Reflection:
Reading Amazing Grace by Johnathan Kozol, gave me an in depth passage into the lives of children and their parents in the poor parts of New York during the 1990’s. The suffering and challenges that they go through were a big eye opener for me and gave me a bigger understanding of the lives of people of color in poorer areas.
Although the children in the Bronx has lived through tragedies and witnessed them right before their eyes, most children seemed carefree and sort of happy at most. It’s like the scenarios had been an everyday event. When Cliffie, the little boy, mentioned that someone got shot, it was as if telling it was not a problem.
There are many extreme conditions in the area and reading about them was sort of horrifying for me. People there live with at least someone who knew or had AIDS. Children suffered from depression, anxiety and fear. In extreme freezing conditions, the city passed out sleeping bags just to keep warm. It was sad that a high school senior who won a scholarship for college died because of drug addiction. This shows how living conditions can greatly affect ones future.
While reading the article, I though it related back to the first two articles we’ve read recently about privilege and codes and conduct of power. The article that McIntosh wrote was about white privileges. The people who live in the poor conditions are left to fix their way of living by themselves. The idea that those with power don’t acknowledge to pretend they don’t have it so they don’t have to help in others problems is true in Kozol’s article. When a professor at a university said that once poor people start to act rationally, their problems will disappear. It seems to Kozol that, after spending time with Mrs. Washington, he saw that every way she acted was as rational as any person who was not poor.
The four articles that I’ve read all ties into each other with the first two articles read previously. They all show what the codes and conduct of power are capable of and the effects of privilege.
I had a similiar reaction after reading this. It is very sad that their are people that live like this in modern day society. Very eyeopening reading about it too, I can only imagine how it would be to actually see it. I find it kind of werid too that the children appear unharmed but maybe it is due to how young they are they don't understand or maybe because they do not know anything else
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