Differing Cultures

This study will examine the cultures described in Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, Don't Be Afraid, Gringo (the story of Elvia Alvarado, translated and edited by Medea Benjamin), and The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley). The study will include consideration of the "hardships of life" experienced by the subjects in the three books and suggestions on how the cultures might live in greater harmony and peace.

Down These Mean Streets is the story of a self-described "skinny, dark-face, curly-haired, intense Porty-Ree-can---unsatisfied, hoping, and always reaching," who tells himself "Get angry, get hating angry, and you won't be scared" (Thomas, 1991, p. x). It is the story of poverty, oppression, violence, and a growing despair which the author is able to articulate. In the first page of the book, we read of domestic violence, a clearly dysfunctional family, hunger, "frightened silence," "noise and hassling," "whipping from . . . poppa," animals foraging in garbage, yelling, and, above all, the fear and sense of injustice that the author feels as a child. He watches men fix heroin in the hallway after running away from home to try to "whip Poppa back with worry" (pp. 3-4).

The book is a horrific tale of the growing up of Thomas, and of his ability to survive conditions which are unbearable simply to read about. It is the story of addiction, cruel racism, violence, and a rage that flares up regularly but is always simmering just under the surface

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146). As Alvarado says, "the United States is the one calling the shots in Central America" (Alvarado, 1987, p. 63). The hardships faced by Alvarado and her people are similar to those faced by Thomas and his American, ethnic ghetto/barrio culture --- poverty, fear, rage, hopelessness, the struggle to merely survive, violence, etc. Both Thomas and Alvarado recognize that the problems they face are systemic, socio-political, and long-standing. Thomas essentially tells the story of one man who is beginning to overcome those conditions, through his own efforts and through the efforts of the community which gives the individual a chance to put his desire to live better into action. Alvarado is more aware of the details and causes of such deplorable conditions, especially in terms of the historical impact of governmental policy. She particularly blames the Reagan-Bush administration for aggravating conditions which existed prior to 1980. Before Reagan took office, democracy had begun to sprout roots, the military was beginning to loosen its grip on the country, civilian power was growing, and socioeconomic conditions were gradually improving. After 1980, however, the United States made Honduras a staging ground for the battle

Category: History - D