El Grito de Sunset Park is a Puerto Rican activist organization in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

that has been described as a police

watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...

History

One of the founders of El Grito de Sunset Park is Dennis Flores, a "cop watcher" who began documenting the activities of the New York Police Department in 1995. He has been arrested more than 70 times for his activities. Flores and others founded El Grito de Sunset Park in 2002, before filming police activities was common. According to Flores, the organization was founded with a $270,000 settlement he received after the police attacked him in 2002. The group became a 501(c)(3) organization in 2015. The organization has roots in the primarily Puerto Rican neighborhood of Sunset Park in

. The name "El Grito" means "the cry" or "the call" in Spanish, and is a reference to the independence movements ''

El Grito de Lares ''El Grito de Lares'' (''The Cry of Lares''), also referred to as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, the Lares rebellion, or the Lares revolution, was the first major revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico. The revolt was planned by R ...

'' in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

and '' El Grito de Dolores'' in Mexico. El Grito de Sunset Park has ties to the

Young Lords The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO) or Young Lords Party (YLP), was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. The group aims to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-det ...

, a Puerto Rican radical group. The group's founders were influenced by social movements in Latin America; Flores witnessed organizing efforts in the Mexican city of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

in 2006 and 2007, while Jason Del Aguila, also a cofounder, worked for some time in Guatemala and El Salvador.

Activities

El Grito de Sunset Park's activities include organizing an art festival; advocating against

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

; and photographing police activities. When it began, the organization would film police responses to the

Puerto Rican Day Parade The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) takes place annually in the United States along Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The parade is held on the second Sunday in June, in hon ...

, which were sometimes violent. Eventually, the group began to film all year. In 2012, the group supported a

rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...

in Sunset Park. Hispanic music and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

poetry are commemorated in videos made by El Grito de Sunset Park. In 2015, the group began organizing its own Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival. It worked to gather and send supplies to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

in 2017. In 2014, one of the group's videos played a role in charges against a teenage resident of Sunset Park getting dropped, while in 2015 another helped get charges dropped against a Mexican street vendor accused of attacking a policeman.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grito de Sunset Park, El 2002 establishments in New York City Puerto Rican culture in New York City Political advocacy groups in the United States Organizations based in Brooklyn Sunset Park, Brooklyn 501(c)(3) organizations