Content area
Full Text
Piri Thomas is the author of the autobiographical classic Down These Mean Streets, first published in 1967. In Down These Mean Streets, Thomas chronicles his growing-up years in Spanish Harlem, years filled with the bittersweetness of life in a close-knit Puerto Rican enclave and the harsh realities of an urban ghetto. His memoir was one of the first written by a Puerto Rican in the United States to be published by a major press and acclaimed by the American mainstream. His other works include Savior, Savior, Hold My Hand (1972) and Seven Long Times (1974), as well as plays, short stories, and poetry.
This interview was conducted on 4 December 1999. Thomas discusses Down These Mean Streets, his poetry, and his current work with children in the interview. With his particular style and what he identifies as his "flow," Thomas enthusiastically articulates his role as writer, activist, and advocate for justice.
LM: What was the inspiration for your autobiographical novel Down These Mean Streets? What made you want to share your story of imprisonment and life in el barrio?
PT: Well, I was released from prison in 1957, and I certainly had learned a lesson. When I went to prison I said to myself, "This is no good." I said, "I'm not going to serve this time. I'm going to have time serve me. I'm going to educate my mind, not eradicate it." I got to do a lot of thinking, and I decided I was going to write a book. I got to the notebook, and I said to the paper, "Paper, I'm going to tell you a story." I named the book Home Sweet Harlem, which later turned out to be Down These Mean Streets.
LM: Why the change in the book's title?
PT: My editor, Angus Cameron from Random House, had sent my manuscript to several people to read. One took a quote or something from a writer who had said, "A man who himself is not mean can walk down these mean streets." I had known those streets as mean all of my life, so it jarred something in myself. I said, "Yes, of course, mean." Thus, I named the book Down These Mean Streets.
LM: There was a ten-year stretch...