Catalog ID:
ORH-006-0021
Creator:
Matos, Willie and Gonzales, Carolyn
Archives Field 21:
AUDIO Click to Play
Scope & Content:
Interview with Wilfredo "Willie" Matos and Carolyn Gonzales
Conducted in daughter Carolyn Gonzalez's home, the late Willie Matos and Carolyn sat down for this joint oral history interview on May 13, 2024. In this recording, Willie and Carolyn shared with me memories of Willie's activism as leader of Bridgeport's chapter (and coincidentally, Connecticut's only chapter) of the Young Lords in the early 1970s.
Willie was born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, in Barrio Sabana Seca, in 1940. He moved to Bridgeport with his family in 1951 when his father, a manual laborer, and his mother, a bilingual typist from Camuy, sought better employment opportunities. They settled in the South End, where Willie attended the Roosevelt School, and a few years later, Central High School. Willie recalled a change in the perceptions of Puerto Ricans around 1954, marked by the influx of workers and World War II and Korean War veterans, as well as a Puerto Rican nationalist shooting of members of Congress in March 1954. The nationalist shooting was a particularly important moment for Willie's political life: classmates and teachers alike no longer regarded Willie as an exotic newcomer, but now as someone suspicious.
After discussing a brief episode in which Willie moved to Los Angeles, he recalled getting married, having a daughter, and becoming more involved in the social wellbeing of Puerto Ricans and working class residents of Bridgeport. He talked about his transition from nonprofit social engagement to militant political action, eventually establishing Bridgeport's Young Lords chapter around 1970.
Specifically, Willie recalled an incident on May 20, 1971, which he referred to as a "rebellion" rather than a riot, because in his words, "riots don't necessarily have any conscious…objective behind them…whereas a rebellion is something that people have thought about… [and] the people that take part in it mainly are people who are addressing social concerns in an organized fashion."
Willie had successfully mobilized the 110 Puerto Rican tenants of 381-91 East Main Street in a four-month rent strike. The apartment building's boiler, which had been malfunctioning for years, stopped working in the dead of winter, leaving tenants without heat and hot water for five days over the Christmas holidays. Tenants demanded the complete replacement of the boiler, as well as monthly extermination services, three times-weekly garbage pickup, and other improvements to the building's overall maintenance.[1] When landlords William Miko and Howard Steinhardt refused to comply, tenants paid just half of their $110 rent from mid-January through early May.
While holding a rally about the rent strike in front of the building, Willie was arrested by the police, who then broke up the rally based on rumors of an invasion of "1,000 armed Young Lords" from New York. Abe and Robert Katz, acting on behalf of the landlords, ransacked Willie's office at 381 East Main St. shortly thereafter, while community members firebombed a cop car, a plumbing company, and a school in retaliation for Willie's arrest and the ensuing police brutality.[2] For Willie, the rebellion's ultimate success laid in what is provided symbolically for the Puerto Ricans of Bridgeport. "Before the Young Lords," Willie explained. "Puerto Ricans used to walk like this [drops head downward]…they [would] answer with their head bowed. After the rebellion, they walked like this [moves his head upward to meet my eye level]. With pride. Yeah, I'm not afraid."
Carolyn crucially shared her perspective of her father's activism, as well as her own experiences as a second generation Puerto Rican growing up in Bridgeport. For example, her father enrolled her in Bridgeport's newly instituted bilingual program, insisting she learn and retain Spanish, which she did for roughly two years of schooling. Carolyn shared her memories of the 1971 rebellion - being just five years old at the time, when her father was being arrested, she was whisked away to safety by Sister Mary Xavier, a nun sympathetic to the causes of the Black Panthers and Young Lords of Bridgeport. She also shared the impact her father's activism had in shaping her own social engagement in Bridgeport upon graduating college, establishing a nonprofit in 2003 with fellow Puerto Ricans with a non-political bent to avoid the political persecution her father endured as a Young Lord.
The oral history interview ends with reflections on Carolyn's own social engagement, as well as Willie's decision to transition to other forms of activism (including, which he noted with some irony, defending a police officer as part of the Human Rights Commission, who'd been discriminated against as a Black man). The two of them emphasized the importance of centering community in one's political engagement. Carolyn implored, "After all is said and done, like, the reason you're doing this isn't for you, isn't for…your moment. It's for the people." Willie added, "You gotta love the people. You have to love…what you're doing and who you're doing it for."
________________________________________
[1] "Tenants Plan Rent Strike Over Repairs," Bridgeport Post, January 6, 1971.
[2] "East Side Area Calm Again After 4 Hours of Violence," Bridgeport Post, May 21, 1971.
________________________________________
Conducted in daughter Carolyn Gonzalez's home, the late Willie Matos and Carolyn sat down for this joint oral history interview on May 13, 2024. In this recording, Willie and Carolyn shared with me memories of Willie's activism as leader of Bridgeport's chapter (and coincidentally, Connecticut's only chapter) of the Young Lords in the early 1970s.
Willie was born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, in Barrio Sabana Seca, in 1940. He moved to Bridgeport with his family in 1951 when his father, a manual laborer, and his mother, a bilingual typist from Camuy, sought better employment opportunities. They settled in the South End, where Willie attended the Roosevelt School, and a few years later, Central High School. Willie recalled a change in the perceptions of Puerto Ricans around 1954, marked by the influx of workers and World War II and Korean War veterans, as well as a Puerto Rican nationalist shooting of members of Congress in March 1954. The nationalist shooting was a particularly important moment for Willie's political life: classmates and teachers alike no longer regarded Willie as an exotic newcomer, but now as someone suspicious.
After discussing a brief episode in which Willie moved to Los Angeles, he recalled getting married, having a daughter, and becoming more involved in the social wellbeing of Puerto Ricans and working class residents of Bridgeport. He talked about his transition from nonprofit social engagement to militant political action, eventually establishing Bridgeport's Young Lords chapter around 1970.
Specifically, Willie recalled an incident on May 20, 1971, which he referred to as a "rebellion" rather than a riot, because in his words, "riots don't necessarily have any conscious…objective behind them…whereas a rebellion is something that people have thought about… [and] the people that take part in it mainly are people who are addressing social concerns in an organized fashion."
Willie had successfully mobilized the 110 Puerto Rican tenants of 381-91 East Main Street in a four-month rent strike. The apartment building's boiler, which had been malfunctioning for years, stopped working in the dead of winter, leaving tenants without heat and hot water for five days over the Christmas holidays. Tenants demanded the complete replacement of the boiler, as well as monthly extermination services, three times-weekly garbage pickup, and other improvements to the building's overall maintenance.[1] When landlords William Miko and Howard Steinhardt refused to comply, tenants paid just half of their $110 rent from mid-January through early May.
While holding a rally about the rent strike in front of the building, Willie was arrested by the police, who then broke up the rally based on rumors of an invasion of "1,000 armed Young Lords" from New York. Abe and Robert Katz, acting on behalf of the landlords, ransacked Willie's office at 381 East Main St. shortly thereafter, while community members firebombed a cop car, a plumbing company, and a school in retaliation for Willie's arrest and the ensuing police brutality.[2] For Willie, the rebellion's ultimate success laid in what is provided symbolically for the Puerto Ricans of Bridgeport. "Before the Young Lords," Willie explained. "Puerto Ricans used to walk like this [drops head downward]…they [would] answer with their head bowed. After the rebellion, they walked like this [moves his head upward to meet my eye level]. With pride. Yeah, I'm not afraid."
Carolyn crucially shared her perspective of her father's activism, as well as her own experiences as a second generation Puerto Rican growing up in Bridgeport. For example, her father enrolled her in Bridgeport's newly instituted bilingual program, insisting she learn and retain Spanish, which she did for roughly two years of schooling. Carolyn shared her memories of the 1971 rebellion - being just five years old at the time, when her father was being arrested, she was whisked away to safety by Sister Mary Xavier, a nun sympathetic to the causes of the Black Panthers and Young Lords of Bridgeport. She also shared the impact her father's activism had in shaping her own social engagement in Bridgeport upon graduating college, establishing a nonprofit in 2003 with fellow Puerto Ricans with a non-political bent to avoid the political persecution her father endured as a Young Lord.
The oral history interview ends with reflections on Carolyn's own social engagement, as well as Willie's decision to transition to other forms of activism (including, which he noted with some irony, defending a police officer as part of the Human Rights Commission, who'd been discriminated against as a Black man). The two of them emphasized the importance of centering community in one's political engagement. Carolyn implored, "After all is said and done, like, the reason you're doing this isn't for you, isn't for…your moment. It's for the people." Willie added, "You gotta love the people. You have to love…what you're doing and who you're doing it for."
________________________________________
[1] "Tenants Plan Rent Strike Over Repairs," Bridgeport Post, January 6, 1971.
[2] "East Side Area Calm Again After 4 Hours of Violence," Bridgeport Post, May 21, 1971.
________________________________________
Interviewer:
Rivera, Amanda
Dates of Creation:
2024-05-18
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