Blog Post 4- Amazing Grace Reflection

In the Amazing Grace, Kozol attempts to vividly depict the miserable conditions of the poorest of the poor in the South Bronx. His purpose I believe is to tell the reader about the personal stories of these people who go through hurdles just to survive to the next day in the seemingly war-like neighborhoods where anyone you know could be killed at the drop of a hat. The view of south Bronx by the rest of New York seems to be as if the people living there are treated less than human, setting up dumps of burning hospital waste in a neighborhood and illegal dumping occurring there by the other people in New York. “But when we come off the bridge into the Bronx, he opens his window, spits in the street, then rolls the window shut and locks his door. “All this is scum here. No one works. Look at this.” I ask him where he lives. “I live in Queens, in a nice section””. In that little section of the chapter, it best exemplifies how the rest of New York views the poor in south Bronx. The dynamic between the very poor and the very rich that Kozol constantly reinforces throughout the book is a strong point that is backed up constantly with not just this story but most of them in the book. With the previous quote, Kozol is making a bold example of how the middle and upper class views the poor in their own city. 

In chapter 3 of Amazing Grace, Kozol visits a church in south Bronx where he hears shots outside, then the sermon stops for a short moment, then continues as if nothing happened. They are so close—and come so close together—it sounds like someone striking on the church door with a power-drill or a jackhammer. The pastor pauses. Two of the elders of the church rush to the door. After a moment they return and nod. The man beside me says in his accented English, “Not automatic fire.” The incident seems to be dismissed as quickly as it happened. The congregation sings a song in English”. This moment was especially striking to me in this chapter because of how seemingly used to the shots they were in that situation. The group of people in the church at that time knew fully well that the best they could do in that situation was to hide and wait until it was over, since the police in that area is known to be unreliable and not show up to their neighborhood usually. The relation between the police and the people of South Bronx is already strained throughout the years of unreliable policing and other public services, so it would be expected that their first option would not be the police, but whatever they could do in their own power to defend and protect themselves. On the other side, in middle class and wealthier neighborhoods, the public services such as policing and medical emergency assistance is better than those of the neighborhoods of South Bronx. In summary, the people of South Bronx usually must solely rely on themselves and others for help rather than the police. 

One of the stories that interested me the most in the second half of Amazing Grace was the story of Alice Washington and her son, David. Throughout the chapters of the Amazing Grace, I believe that Kozol keeps mention of her throughout the book because she is used as a common view of the conditions of the city as Kozol frequently checks up on her and David to get updates on their lives and to discuss other experiences that Kozol has had talking to others in South Bronx to get Washington’s own thoughts about the matter at hand that they were currently discussing. Kozol also discusses with David similar matters and gives the reader insight onto how he lives with his mother, which many people do not have the experiences that David has went through living and caring for his mother who is suffering from the symptoms of AIDS. David doesn’t have the option of many opportunities that are available for him, other than working in the prison and jails, which he does decide to do in the last chapter. Throughout the tail end of Amazing Grace, Kozol gives repeated mention to Alice Washington and David to keep a steady perspective throughout the end. 

In chapter 5 of Amazing Grace, Kozol visits a family of a man affected with AIDS who was a former heroin user and his nine-year old daughter to ask about their lives. The daughter tells Kozol of how it is often too dangerous to go out and play because of their run-down and boarded up neighborhood and the drug dealers. The family is forced to cut costs at all points just to make it by, taking care of their pets and monitoring their expenses and hoping to save up one day to go to a Yankees game with his daughter, he says “I wish I was rich enough to give her everything she wants”, which I believe is heartwarming and tells how much the father wishes that his daughter could be fortunate to get a better upbringing in a healthier environment. As a reader, Kozol does a great job retelling these stories to give us a sense as if we were being told them firsthand, also getting across the feeling of the people Kozol is interviewing. In one of the last stories Kozol tells in Amazing Grace, he continues and builds upon depicting the livelihoods of the people of South Bronx