Prominent Puerto Rican civil rights leader José “Cha Cha” Jiménez dies at 76 José “Cha Cha” Jiménez, a prominent civil rights and liberation movement figure and founder of the Young Lords in Chicago and co-founder of the Rainbow Coalition has died.
Jiménez in the 1960s founded the Young Lords as a street gang to counter the growing hostility toward the Puerto Rican community in Lincoln Park, at the time one of the most impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago.
“Cha Cha became one of the most pivotal figures in civil rights and liberation movements,” his family said in a statement on social media.
According to Jiménez’s obituary from Pietryka Funeral Home., many youth who joined the Young Lords were inspired by his passion, leadership and understanding of what it meant to fight for the people.
The Young Lords also established free programs for breakfast, education, health care and community spaces to organize to demand change.
