Amazing Grace- Johnathan Kozol Quotes

"Amazing Grace" written by Johnathan Kozol discusses about the community of Mott Haven in the South Bronx of New York.  Mott Haven is the poorest community in the South Bronx with the population is two thirds Hispanic and one third are people of color.  People who are living in this district attend St. Ann's Church on St. Ann's Avenue.  St. Ann's is a place of comfort within the community for both children and their parents.  The conditions and sickness that runs throughout their neighborhood is not only dangerous but also heartbreaking.  After reading this article it was difficult to read the stories of the Mott Haven community who face illness, drugs, murders and every ounce of danger everyday of their lives.

            Reading this article truly opened my eyes to situations I did not actually think were as bad as they are.  The discussion of not only the environment that these children endure but also the living space that they have is heartbreaking.   One quote that stuck out in this article when a father of four started talking about their living situations, “You just cover up…and hope you wake up the next morning.” (4) It is then explained that one of the children was a one month old, as soon as I read that it broke my heart.  Knowing that these so called “homes” are only creating unsafe environments for families’ especially young children is just awful.  Everyone is faced with a battle of life or death by just living in his or her own homes.

            When our own communities are surrounding us, as people, we realize that they are all different.  Mott Haven is an environment that only those in it can relate the most to.  Kozol introduces us to a young boy named Cliffie shows him around Mott Haven.  Cliffie has such a kind spirit and is full of life especially for being in Mott Haven.  When the discussion of sickness such as AIDS, HIV, drug addiction, depression and anxiety and also deaths, it is something that is breathe taking to any reader.  When it is an outsider looking in it is hard to imagine being in there during those times.  Kozol explains to us that Cliffie makes a comment when they are together saying “I saw a boy shot in the head right over there” (6).  When first reading this it is shocking, anyone would say, how does a young boy or a young child for that matter get exposed to that environment?  Not only does that question arise but also how Cliffie is just able to not even be fazed even by just telling Kozol what he say.  It goes to show that just by being in Mott Haven that everyone is used to these events occurring such as shootings.

            And lastly, one quote that completely stuck out was the quote from Lawrence Mead, which stated “If poor people behaved rationally they would seldom be poor for long in the first place.” (21) This statement completely jumped out when I was reading this article and because of that I disagree completely. In Mott Haven, with it having 48,000 people who are the poorest in the South Bronx area, people are suffering from depression, AIDS, HIV and etc.  People such as Alice struggles with people sick and having to try and receive her food stamps again along with being in and out of hospitals.  There are also people who live in the same building as her who did not chose to be sick or did not chose to become paralyzed after being shot in a cross fire.  Several situations have been presented and discussed in this article where not what any of these citizens wanted.  I can honestly say that after reading this article it has become clearer to me that no one is perfect and everyone deep down is truly equal. 

Questions/Comments/Points to Share:
After reading this article I have become a lot more interesting in this topic.  How can we as a class get involved with helping kids in these type of communities?  I know that we are going to be going into schools for class but is there anything more that we could do to help those in these situations. Also the topic of HIV and AIDS, along with addictions to drugs is not an easy thing to surpass.  Not only are the people who are surrounding the addicts suffers but the people who are the addicts are faced with the every day to day challenge of being addicted to something they cannot handle.  I have seen it happen in my life and have people who are highly addicted and who face the challenge in their every day lives.