on Amazing Grace

2/14/11

The first thing that struck me while reading Kozol’s “Amazing Grace” was the reality of it. Most people are aware that things such as IV drug abuse, the AIDS virus and prostitution are a large part of certain areas of our country. Like me, they just choose not to think about it. One almost tends to forget while their concern turns to a pair of jeans they want to buy or the argument they had with their mother about going away next weekend. The fact is, that no matter how bad kids think they might have it; weather it’s because mom won’t buy them a new toy, or maybe they have to walk to work in the rain, they never consider themselves lucky. When I was a kid and I would get bratty (as kids tend to do), my parents always told me they were going to leave me in the poor part of town for a day and see how I liked it. When I thought of the “poor part of town”, I pictured kids with outdated clothes and cheap sneakers, and parents without cars. The magnitude of the situation described in “Amazing Grace” puts disadvantages like that into perspective. I never saw anyone do hardcore drugs until I was in my mid- twenties and that was because I put myself in that situation, and the people involved were far from poverty-stricken. The scene that has been painted here as Kozol explores the Bronx ghetto featuring parents shooting heroine rather matter-of-factly in front of their children and kids experiencing the AIDS virus first hand in their parents and neighbors tends to open one’s eyes to what it really means to be disadvantaged.

It’s terrible that this area of the Bronx is populated not by people who just ended up there, or grew up there and never left; most of the people here were relocated because they were run out of wherever they were from because they made privileged people feel uncomfortable. The story is written quite well including many mentions of trash people left in abandoned lots, and other various non-desirables paralleled with the people relocated there as simply being left there to expire because no-one wanted them in their field of vision. The incineration plant is a perfect example. People in affluent communities did not want the plant to be built in their part of town so they hold a meeting or two and find a new location. Even if the people in these poverty stricken communities had access to information letting them know that things like this are to be built in their back yard, I doubt they even know how to lobby against it. Even if they tried, I doubt very many boards in this country will even listen to them.

Another thing that struck me was the way the children adapt to these situations and face them like it’s no big deal. They call heroine the “needle drug” . Normally when kids come up with their own names for thing it’s rather cute. This situation is sad to the point of sickness. What was most interesting to me was the behavior of 7 year old Cliffie as he took Kozol for a tour through the neighborhood. He had a level of maturity equal to that of someone in their late-teens. He talked about witnessing murders, drug use, and AIDS without any emotional effect; showing that this behavior is rather normal to kids in this neighborhood. I suppose growing up in this environment you have to learn the lessons of life rather early. At seven years old, he is clearly an active member of his community, saying hi to random people on the street. He’s polite and selfless. He has a conscious grasp of religion and what is right and wrong. He has obtained many qualities in his limited time on earth that many affluent, educated, privileged adults refuse to acknowledge. This causes me to think about educating yourself for the real world and the difference between “street smarts” and “book smarts”; the value of each, and how they are obtained.