Richard Perez 1944-2004.(Obituary)

Tenacious. Compassionate. Brilliant. Consistent. There are only a few adjectives that can begin to do justice to the legacy of Richard Perez. On March 27, 2004, one of the most prominent racial justice leaders of our time passed away after a battle with cancer. Born and raised in the South Bronx, "Richie" as he was called by his comrades (and even some adversaries) spent the past 40 years in service of numerous liberation struggles: Puerto Rican self-determination; community control of schools; the struggle to free political prisoners; the fight against racist representations of Latinos in the media; and the movement to end systemic police brutality and murder of young people of color in New York City. From his early days as Deputy Minister of Information of the Young Lords Party, to his founding the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights in the 1980s, to his tireless efforts at organizing the families and community members of police murder victims during the 1990s and into the present, Richie was perhaps the most consistent racial justice activist of our time.

As part of a younger generation of activists in search of mentorship from those who survived the revolution of the 1960s, I found that Richie was often the only elder statesman we could turn to. This is not to say that there was shortage of baby boomers willing to expound on mistakes made ...