Down_These_Mean_Streets_By_Piri_Thomas

Down These Mean Streets By Piri Thomas “Down these Mean Streets” is a book about a young man (Piri Thomas) who was born in1928 and grew up in an impoverished part of Harlem called Spanish Harlem or the Barrio (as he calls it). It deals with his struggles with his family, friends, drugs, and the law. Throughout the book Piri deals with many racial issues within society and the way society treats him because of his ethnicity. As a young boy he grew up in a predominantly Spanish area of Harlem. Piri was generally ignorant of racism and never really experienced any kind of ethnic hatred. Then when he was in middle school his family and he moved to a Italian area of Harlem. This is when he first recognized that people did not like him because of his Hispanica background. A group of Italian boys started to harass him as he walked home from school saying racial slurs like “spic” and asking if he had any senoritas for sisters. They asked him where he was born and Piri told them Harlem Hospital. One of the Italian boys said. “I knew he was a nigger all the colored people are born piri, one, because, black, italian, harlem, out, friends, about, people, started, spanish, south, racial, puerto, friend, even, back, said, man, fight, boys, area, after, saying, moved, felt, white, while, way, time, school, rican, home, hatred