Need Help!

[Strider_11]

Hi, i need some help, im writing a comparative essay at school, and for now im just thinking of topics and novels that would relate. My topic is essentially racism, what causes it, why we hate, why we join organizations such as the KKK, Black Panthers, gangs, and so on. I was hoping someone could recommend some good books, preferably fictional, that have these themes. More specificially I am trying to find a novel on white supremacy, with examples of the prejudice against jews, blacks, latinos, etc. If anyone could aid me in my quest, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Sitaram]

http://www.puertorico.com/forums/printthread.php3?threadid=1268


In this scenario, Puerto Ricans, defined as neither Black nor white, arrive in the United States devoid of racial prejudice only to be accosted by it in
their new home. Puerto Ricans are presumably taught racism allᠡnd forced to choose between Black or white identity, to the detriment of their "true"
cultural selves.5 This perspective, prevalent in the scholarship produced since the 1930s, is also expressed in the more recent literary writings of Puerto Ricans such as Judith Ort�Cofer who claims that she "was born a white girl in Puerto Rico but
became a brown girl" in the United States. Years earlier, in the auto-biographical novel
"Down These Mean Streets", the dark-skinned Piri Thomas anguishes over being "caught up between two sticks."7 Yet, it would be more accurate to say
that Thomas and the others are actually stuck between the myth of racial democracy with its implicit preference for mestizaje, and the reality of African descent and racism. The choice, if choice there were, is not between Black and white
but between the myth of race-free color blindness and the reality of white supremacy--tanto acomo all

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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679781420/002-8883342-9949613


The 30th anniversary edition of this classic memoir about growing up in Spanish Harlem includes an afterword reminding us that its streets are even meaner now, thanks to crack cocaine and the dismantling of government poverty programs. As a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, born in 1928, Piri Thomas faced with painful immediacy the absurd contradictions of America's racial attitudes (among people of all colors) in a time of wrenching social change. Three decades have not dimmed the luster of his jazzy prose, rich in Hispanic rhythms and beat-generation slang

Thirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating, lyrical memoir of his coming of age on the streets of Spanish Harlem. Here was the testament of a born outsider: a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America; a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Here was an unsparing document of Thomas's plunge into the deadly consolations of drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery--a descent that ended when the twenty-two-year-old Piri was sent to prison for shooting a cop.

As he recounts the journey that took him from adolescence in El Barrio to a lock-up in Sing Sing to the freedom that comes of self-acceptance, faith, and inner confidence, Piri Thomas gives us a book that is as exultant as it is harrowing and whose every page bears the irrepressible rhythm of its author's voice. Thirty years after its first appearance, this classic of manhood, marginalization, survival, and transcendence is available in an anniversary edition with a new Introduction by the author.


http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0679781420&view=tg

[Sitaram]

http://gangresearch.net/Archives/UIC/Courses/ganghistory/Syllabus.htm

The course presupposes a rudimentary understanding of social theory, particularly Chicago School sociology. Required Texts are Arnold Hirsch’s Making of the Second Ghetto; Sudhir Venkatesh’s American Project; and Felix Padilla and Lourdes Santiago’s Outside the Wall: A Puerto Rican woman’s struggle. A novel of the student choosing on gangs or the historical conditions in Chicago is also required. Possibilities are Richard Wright’s Native Son, James T. Farrell’s, Studs Lonigan,
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. There will be other readings as well, most on reserve, particularly selections from Frederic Thrasher’s The Gang.

[Sitaram]

Sam Greenlee (1930-) was born in Chicago in 1930. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago and the University of Thessaloniki. Greenlee, who joined the '60s Black American movement, saw his novel. The Spook Who Sat By The Door, made into a successful movie. It is the story of Don Freeman, a black ex-gang leader, who lets the CIA teach him everything it knows about judo, guns and strategy. He uses his knowledge to organize the gangs of Chicago into a crack guerrilla force and sends his lieutenants out to train the fighting gangs of every other ghetto city in the country, turning snipers into marksmen, rioters into combat troops. In addition to his novels, he has written many articles and short storie

[Sitaram]

http://www.uwgb.edu/urs/Ray_Hutchison_web_pages/street_gangs_in_urban_america.htm

This class offers an introduction to current literature and representations of street gangs in American culture. We want to explore the origins of street gangs in American cities in the early industrial period (as represented by the work of Frederick Thrasher in Chicago in the 1920s); the emergence of “delinquent gangs” in the 1950s and 1960s (as represented by the gangs portrayed in West Side Story), and the expansion of drug gangs and violent gangs in more recent years. Our readings and other course materials are intended to capture both the complexity and variety of street gangs across the United States (by focusing our attention on male and female street gangs and gang members, ethnic and racial as well as white and wannabe gang members) as well as the many different ways in which gangs have been portrayed in popular media (from popular novels to news reporting to popular cinema).

http://www.gangresearch.net/

[Sitaram]

Possibly take a look at "Kingsblood Royal" by Sinclair Lewis.

[Shea]

I'd also suggest Huckleberry Finn and, going along with West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet. Hint: nobody really knows why feuds start, they're just fueled by influence.

I'll mention this though I hated the book, John Grisham's The Chamber also deals a lot with racism (I hated it because he made me feel sorry for the bad guy.)

[baddad]

You might want to check out a book written several decades ago called, 'Black Like Me'. It doesn't meet all of your criteria, as it is non-fiction, but it is short enough to be able to read quickly. The book was written by a white person who posed as a black person, complete with makeup and disguise. This author lived in the U.S.A. and wanted to explore the black experience in his own country. It is a real eye-opener into racism, prejudice and the general contributing factors to the social upheaval in America between the African Americans and the Whites. The book is a true story, reveals many basic issues in many societies, and treads where many fear to go. You will not be disapointed. If nothing else, it will add to your works cited page....but I am sure it will affect you on a much deeper level......good luck.

P.S. WElcome to the site Strider. Visit often, let us know how the work goes...

[Strider_11]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will look into them all. Hopefully if not the books I read, they will bring more possibilities.

[amuse]

Like Down These Mean Streets, All Souls is excellent non-fiction. it's about the irish in south boston and explores the aftermath of the civil rights era and the riots that ensue with anti-busing experiments and the havoc it creates in the mind-sets of some impoverished people - who already feel like the government has ignored them - in the 1970's.

good luck!