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Young Lords founder and revolutionary José “Cha Cha” Jiménez passed away on January 10, 2025. He was 76 years old. Read the following letters of remembrance from Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr., son of the late Black Panther Party revolutionary, and Nicholas Velez, an actor who played Jiménez in the 2021 film, Judas and the Black Messiah.
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I am Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr. of the Black Panther Party Cubs. I am here to say long live our fallen comrade, Chairman José “Cha Cha” Jiménez!
Chairman Cha Cha is a comrade who, alongside my predecessors the late Chairman Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party, has engaged the battlefield in the spirit of protracted struggle. Chairman Cha Cha was committed to this work. It wasn’t simply a phase in his life. It wasn’t something that was chic. He had a love for liberation, and fought hard under contested conditions.
To take that revolutionary ride with the Rainbow Coalition, at a time and place when it was not safe to do so; to get armed with political education that was equipped to handle the coldness of a segregated Chicago and its Machine politics, the entire world watched in awe.
Chairman Cha Cha answered the call to serve. It was his duty. The late Chairman Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party loved Chairman Cha Cha Jiménez of the Young Lords! And I loved Chairman Cha Cha, too.
In the spirit of protracted struggle, the struggle continues!
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Saludos. My name is Nicholas Velez and I had the honor to play “Cha Cha” in the film Judas and the Black Messiah. Before I begin, I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to Mr. Jiménez’s family, friends, and colleagues. Though I only spent a few hours with him, those hours were enough to understand the kind of man he was and it deeply impacted the way I approach my work.
In 2019 when I got the call to play Cha Cha, I admittedly didn’t know much about the Young Lords. Thankfully I was gifted a book from one of my aunts detailing his work, called We Took the Streets by Miguel Melendez. I read it and did more in depth research. Despite that, I was cast in the film and will forever be grateful for the opportunity. During the time before we filmed, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in a deep study of Mr. Jiménez: his vision and his purpose. In this journey I came to realize my ignorance and began to understand the importance and purpose of the anti-colonial movements in Puerto Rico as well as the challenges that our communities faced in the United States.
Mr. Jiménez rose to those challenges as few people have been able to in this country. During one day of shooting, to my complete surprise, I was informed that Mr. Jiménez was visiting the set. At first I was quite nervous with the prospect of meeting the man who I studied and researched but those feelings were immediately eclipsed by the warmth, generosity and graciousness that he showed me. Always cognizant and observant, Mr. Jiménez identified a small erroneous detail in the costume I was wearing and quickly, but respectfully, raised the objection so it could be fixed. The error? A pin of the Puerto Rican flag I was wearing had the wrong shade of blue; it was the dark blue imposed by the American colonizers in Puerto Rico to mimic the blue of the American flag instead of the legitimate light blue designed in 1895 and adopted by the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in NYC to symbolize solidarity with our Cuban brothers and sisters.
Through this act, I got a glimpse of the observant, candid and detail-oriented personality Mr. Jiménez displayed as a leader in Chicago. In that moment, I truly understood what is meant by the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s quote, “Men do not shape destiny; destiny produces the man for the hour.” Mr. Jiménez undoubtedly was a man shaped by, and who rose to, the needs of his time. Mr. Jiménez was a true man for the hour.
On this sad day, I again offer my condolences to Mr. Jiménez’s friends, family and colleagues. I can only hope that my work has made an impact on the preservation of this monumental figure who can only be understood as a product of history. A man who rose up to the challenges of his time and set a new example for us all to follow. He will never be forgotten. Thank you for the opportunity to write this letter about him.
