Piri Thomas dies at 83; Latino writer

For Piri Thomas, being a dark-hued Latino in 1930s New York was far from the best of worlds. His siblings were fair-skinned, like his Puerto Rican mother, but he took after his black Cuban father, whose unsettled feelings about race scarred both of them. Thomas fell into gangs and drugs, shot a police officer during a robbery and ended up in prison for seven years.

Elaine Woo, Los Angeles Times

October 23, 2011