Claudia León, Class of 2023, American Studies and Government

In 1980, photographer Joe Conzo Jr. captured this picture of Richie Pérez, Donna Caballero, and an unnamed man leading a press conference that was one of the first demonstrations against the making of the film Fort Apache led by the Committee Against Fort Apache (CAFA), a coalition of politically active community organizations. CAFA mainly took issue with the film’s portrayal of Black and Puerto Rican people as caricatures of evil— pimps, prostitutes, junkies, murderers, and drug dealers— with no regard for the structural conditions that necessitate crime as a means of survival.

While their lawsuit to stop filming was immediately disregarded, CAFA was able to unify Black and Puerto Rican communities and educate them on the effects of media stereotyping. Their grassroots educational efforts succeeded in mobilizing community members and giving them the knowledge to critically analyze media racism. They also contributed to the unity of Latinx, Black, Asian, and white activists for social change. This cross-racial and ethnic solidarity laid the groundwork for future activists.

Pérez and Caballero, pictured above, were also members of the Young Lords Party, a pragmatic yet radical group of Puerto Ricans who aimed to contextualize the fight for neighborhood empowerment as part of a larger struggle for the collective liberation of colonized people. The Young Lords tapped into the angers and anxieties of NYC’s Latinx population in order to serve their neighborhoods and build a sense of community, offering them everything from street clean-ups to drug addiction care to political education, at no cost. Theirs and CAFA’s solidarity-building work gave regular folks the tools to advocate for themselves and their communities.

Source

Richie Pérez and Donna Caballero at a press conference regarding the film “Fort Apache, The Bronx,” Joe Conzo, Jr., 1980. Joe Conzo Jr. Archive, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, ID#JC_06623.

https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:2861638

Bibliography

Beth Harpaz, “The Young Lords: The Puerto Rican Activists Who Shook Up NYC,” SUM City University of New York, February 6, 2020, https://sum.cuny.edu/young-lords-puerto-rican-activists-shook-up-nyc/.

Joel Rose, “On Location: ‘Fort Apache,’A War Zone In The Bronx,” NPR, August 24, 2011, https://www.npr.org/2011/08/24/139916927/on-location-fort-apache-a-war-zone-in-the-bronx.

“Suit Against ‘Fort Apache’ Dismissed by State Court,” New York Times (New York, NY), Apr. 22, 1980, https://search.proquest.com/news/docview/121277657/fulltextPDF/617CB0F027364167PQ/1?accountid= 10267.

Richie Pérez, “Committee Against Fort Apache: The Bronx Mobilizes Against Multinational Media,” 1985, https://www.mediajusticehistoryproject.org/archives/82.