- Felipe Luciano
Felipe Luciano (b. East Harlem,
New York City ,New York ,United States , c. 1948) is an American poet, community activist, journalist, media personality, and politician. He is anAfro-Latin American , of Puerto Rican heritage. [cite web
url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0133,166004,27468,5.html
title=Barrio Match: Reed vs. Luciano
author=Kareem Fahim
date=August 21 ,2001
publisher="The Village Voice "]In his youth, Luciano served time in prison for manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a Brooklyn teenager in the early 1960s. Following his release, he attended Queens College and became a member of the Original Last Poets (with
Gylan Kain andDavid Nelson ). He co-founded a New York-based Puerto Rican-American organization called theYoung Lords (also called the Young Lords Party) in the 1960s, and served as its chair. The Young Lords was in some ways agang , but its members also considered it to be a political movement.He later became a radio, television, and print journalist and won several awards for his work in these fields. Since the late 20th century he has run for various local government positions.
In 1972 Luciano appeared on the LP "Live At Sing Sing" by
Eddie Palmieri with Harlem River Drive. He read his poem "Jíbaro / My Pretty Nigger."He is also the president and founder of Luciano Productions, Inc.
The Young Lords Organization evolved out of a Puerto Rican "gang" in
Chicago led by Jose "Cha-Cha" Jimenez. The Chicago version of the Young Lords transformed themselves into a political organization after Jimenez met the late Black Panther Party ChairmanFred Hampton in 1968. The New York Young Lords "Party" was organized in the summer of 1969 by student activists who were not exclusively of Puerto Rican background but various people of color. Felipe Luciano was the first chairman of the YLP and led extremely successful survival programs in "El Barrio," The Bronx, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Bridgeport. The Chicago YLO was equally successful in their community programs and that organization functioned well into the early 1980s. Luciano and Jimenez are still community activists and involved in youth organizations in the New York and Chicago areas.Films
*1971 - "Right On!: Poetry on Film" (Original Last Poets). Directed by Herbert Danska.
*1979 - "Salsa: Latin Music in the Cities". Directed by Jeremy Marre.
*2006 - "Yo Soy Boricua! Pa' Que Tu Lo Sepas!" (I'm Boricua, Just So You Know!)References
External links
* [http://www.nyccfb.info/public/voter-guide/primary_2005/cd_profile/CD08_Luciano_472.aspx Felipe Luciano candidate profile]
* [http://www.nationalyounglords.com/ a Young Lords resource]ee also
*
The Last Poets
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
