Letter to Author
Dear Piri Thomas,
Without the influence of my mother, I would have never picked up the book Down These Mean Streets. Growing up in New York during the 60's and 70's, she was able to relate to Piri in the book. At first, I wasn't interested at all. I figured that it was just another coming of age story, like the many that I had already read.
When I finally read the book, my eyes were opened to things that I never even new existed. All of my previous thoughts about racism, and my perspective of racism in the North versus racism in the South were almost completely reversed. If found the interaction with, common use of, and dependency on drug to be the first thing that caught my attention. Previously, the most that I knew about drugs was learned from the DARE program in 5th grade and from watching law and crime shows on television.
It took me a very long time, even after reading the book, to figure out that under harsh circumstances, one loses the ability to think clearly. Throughout the book, I kept thinking to myself, "Why Piri? Why?" every time he made a bad decision. I soon realized that this was based on opportunity, which is not often equal, especially during the 40's. That was a lot for me to accept at the time. My whole life I was told that everyone had a chance and everyone had equal opportunities, but then after seeing Piri's experiences and even those around him, all that was previously said was now false. From that point on, I had more respect for those that grew up during that time period and were faced with such struggles. I used to think that people that were in jail were just all around bad people that didn't deserve equal rights because they messed up so badly that they aren't worthy of another chance, but then, seeing Piri go through Sing-Sing made me actually feel sorry for prisoner and the fact that they didn't have the ability to make the right choices. That was the first time that I really changed my ways of thinking and was able to "put myself in someone else's shoes."
Before I even knew what a catharsis was, I experienced one. I have never directly experienced racism, and I always thought that it was a minor issue in America, I mean, it is the 21st century after all, and all that civil rights stuff was decades ago! But I was surely wrong! After reading about how Piri was treated in the South, and then how it was compared to the North, I realized some hidden racism in my life also. There were so many things that I was blind to because of the nice things that were taught in elementary school, but this was my first taste of the real world. I realized that most of these racist conclusions allude to stereotypes. Your chronicles have allowed me to reevaluate my outlook and perspectives. Thank you for such an opportunity.
Sincerely,
Noelle Manning
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