Down These Mean Streets Analysis

Words: 621
Pages: 3

Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas tells the story of his childhood, how it was growing up in the barrios and continues exploring the challenges he faced into his late twenties. In this memoir we see first hand how Latinos were treated in the city by neighbouring races. Racism and discrimination towards Latinos is a theme we have seen consistently. Another big portion of this memoir focuses on military and his experience in the Criminal Justice system, topics we have deeply discussed in class. Piri Thomas’ story shows many of the discussions we have had in class. Piri Thomas grows up in Spanish Harlem surrounded by white Americans who did not welcome latinos. Piri dedicates numerous chapters towards racism he faced but one major chapter was when Piri is bullied by the Italian kids. He encounters kids around his age and he notices the uncalled for hostilities the Italians have towards him because of his skin color (Tomas, 25). These tensions boil over to fighting, much like the harlem riots. This encounter is significant because at a young age …show more content…
Being a dark skinned Puerto Rican, Piri starts to understand that he has a struggle his siblings do not face since they can pass for white. Piri begins to understand the implications of his skin color when he begins looking for work. Piri sees a ad in the newspaper, goes and believes he did well in the interview, they tell him they'll give him a call. He finds out that his friend, Louie starts on monday. Piri says, “The difference between me and louie was he was white” (Thomas, 103). Piri then noticed that every colored person who walked out of that interview did not get the job. This is an example of how discrimination affected latinos looking for work. This relates back to the issue of social and legal citizenship. Piri was born in the United States but because of his ethnic background and the color of his skin, he is not treated as