Journalists From The United States

"Slavery is the most disgusting reality in the history of Puerto Rico. From slavery, from the riches of free labor for centuries by African men and women, comes the money of what is left of the old rich families of Puerto Rico."

"if we don't hurry and we don't get ourselves disciplined enough and we don't talk and we get out there among the masses of people, the forces of fascism will organize more."

"The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico was the first party to raise Guanica, to protest the invasion of the gringos as should be. In these as in many of the struggles for freedom of our people, the Nationalist Party was at the vanguard of its time. The Young Lords Party follows the example of Don Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party and declares that for us Guanica is a day of national protest, and will be a day of national protest until we drive the Puerto Rican lombrices like ferre, the Cuban gusanos, and yankee amerikkkans into the sea."

"When we established the Party on the island, we were expecting to enter the struggle here in an atmosphere of comrades. Instead we found the rejection of the same independentistas who were supposedly companeros and companeras."

"it's time that people stop looking for speakers, for very prepared leaders-lawyers, professors, doctors, whatever. It's time that the poor look for [sic] ourselves as leaders. It's time that the universities take their place behind the poor in this struggle."

"That's what imperialism is all about when one country controls the economic life of another country."

"while the capitalists were fighting, 200 million people turned to socialism of the Soviet Union. After the second World War, when the fascists fought a capitalist society, 600 million people turned to socialism in China. So we think maybe after the third world war, the whole world might turn into socialism."

"Check out Hitler, what did Hitler say to the German people in the middle of depression? What did he say were the causes of the problem in German? He said it was the Jews, he said it was the communists, and he said it was the people who sold out in the World War 1. Those were the three forces responsible for the downfall of Germany. What are Nixon and the other neo-fascists saying nowadays? What is the cause of the crisis that we have in our country and the United States and Puerto Rico and Hawaii? What are the causes? Well, it's the communists, it's the Third World people instead of the Jews this time, and it's the peace people. Same lines. Fascism always has the same lines. Fascism is a dictatorship, a capitalistic dictatorship. When things fall apart they started a dictatorship."

"we look hopefully towards the future because we see that over the last century, even though in your schools and in your textbooks, people make preludes that Marxism and ideals of socialism have been bankrupt, the reality is that all around the world, the masses of people have turned to socialism over the last century."

"we wanna build a scientific revolution. One that involves the masses of the people and doesn't permit the possibility of other oppressors rising up again as they did in the Soviet Union; as they have in all the Eastern supposedly socialist countries to oppress the people once again."

"This happens under capitalism all the time, every thirty years they have a depression, or every twenty years. The system falls apart. The system's not made for working people, it's made for the rich. And so, what we have to do is transform the system, change it and take society to a higher level."

"We in the Young Lords Party also follow the teachings of Don Pedro. We know that since the amerikkkan invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, the united states has controlled the press, radio, television. They control the schools. Every day, our people are bombarded with more and more amerikkkan propaganda. More than 25,000 amerikkkan troops occupy our territory. With those forces of repression, it is impossible to talk of free elections. As the National Liberation Front of Vietnam says-first, the amerikkkans should get out, then we will be able to have free elections."

"Nixon's a fool and he comes out with this stuff so heavily. What happens? China was admitted to the United Nations. And what happens? Just because some delegates clapped and cheered in the United Nations, Nixon comes out with a statement and he says that every one of those countries who clapped and cheered, we're gonna cut off your economic aid. That's what he said, I read that, check it out. I mean, he's so blatant with this stuff. That's what makes the United States such a hated country in the world. Wherever you go among the people of the world, the United States government is hated. It's that kind of behavior that's caused so much misery and oppression in the world."

"we study history and we check out that very rarely have people been ever able to achieve anything in social changes unless they were capable of defending themselves and backing it up. Because if we were able to go into Nelson Rockefeller's office and I was able to go in and say, "Nelson, you and your father and your grandfather have been seized, have been robbing from working people for years. How about redistributing your wealth?" And if Rockefeller said "Juan you are right. I have been a thief and a crook and Standard Oil has been oppressing the people to work for years. Take it back, redistribute it among the people." There will be no need for war; there will be no need for violence. But the capitalists won't do that; they will defend themselves; they will defend their right to maintain that oppression and that exploitation."

"we see, essentially, the three ingredients necessary for the liberation of Puerto Rico. We see the necessity for a strong, disciplined, scientific party. We see the need for mass revolutionary movement of the people, and we see the need for a people's army to defend that party and that mass movement. Those are the three ingredients for Puerto Rican liberation and that's what we're trying to build."

"Every one of the fifty states was named after a native American people that was wiped out in that particular area-Illinois, California, Nebraska, conquered lands. Every bit of that territory is conquered land."

"The factories belong to those who work them; the work places belong to those who work them. That's our slogan, that's how we're going to build a revolutionary workers' movement."

"We are building a political party to involve our people in political activities. Elections don't involve you in political activity. Like the government treats you like fool. They herd you into voting booths once every four years to elect one or another oppressor. And they tell you that is democracy. And every four years you elect one slate of lying politicians who came back the next four years to try to explain to you why they couldn't succeed the last four years and promise you they are going to succeed in the next four years if you'll vote for them. So the people play their game every four years. We say that the way people should be involved, the oppressed people should be involved in the political problem is on a constant basis-running the society, not voting for oppressors to run it for them."

"Our position is that it is impossible to have [free] elections in Puerto Rico. You have 50,000 American troops who have never left since 1898. You have all the radio, t.v., and press controlled by American companies. So how is it possible to have a free election inside Puerto Rico? We maintain that we are for free election. We're for free election once the Americans are out of Puerto Rico. It's the same position that the Vietnamese people have, get out and then we will have our election to decide what our future is going to be."

"When the Indochina war started, the United States was undoubtedly the leading power in the world. Now that the Indochinese war is ended, the United States has been dismantled as a world power. It has been unmasked. It has been shown how weak it is as a world power. It has been overextended."

"we feel that we don't want abstract equality rights, we want material equality. That means the redistribution of the wealth in this society. And that means that people like Nelson Rockefeller and Henry Ford or the Bishop Estate or Dillingham or whatever, they have to redistribute the wealth that they have robbed from the poor working people of the world. I mean, they made if off our backs. Henry Ford, he made the first Model T. After that, who made all the other cars. So it wasn't him, it was the people who work in the automobile factories, who sweat in 100 degree temperatures; who risk industrial accidents for a lousy $150 a week. And he makes millions every year. And he ain't produced shit. I mean, he just sits behind his desk and writes papers, either that or signs checks. That's the reality of the way society functions. And what we say, we do want a redistribution of that wealth-spread it among the people it's been robbed from. Return it to the people it belongs to."

"Education is the first step in revolution. And armed self-defense is the first step of education for armed revolution."

"Freedom is taken, not given. That is why we organize."

"This government, instead of protecting us, kills us. We have no choice at this time, but to pick up those guns and say to all of our nation-ARM YOURSELVES TO DEFEND YOURSELVES. We were not born violent. We do not enjoy killing. We just want peace and freedom. But our daily lives are violent. This country is violent. The enemy leaves us no choice. Either we sit by, saying "ay bendito" as our nation dies, or we stand up, organize, prepare for the revolution we know is coming."

"For almost two years the YOUNG LORDS PARTY has been fighting all the institutions that oppress us-garbage conditions, hospital care, police brutality, the churches not serving the poor. And every time we marched, every time we seized a building, every time we sat in, nothing changed. Anthony Imperiale still runs Newark with a fascist fist. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Bozo Rizzo attacks the Puerto Rican and Black community at will. Lincoln Hospital continues to butcher our people with indecent healthcare. The garbage remains in our Brownsvilles, Lower East Sides, Kannecot Copper Company is preparing to steal more of our land and resources through its copper mining in Utuado. Ramey Air Force Base with its nuclear weapons and B-52's is destroying our town of Aguadilla. Culebra and Vieques are disappearing under a Navy bombing. We fight, we protest, we demonstrate. Nothing changes."

"With the division in our nation between the rich who have millions to launch electoral campaigns, and the poor who hardly have enough money to live decently, we can't talk about free elections representative of the interests of the majority of the people."

"the majority of the American people don't even know what the United States government and the businessmen do."

"Hatred of oppression drives us."

"that's our goal, national liberation of Puerto Rico and self-determination for Puerto Ricans inside the United States."

"In the true spirit of the workingmen’s press of the 1830s, the muckrakers of the early 1900s, the revolutionary press of the 1970s, we have sought to do our part to keep alive dissident alternative news and information and analysis, grounded in facts and research, and in the service of social progress...as one advanced capitalist country after another faces the resurgence of right-wing, anti-immigrant and neofascist movements, we must nurture and build progressive alliances at the city and local level, not despair or lose hope. And those of us who are journalists must keep reporting the facts, exposing the injustices, drawing the lessons of history and speaking truth to power."

"The Young Lords Organization is a revolutionary political party fighting for the liberation of Puerto Ricans and all oppressed people. We are the answer to the 400 year need of Latinos for a political party to lead our struggle for liberation. From the first invasion of Borinquen by christopher columbus in November 1493, our people have been resisting the foot on their back. The Tainos fought the Spanish adventurers and money-hungry pirates. The people of the Yoruba Nation, kidnapped from their African homeland, resisted the Spanish slave traders, and consistently rebelled for their freedom."

"The biggest traitor in Puerto Rican history is this lackey, Luis Munoz Marin, who shipped our people by the hundreds of thousands to New York because he could not provide jobs for them; who taught our people to be white middle class americanos, when they were poor, oppressed boricuas; who destroyed the jibaro with operation bootstrap, moving thousands off the land into the slums of San Juan, and Ponce, and let all our money go to u.s. capitalists. He was the apostle of non-violence for profit."

"For the past few years, I’ve sought to chronicle one of the truly epic injustices of our time...This epic injustice is the complete takeover and reengineering of the modern American metropolis by our nation’s wealthiest sectors -— the seizure of public parks, public schools and public lands, largely through the use of land use and zoning policies and executive tax breaks, so that the largely black and brown and Asian populations of those cities, along with the officials they elect, get to have only the most minimal say over a city’s most precious resources: the public commons...Who will stand up against this? Who will say this is the opposite of a democratic society? Who will defend those who have no power? Where are the leaders who will not simply talk about change, but actually fight for it?"

"Revolution is the most serious of jobs. It is not an ego-trip or a party. When the people join in revolutionary war, they do so because they have been convinced by both actual conditions and political education that there is no other way out, that their lives and those of their family, are threatened."

"Fidel Castro had trust in the people and their power, when united and organized, to change Cuba."

"Revolution is a complete change, an overturning of dead soil, a new way of life, with new government, new laws."

"Our people have experience with crooked politicians full of empty promises. In the 1940's, luis munoz marin and the slogan "Bread, Land, and Liberty." Where is the bread? Where is the land? Where is the liberty? munoz marin was for independence, until he got into office. Then he became a traitor, and a rich man."

"Inside the U.S., we see ourselves allied with all Third World people, poor white and working class people."

"Our motto is serve and protect. We serve the needs of our people and educate them that only through revolution will all our needs be met. Only through organized change will we end addiction, eliminate landlords, build new cooperative housing, provide jobs for all, assure decent health for everyone, end all wars, and achieve independence for Puerto Rico."

"As Fisher told me his story, I found myself wondering how much of what we end up doing – or being – is inevitable, and how much is choice? Dad told me that he had to accept responsibility. Most of us have met that moment where we suddenly realize the things that we once sought are now falling into a different order of priorities. Sometimes, we have to find a way to change our lives, to re-embrace that which seems to be vanishing. Other times, we simply abandon our dreams."

"“I’m in love.” “You’re not in love,” Dad replied curtly. “You’ve been smoking too much dope.”… “Yes, I am,” said the psychologist. “No,” said Dad, ever rational. “You’ve just taken all your needs and desires and projected them onto this woman.” The shrink stared toward the lights of the South American city they were approaching. “Isn’t that what love is?” he replied."

"Not long ago, there were only thought to be six thousand bird species on earth. Ten years from now, most ornithologists believe, there will be three times that many. It isn’t that new species are evolving; rather, scientists are arriving at new definitions of what species are. This advanced thinking – and birds are on the cutting edge of it – has profound implications for human understanding. Speciation is evolution. Evolution is at the heart of who we are, what life is on this planet."

"We will be presenting a lot of evidence. We have four whistleblowers. One that works for a company called Runback who said there were 300,000 ballots inserted into the system that had no chain of custody. Others who were in the voter signature verification department said tens of thousands of ballots were rejected because there were no signatures or scribbles and they somehow got thrown in and counted anyway."

"There are a plethora of problems that went down in Maricopa County and if somebody doesn’t stand up and say we cannot have our elections being run this way, then we will never have another fair election. I mean, sixty percent of the polling places on Election Day were inoperational and not functioning. When do we stop and say enough is enough? Do we have to get to 80 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent? When do we say we need to have our elections run fair?"

"Speaking to an audience of Georgia Republican activists, Lake issued a warning for anyone "coming after" Trump, saying, "I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, and Joe Biden. And the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one's for you. If you wanna get to President Trump, you're gonna have to go through me, and you're gonna have to go through 75 million Americans just like me..."And I'm gonna tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That's not a threat, that's a public service announcement.""

"We vote for a full month in Arizona with early ballots. And on election day when the Republicans showed up the election day voting was sabotaged. It is shocking what they did. The man who runs Maricopa County elections ran a PAC, he actually started a PAC, raising thousands of dollars to defeat me. And he is running our elections. And then my opponent [Katie Hobbs] oversees all the elections in Arizona. It was a conflict of interests. And not only was Katie Hobbes working with big tech to censor people, the man who runs Maricopa County elections, they were also censoring people as well online."

"Lawmakers from both parties and houses of Congress have agreed to provide about $653 million to fund Voice of America’s parent agency, rejecting President Donald Trump’s demand to defund the international broadcaster and shut it down. A bipartisan spending bill released Sunday would allocate $643 million for broadcasting from the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, plus nearly $10 million for capital improvements. That figure is down from the $867 million appropriated for the agency each of the past two years, but it’s more than four times the $153 million Trump requested that Congress provide to “support the orderly shutdown of USAGM operations.” The outlay is included in a broader bipartisan spending deal negotiated by House and Senate appropriators. The package still requires House and Senate approval before heading to Trump’s desk. “We understand the realities of the appropriations process, but I am disappointed that Congress is proposing half a billion dollars more in funding than we requested,” Kari Lake, the deputy CEO installed by Trump to shut down the agency, wrote in a statement Monday. “While reductions from prior years are a step in the right direction, USAGM can still advance President Trump’s message and share America’s story globally without wasting so much taxpayer money.”"

"The bipartisan commitment to funding USAGM reflects continued congressional support for America’s role in promoting the free flow of news and information abroad, a long-standing foundation of its soft power around the world. Congress’s funding proposal comes after a dire year for USAGM. Trump signed an executive order in March calling for the dismantlement of the government agency, which oversees Voice of America and funds nonprofit groups including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. To carry out the order, Lake placed more than 1,300 Voice of America staffers on paid administrative leave — many of whom are still not working — and halted broadcasting operations the same month. It was the first time VOA went dark since it was first set up in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda. In response, VOA’s director, Michael Abramowitz, and a separate group of USAGM staffers sued the Trump administration, arguing that its actions were illegal. Lake, a former Arizona television anchor who lost high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate in recent years, has defended the cuts and called for the agency’s eventual elimination. She told Congress in a June hearing that USAGM was “incompetent, corrupt, biased, and a threat to America’s national security and standing in the world.” She has also said USAGM is “not salvageable.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment."

"If the people Arizona elect me, I’ll make sure they never have to vote again"

"I've read your work. That, is judgment, not journalism."