I was searching for stuff a while back and i noticed that there was a documentary/ filum about Piri Thomas. Apparently it was on Kanopy, but not at UBC. To make a long story short, thanks to Jon’s request, we are able to view the video. Here is a link if you’re interested.

https://ubc.kanopy.com/video/every-child-born-poet

In all the books we have read until now, the concept of territory appears more than once. In Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don, as well as in Americo Paredes’ With his pistol in his hand, the common territory used for the stories where the Border between Mexico and the United States. This territory comes to be a place for disputes and legal problems. The territory itself was the center of the dispute for which different countries claim their rights and possession. Embedded within the concept of territory, there is also other concepts such as the law.

For instance, the law is present in the Squatter and the Don, when the families of the San Diego county should wait until the deliberation of the judge to see if their territory and properties will be declared as of their own, or will be automatically passed to the dominion of the squatters. Similarly, in With his pistol in his hand, Gregorio Cortez is pursued and arrested by the law. However, this was more a kind of persecution organized by the rangers, using the name of the law as a justification for the resentment they felt for Cortez. It is interesting in the story of this corrido, to see how as Cortez moves to different towns and different sides of the Border, more and more sheriffs and rangers from all these places join together in order to capture Gregorio Cortez,. It was as if “the law” was bigger than the division created by the border. In both cases, we see how the law operates against innocent people in both of the stories. In other words, we see the injustices of the law, failing  to guarantee the rights of  people; and how this was intrinsically related with the territory where these people lived.

When it comes to Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets, the territory comes to be (depending on the situation) a safer or a dangerous place. For instance, El Barrio was for Piri his place of comfort and security. He felt at home living in the Spanish Harlem, that was his nest. Whenever he had to move to another side of Harlem, he felt uncomfortable and out of place. For example, when he moved to the Italian part, he was victim of a very serious accident with the other boys there. Even when he left in direction to the South, after his long trip, he came back immediately to his dear Spanish Harlem.  I find a similarity between how this Harlem neighborhood was divided, and how the borders of this mini-territory can be comparable to the border between nations that we see in the other two books. It does not mind where these borders are, the fact that they divide means that inevitably people who live in either side of the border will have different conditions and  contexts in relation to each other. In terms of the law,  I also see how it interferes negatively in Piri Thomas’ memoir. The law in this case comes to be present if we consider the extreme surveillance and policing  that these kind of neighborhoods have in New York. However, at the same time they are policed, the needs and real security of these people are forgotten and overlooked.

Note: I hope these ideas make sense. It was not easy to express the relationships I found between the different books and these concepts. There were some ideas I had in my mind, but I don’t know if I was able to express them correctly.

Pamela Chavez

I honestly really enjoyed reading this book. It is enlightening, in a way, to be exposed to the harsh realities that many individuals have gone through, and still go through today. My own life has been rather fortunate, and I have not experienced anything close to the poverty and descrimination that Piri experienced in this book. And I think it’s easy to get wrapped up in a bubble of naivety, unaware of the difficult, trying and harsh conditions of many people across the globe or even within the same city you live in (the Downtown East Side, for example). Although this aspect of poverty and drug addiction is foreign to me, I believe the struggle with identity and fitting in is a universal concept and experience. I think the historical context in this novel is not only important (during the Great Depression), but also the time point in Piri’s life; puberty is a confusing and frustrating time for just about anyone. It is a time of critical importance for biological transformations, especially in the brain, as well as understanding who you are, the social constructs and where you fit within that. Thus, it is a book of coming of age and perhaps the events that Piri experiences are dramatized fluctuations that we have all experienced to some extent – a panic of finding who we are, an obsessive need to fit in (for which personal values may be put aside), an internal dialogue that conflicts with what words we spill out into the world, self consciousness and guilt and familial struggles, the list goes on. In this sense, perhaps Piri could be envisioned as an “everyday man”; although, his story is unique. Someone said that this book was sad, but for me, it was inspirational. It takes bravery and ‘heart’ to go through everything Piri went through; to fight his drug addiction, to go through jail, to come out stronger and with more clarity than ever in his life. But it takes even more courage to relive that pain, that suffering, that turmoil, and share it with the entire world. We discussed whether Piri was a hero – perhaps he is not a hero for having had an identity crisis, a drug addiction and jailtime, but he may very well be a hero for sharing his story and trying to touch and inspire millions of lives with the pain and ultimate breakthrough he experienced.

As far as I am concerned, the chapter that caught my attention the most in this book is chapter 18 entitled “Barroom Sociology”. This chapter depicts a rhetorical confrontation between a bartender named Gerard Andrew West and Brew. This passage in the book is crucial because it formulates the difficult question of whether individual identity is something that can be chosen and defined by people themselves or is ultimately something that depends on external elements (skin color, nationality, spoken language, physical features, etc.) that are outside the will of individuals.

The character of Gerard is interesting because he embodies the ambiguity of identity, being a characteristic that should be defined by the individuals themselves, but which ultimately cannot be controlled by them. In the first part of the chapter, he defends the human right to choose one’s own identity according to his or her instincts.  He states that : “I feel that the racial Instincts hat are the strongest in a person enjoying this rich mixture are the ones that -uh- should be followed”. Even more interestingly, in defining his own identity, Gerard emphasizes cultural affinity rather than nationality or ethnic or racial elements. For example, he says: “I feel sort of spanish-ish. I have always had a great admiration for Spanish culture and traditions -er- yes – I feel rather impulse toward things Spanish”. Gerard therefore presents his identity in such a way as to show that for him it is a choice that depends on his own will and that is disconnected from imposed external features. However, in the face of the Brew’s hostility, Gerard ends the conversation by saying “I look white, I think white, therefore I am white”. This is a radical change of perspective. Now Gerard defines his identity according to the colour of his skin, which is an uncontrollable characteristic related to birth and parents. So, we see a surprising shift in Gerard’s assertions from defining identity as a choice totally dependent on individual agency (a cultural affinity rather than a “blood” tie), to a given characteristic that determines his culture, his ideas, his way of acting in society, etc. This is why this and the following chapters underline the ambiguity of identity.  On the one hand, since identity belongs to the individual, it should be defined by the individuals themselves. However, in the end, this identity depends mainly on uncontrollable external elements that are attributed to the individual.

Throughout the book, Piri is faced with this dilemma of whether this identity can be a choice or is imposed. He would like to be able to choose his own identity, since in the first part of the book he rejects his black identity by defining himself as a Puerto Rican. However, as the book progresses, he realizes that external elements are also components of his identity and that he cannot ignore them. Piri, through his autobiography, shows us the need to accept these elements of birth “imposed” on the individual. He ends up, after a long process of hatred and rage, by accepting his black identity. This is clearly demonstrated by the confrontation with his father, whom Piri accused of living in a fantasy world because he acts “like a white man” when he is a black man (Chapter 16). Even more interesting, Piri reinvests and affirms this identity in the episode of the “cathouse” (Chapter 19). He first presents himself as a Puerto Rican before confirming his black identity. Therefore, he shows that identity should not only be imposed but also appropriated by the person herself. In this way, by accepting his identity, the individual reaffirms his agency over identity.

Aurélien

I really enjoyed reading this book! I believe that Piri’s life story, the experiences he lives through and his sense of always wanting to find his true identity and belonging in the world is something that many people can relate to. One of the aspects that grasped my attention throughout the book is the use of language. Street language, Spanish language, southern language, language from New York’s Puerto Rican and black populations all come together in this book and evoke a feeling of an urban and multicultural environment. Piri Thomas gives the reader a glimpse of racial and cultural groups within the United States by the illustration of various different languages, phrases and slang that are being spoken. He has an ability to present the book as a work of a language mosaic where it comes alive in every page of the book. The use of language in this book is one of the reasons that makes this book quite interesting and unique.

In the first part of the book we encounter a young Piri who is starting to feel confused with his identity and his belonging in society. We encounter him getting mistreated and bullied in places such as the Italian neighbourhood and later on in the suburbs. In the second part we encounter a Piri who wants to find answers to who he who truly is, but he is not doing it for the sake of being accepted and wanted by the others, but he is doing it for himself. He wants to go through this journey of traveling across the country and heading south in order to truly accept who he is. The readers go through Piri’s journey of finding his self. He comes to accept the black identity that has been placed on him throughout his life and understands that blackness is not something that has to be in opposition with his Puerto Rican identity. Through his search of identity and in his search for a sense of self in a society that repeatedly questions and disrespects his worth, Piri finally embraces these two identities simultaneously. Through his journey of self-realization, Piri starts to understand that it is not about trying to change how people see him, if not it is about accepting and resolving how he feels about himself. This book is still a clear representation of a country that still fails to accept the multiple identities that are found in its people and culture.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I believe that Piri’s life story, the experiences he lives through and his sense of always wanting to find his true identity and belonging in the world is something that many people can relate to. One of the aspects that grasped my attention throughout the book is the use of language. Street language, Spanish language, southern language, language from New York’s Puerto Rican and black populations all come together in this book and evoke a feeling of an urban and multicultural environment. Piri Thomas gives the reader a glimpse of racial and cultural groups within the United States by the illustration of various different languages, phrases and slang that are being spoken. He has an ability to present the book as a work of a language mosaic where it comes alive in every page of the book. The use of language in this book is one of the reasons that makes this book quite interesting and unique.

In the first part of the book we encounter a young Piri who is starting to feel confused with his identity and his belonging in society. We encounter him getting mistreated and bullied in places such as the Italian neighbourhood and later on in the suburbs. In the second part we encounter a Piri who wants to find answers to who he who truly is, but he is not doing it for the sake of being accepted and wanted by the others, but he is doing it for himself. He wants to go through this journey of traveling across the country and heading south in order to truly accept who he is. The readers go through Piri’s journey of finding his self. He comes to accept the black identity that has been placed on him throughout his life and understands that blackness is not something that has to be in opposition with his Puerto Rican identity. Through his search of identity and in his search for a sense of self in a society that repeatedly questions and disrespects his worth, Piri finally embraces these two identities simultaneously. Through his journey of self-realization, Piri starts to understand that it is not about trying to change how people see him, if not it is about accepting and resolving how he feels about himself. This book is still a clear representation of a country that still fails to accept the multiple identities that are found in its people and culture.

As much as I find “Down These Mean Streets” to be very interesting, I also find it to be very sad. In many chapters of the book, we see how Piri gets himself in trouble through the many things that he involves himself, whether that be selling drugs or robbing businesses. It seemed to me like he was just going in circles and not learning a thing from his experiences. As the story progresses, I found myself thinking “why doesn’t he learn? He’s getting himself in trouble”. Then, I realized that it is easier said than done. First of all, he loses his mother and finds out that his Papa is with another woman, so that just makes his situation worse. His own home feels even less like a home and he almost ends up killing his dad. And then, the outside world isn’t any better either. We wonder why there are “bad people” in this world. Well maybe they were just not given the opportunity by society. Earlier in the book, we see how he wants to do things right but it’s the recurring mistreatment because of his color that keeps him hurting the society that keeps rejecting him. He keeps being downgraded because of what he looks like.

This reminds me of one instance that my older sister got into a silly fight on social media over a post about a girl being the first black lead for the Nutcracker with the New York City ballet. Charlotte Nebres’ mom has roots from Trinidad and Tobago and her dad is Filipino. This outraged my sister (and I understand where she’s coming from), because she thinks it is a misrepresentation of ethnicities. At fist glance, I can tell right off the bat that she has Filipino blood and I wouldn’t even think of her as black, but people keep insisting that she’s black. The big question is: why couldn’t the title be “the first Asian to land the lead role in the Nutcracker” or “the first Filipina…” I guess it would have had more impact to consider her “black” because of the rejection of African Americans.

I cannot imagine how tough it must have been to live a life like Piri’s. I am glad he is able to turn things around and that he was able to learn from his mistakes. This makes me realize that however many and similar faces we see every day, each face has a profound story to share.