The World of Piri Thomas | a Film by Gordon Parks (1968) a Throwback Thursday Boricuas Distinguidos presentation 1968 documentary portrait directed by GORDON PARKS (Shaft, The Learning Tree) inspired by the work of Nuyorican poet PIRI THOMAS [1928-2011] (Down These Mean Streets) for Public TV. "Of the almost 900,000 Puerto Ricans in United States more than 600,000 live in New York City in the ghetto called "el barrio." Spanish Harlem. This film is an evocation of one man survival in and triumph