections between patriarchy and racist oppression. In many ways, the Women’s Caucus became the YLP’s political backbone and emotional fire.
This portrait is 20” X 24”, acrylic paint on canvas. It was inspired by my respect and affection for Dr. Martha Duarte Arguello. For someone who joined a predominantly Puerto Rican organization while being of another nationality, proved her internationalist convictions and what was meant to be a Young Lord.
carlitoboricua 