This is Crazy! Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol, Hyperlinks

As I was reading, Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol I had a lot of OMG moments! The reading shocked me in so many ways that I couldn't imagine.  Being from a white family that lived in a nice neighborhood my whole life, I could not imagine what these children and parents go through in everyday life!  Throughout the reading it talks about the poverty and how it impacts education, addictions and prostitution.  As I was watching a Youtube video that I found about the reading it explains what goes on in the reading and highlights the main points of the article and it explains what has happened since the article has been written.  

One main topic that is talked about throughout the article is AIDS.  Believe it or not AIDS is a serious problem in these low poverty areas.  In the article a nurse states that 27 people in one building has this disease and 20 more case in the building across the street.  That is a lot of cases in one area! Not only are adults suffering through this but children are suffering as well.  Most of these people do not have the money or the treatment they need to fight the disease.  Some people in these neighborhood do not want to know if they have it or not, others do want to know so they don't give it to someone else. An article that I found has stated that New York has the highest number of reported cases of AIDS and the most deaths among women with aids.  In the Harlem, Washington Heights, and the Bronx is where most of these cases are found just like the women in this reading by Kozol.              

Most of these people in these low areas are on food stamps and welfare checks to get by.  At the beginning of the article it states that, “”Only seven of 800 children do not quality for free school lunches.”  Five of those seven,” says the principal, “get reduced-price lunches because they are classified as only ‘poor’, not ‘destitute’.””  That is just crazy to me! These low poverty areas also have to go through long waits when they go to the hospitals.  In a article from the New York Times,it states that most of the families that are on these programs some more families would be homeless and broke.  The poverty level has gone up from 17.3% to 19.9%.  That I a big increase in only a matter of two years!

The last big issues that were mentioned in this Kozol text is prostitution and the use of needles (crack-cocaine).  In the text it stated that these prostitution and users will stand in line to get new clean condoms and needles that they need for their process.  I think that is just crazy! They should not be doing this stuff in the first place.  I understand they are trying to make ends meet but there are other ways to do that.     

Questions/Comments:

I have learned so much throughout this article.  I learned that not everyone has ideal life style they want.  So many different problems come into these children lives it is crazy! One topic I would like to bring up in class is where is the politics in all of these?!? They should be doing something to stop all of these things going on and help these children so they don't have to grow up in these areas! What are people doing to help these issues?