Members of the New Era Young Lords (NEYL), Young Lords veterans, and local volunteers gathered at the historic People’s Church in East Harlem on Sept. 19 to launch a petition drive for honorary street namings for Dr. Johanna Fernández and Denise Oliver-Vélez.
Organizers spoke with residents near 111th Street and Lexington Avenue and near 106th Street and Lexington Avenue about Fernández and Oliver-Vélez’s contributions. They said the campaign honors two women who helped shape New York’s Puerto Rican community, East Harlem’s political life, and wider movements for Black and Latino liberation.
“We’re collecting signatures for two iconic figures,” explained NEYL National Chairman Suby Toro. “For us, this is very important to honor both those women, especially during these times.”
Toro and fellow NEYL organizer Miguel Machado explained they were trying to collect at least 100 qualifying signatures for each proposed street naming from residents living within a two block radius of the designated streets.
“We were able to mobilize about 20 volunteers today,” Machado noted — these were people who came out to join the signature collecting effort. By the end of the afternoon, organizers estimated they had gathered roughly half the signatures needed for each petition. Next, they explained, they have to verify the addresses of each signer, continue gathering signatures, and submit completed petition packages before city officials and Community Board 11 can formally consider the proposals.
The New Era Young Lords, which formed in 2020, chose to initiate this signature petition campaign from The People’s Church building, because it’s the church the Young Lords famously occupied in 1969. At the time, the Young Lords group turned the church into a center for community programs, political education, and organizing.
Today’s New Era Young Lords now operate from the same site and a celebration of the lives of Johanna Fernández and other recently passed female members of the Young Lords — like Minerva Solla, Connie Cruz, Cleo Silvers, and Denise Oliver-Vélez — will be held at The People’s Church on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Dr. Johanna Fernández, who died July 30 after a battle with non-small-cell lung cancer, spent decades documenting and preserving the history of the Young Lords and other liberation movements. The Baruch College and CUNY Graduate Center historian authored “The Young Lords: A Radical History,” recovered long-lost NYPD surveillance files through a landmark legal challenge, and helped create major exhibitions documenting Latino freedom struggles.
“She was the individual who I feel preserved the history and brought it back from the past to the future, giving a lot of Puerto Ricans a sense of identity,” Toro said.
Machado, who was one of Fernández’s former students at Baruch, described her influence on younger generations of organizers and journalists: “She challenged me to rethink history, retell history,” Machado said. “She was an incredible, incredible soldier for activism and the revolution.”
Oliver-Vélez, who died July 15, was one of the most influential women in the Young Lords and later became a member of the Black Panther Party. Her decades of activism connected struggles around Puerto Rican self-determination, racial justice, gender equality, and community empowerment.
While collecting signatures, organizers found that many longtime residents already knew of her work. “A few people today actually knew of Denise Oliver-Vélez and her work,” Machado said. “Once people do stop and you have their ear, it was actually really easy to get their signatures.”
Young Lords Co-founder and former Security Chief Mickey Melendez told the AmNews the proposed street renamings would introduce future generations to the women who helped transform their communities.
“This is a way for young people to know who these incredible women were when they walk by East Harlem and see their names and wonder who Johanna Fernández and Denise Oliver were,” Melendez said. “When they find out, they will see their contributions to our communities.”
The street renaming campaign is also part of a response to rapid neighborhood change and displacement. While East Harlem continues to experience gentrification, organizers insist that the community’s history remains alive.
“Yes, gentrification is real, yes, displacement is real, but we’re still here,” Machado asserted.
The New Era Young Lords plan to continue canvassing until they secure enough verified signatures to move proposals for both street renamings through the city’s review process. If successful, the street namings would create lasting public reminders, Melendez noted, that neither woman has been forgotten and never will be.
