Amazing Grace and Personal Story

 The effects of income inequality are felt by everyone to varying degrees. For instance, if you ask a random person how they feel about the economy, government, politics and other issues, their viewpoint and stance usually will follow a guideline based on their individual and household income. Many think if a person who makes 20,000 dollars yearly is asked about their feelings and opinions on the economy, there is a probable chance that their answer will be less positive than if you ask the same question to someone who earns 200,000 dollars a year, whether it be that their experience with finances and the economy may be different or their lives in general differ so much. In Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol, he tells the reader of his experiences talking to the people of South Bronx, who can be considered the poorest of the poor in our country. While many may not know of the extreme poverty of South Bronx, such as myself before I read Amazing Grace, any story selected from the book at random can be considered newsworthy. These life stories have an urgent reason to be publicized to a mass audience where everyone can know of the disastrous living conditions of the families Kozol meets, which many people would think to be unimaginable that there are living conditions this poor in our own country. One story that stuck out to me was in chapter 5 of Amazing Grace, where Kozol visits a man affected with AIDS who was a former heroin user and his nine-year old daughter to ask about their lives. The South Bronx is an area of New York which has felt the full force of the drug epidemic, as many families were devastated, and the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus was at its peak in the 1980-90's, this family was affected with the loss of their mother and the sickness of the father. When Kozol asks the family of how their lives are living in, they tell him how the daughter cannot play outside, not even out their shabby apartment as the drug dealers are numerous and the potential for something dangerous to occur is possible at any minute. Kozol references a previous interview with the same family where the father tells the journalist, "I wish I was rich enough to give her everything she wanted” (196). To me, I can relate in a way as when I first moved over to this country with my family, we did not have much money at first and my parents were telling me often that we moved over here and are working to give me and our family a better life with more opportunities. This story from Amazing Grace made me think of the personal connections I could make with other stories throughout the entire book, such as being in a low-income household for a few years and being treated by others differently in a similar manner to the people in the stories being told, but nowhere near the same extent as in the book. A personal example that happened recently in my life where income inequality was in partial effect is when my mom had to get a new job because of the factory where she worked at was to soon shut down. My mom, who is the main source of income in my home where it is only her and I living together, had to leave the factory where she was employed for the last nearly 10 years or so due to it shutting down in April of next year. In result, she went to go work at another factory where she is earning less money per hour, works six days a week, and does not include health insurance as her previous job did. I believe that because of the jobs that are available are out of reach because she does not have a college degree or any other standout qualifications that may help her get a job of equal or better pay, she was placed in a job that was like her previous one, but with lower pay and no benefits. In short, the stories in both Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol and my personal experiences in life connect to the theme of income and wealth inequality and goes to show it effects most people at one point of their lives. 

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