Jonathan Kozol’s “Amazing Grace” Vanessa Blanchette
1. “What is it like for children to grow up here? What do they think the world has done to them...do they think they deserve this? What is it that enables some of them to pray? When they pray, what do they say to God?” (Kozol pg 5)
This shot paragraph really made me think and yet at the same time I cannot begin to imagine the answer to these questions. I am not in this situation and hope that I never have to be, but as for the people who are, I pray for you. What do you pray for, I don’t have that answer. It is so hard to imagine that there are people out there who run into problem after problem and don’t have any idea why they deserve the life they were given, the hand they were dealt. I wish this was not the case, but it is. Children grow up thinking the worst, feeling unworthy of any happiness. Most of them might feel unwanted. I think they pray for change. They pray for the only thing they can, light. They want to escape the dark, but can’t find a way out. What happens when they stop praying, when they lose all hope?
2. "I saw a boy shot in the head right over there," he says a moment later, in a voice that does not particularly sad, then looks up at me and asks politely, "Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?" (p.6)
These children have adapted to their surroundings that things as horrible as murder are nothing new to them. It is a weekly, if not every day, occurrence. How many of us in this class can say that. I know I cannot. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is Latino and was brought up in what we would call the “projects”. He lived in El Salvador. He would not blink an eye if he heard a gunshot. He has told me some horrible stories about his friends being killed right next to him. I cannot even imagine. I know that if I touch his arm and he is not expecting it, he gets into defense mode. He has grown up having to protect and defend himself and lives this way on a daily basis. If I were shocked I would scream, but not him. He would resort to defend himself anyway possible to survive. It amazes me how we have come from such different atmospheres. It does not bother him though and he does not see the shock that I see when I hear these stories. He is as the child is in this quote, so involved that it becomes normal. What I mean by normal is that murder is looked at as just another event happening during the day. Wow! I don’t even know what else to say because I find it shocking.
3. “There’s a whole world out there if you know it’s there, if you can see it. But they’re in a cage. They cannot see.” (Kozol pg 24)
It is very hard for people who are underprivileged to move from the situation that they are in. They are not given opportunities and nobody wants to give them a chance. People of privilege may see it as, “Why should I care? It’s not me.” It is sad to say that the world we live in is like this, but it is. I was in a pharmacy once and saw a woman who was trying to buy medication for her child, but was surprised when her insurance didn’t cover it. She had no money and could not get it. How many people helped her? None. Now, how many people could have? I don’t have the answer. Unfortunately I was too young to fully comprehend the situation, but I would like to think that if I ever witnessed this I would sacrifice something in my life, to help another’s. Not all people are like this. People who are in the streets, or who live in these neighborhoods cannot picture another world. They are blinded by hatred, and helplessness. They have given up just as animals in a zoo have at ever escaping. It reminds me of the movie Freedom Writers. Nobody wanted to give those kids a chance, because they were thought of as not appreciative of anything, but nobody gave them a chance to see how they were, except one teacher. One teacher out of many was the only one who believed in change. Everyone else feared they would lose their privilege and didn’t want others who were Latino, African-American, and other races who were not white to succeed. Instead they used the excuse that they wouldn’t appreciate it. Well, these kids did, and when given a chance they shine, but before that they were just another person waiting to die.
This article was hard to read. It talked about things that I know exist, but try not to think about because they are so horrible. I know other people have difficult lives, with different, unimaginable struggles then myself, but it’s easier not to think about it. It’s not because I do not care, but it is because I don’t know how I can help. There is nothing worse than seeing children living this way, in a way that you and I don’t, but not being able to help and yet want to so bad.
If there is anyone I look up to it is defiantly the teacher in the story of the Freedom Writers. All it took was one voice with enough determination, to change a community. That teacher bettered the lives of kids that beforehand had nothing to wake up to. Now they wake up for tomorrow, and that right there is an inspiration. When I become a teacher I hope that is the kind of person
