Down These Mean Streets

By: Hiral Madhani

“Down These Mean Streets” is an autobiography written by Piri Thomas, who was born a Puerto Rican. He grew up in Spanish Harlem around the mid 20th century. During this time in history, racism was still an extremely high issue, even in the Northern parts of America. Piri was exposed to this racism throughout his life and for about the first part of his life he didn’t understand why. Because of poverty Piri was exposed to drugs, violence, gangs, alcohol and much more.
Piri starts our by walking around since 9 pm. He says to himself, papa aint ever gonna hit me again. I’m his kid. He loves me. He wont hit me anymore. His father has just gotten home and was in a bad mood. He doesn’t like noise or yelling when he gets home. When he came home tonight, Jose, Piri’s brother, almost knocked the toaster off the table and Piri tried to save it from falling, but instead knocked it over along with a jar of black coffee. Piri had tried to help and instead he got hit and blamed for something he didn’t even do. Jose had done it and Piri had gotten in trouble. Piri was hit and he walked out saying to his father, “I hate you” So Piri is just walking around the streets of his neighborhood in Harlem and he hears a lot of noises. He hears fire engines, police sirens, garbage can rattles and moaning and groaning. He said that Harlem Park Avenue was a scary place to live. His father had to go back to work that night, so he knew his papa wouldn’t be worried about him. His mother however, would be worried. He hears police sirens near him, so he runs to the nearest apartment building and hides there. While standing there he heard two guys about to shoot up. He got scared and accidently made a noise. The two guys below him got scared and ran away. Piri also started running home. He got home and his dad opened the door. His dad just said for him to come on in. Piri was surprised and walked in. His dad didn’t say anything and just told him to go to sleep. The next morning, his dad didn’t talk to him or anyone. He had lost his night job. All the kids and their mother were sitting around talking while their dad was at work, and their mother was telling stories about Puerto Rico. She said how beautiful it was and how she loved it there. She said it was never cold there and how they were always happy and had no worries. She said, “I remember the hard work and the very little bit we had, but it was a good little bit. It counted very much. Sometimes when you have too much, the good gets lost within and you have to look very hard. But when you have little, then the good does not have to be looked so hard for.” Their father came home shivering with frozen tears and hands from working in the cold all day. All the kids were feeling sorry for him and proud of him for doing so much for the family. The dad loosened up and started playing with the kids. He said whoever won the game can get the biggest piece of taffy. Everyone thought of how great he was and they were all happy. They actually played and lived like a family. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the next day. And a few weeks later the father got a job at an airplane factory. Now Piri starts talking about being a real man and no longer being a kid. He was sitting in a bathtub trying to hold his breath for as long as he can to prove that he was a man. His dad walks in and Piri tells him to watch and when he goes under the water, his father leaves. He gets up yelling, “Did you see that poppy?” But he looks around and notices that his dad was gone. He was hurt that his father didn’t care about him and didn’t love him. He walks to the kitchen and his dad tells him that he was listening and says that he’s proud of him for being a man and holding his breath for that long. Piri realizes that he can’s say “poppy poppy” and run up to his father hugging him. He realized that he was a man and that’s why he is treated differently than the other siblings. He sad, “Sure it was alright for the other kids, they were small and they needed more kisses and stuff. But I was the oldest, the firstborn, and besides, I was Hombre.”
Piri gets on talking about how when his youngest brother, Ricardo, died thy all moved to some Italian neighborhood. He feels that he doesn’t fit in and that he hates it. He meets some “cats” and they make fun of him for being colored and being on the street. He talks back and the main guy from the gang, Rocky, hits him. They all get into a fight and Piri is trying to prove that he’s a man. When everyone sees them, the adults try to help Piri up because Rocky is just beating the wind out him. Piri comes home and his mother opens the door. She is worried about Piri and lectures him about Christian ways and how she is raising this family in a non-violence way. Piri didn’t care, he just wanted to prove that he’s a fighter. Piri went outside again the next day and back talked Rocky again. Piri was the first one to throw a punch But Rocky hit him back hard and Rocky’s friends were helping him. One of Rocky’s friends threw graveled tar and threw it at Piri’s face, making it go into his eyes. Piri started yelling and screaming and was in major pain. Rocky took him back to the apartment and Piri had to go to the hospital.
Because of Piri’s incident, they moved back to Spanish Harlem, his territory. He meets Waneko at school and in order to become a part of his crew, they fought to see if they had heart. They both stop the fight and Waneko asks Piri if he wants to join the group and Piri accepts. They all get into random fights with their enemy gang, Jolly Rogers. The next day they all go to a party at someone’s apartment, which they call pad. They put on music and then piri was given some pot. He took the stick and began to get high. He started thinking about how cool he was and how tough he is. He talks about owning the streets.
He wakes up in to reality and someone else offers him another stick of pot. He falls asleep and then wakes up with a girl on him. He thought it was a girl, But it was a guy. He wanted to pull away and was turned off, but he couldn’t really move. He saw his friends also with other “guys”
Piri then talks about stealing and how easy it was. When he and his friends were planning to make a lemonade stand to make money, they stole sugar, lemons and koolaid from the grocery store. One day they went to get more and Piri saw the man put a paper bag of money into the rice bag. They stole that and some cigarettes. They were caught and were chased by police. The police caught Louis and Crip, but Piri kept running away. He ran home and into bed and hoped that his boys wouldn’t squeal on him.