José Jiménez (activist)

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José Jiménez (August 8, 1948 – January 10, 2025), nicknamed Cha Cha, was a Puerto Rican political activist and the founder of the Young Lords, a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. Started on September 23, 1968, it was most active in the late 1960s and 1970s. Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Jiménez was taken as an infant by his mother to the United States in 1949. They lived for a time with his father near Boston, Massachusetts, but within two years the family moved to Chicago to join relatives. As a youth, he ran with a street gang, but made a turn-around in 1968 after being influenced by civil rights activists at the time like Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party and devoted himself to reviving the Young Lords to work on issues of human rights, beginning in Chicago. Issues included redlining, displacement of the poor, welfare rights and dignity, police relations, and community needs. In addition to establishing breakfast, education and health programs...

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