Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol (1995)

Kozol's collection of anecdotes from various people living in the South Bronx is truly heartbreaking. My initial impression was to take the statistics with a grain of salt since Kozol's book was published twenty years ago. Although after reading the first chapter in full, I highly doubt that there has been significant change in the environment these people live in.

I guess my biggest issue with trying to break down and examine the class struggles these people face on a daily basis is that there are just so many issues and social factors that these people are struggling with that are so essential to daily life it is nearly impossible to relate to the South Bronxian person's perspective because we are so accustom to idea that in America everyone can "succeed" and that even if someone is down and struggling they can "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and suddenly escape poverty and "be somebody." And even recognizing this privilege still makes it difficult to understand because personally I just want to believe that there is some ray of hope, that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; that the situation for these people "can't be THAT hopeless." There is this sense of denial that places like this exist in America because be pride ourselves on the idea that hard work equals success.  

What made this excerpt feel much farther than an 18minute train from Manhattan was the lawlessness that exists within the community with virtual no consequences. Kozol retells stories of children being shot, raped, overdosing on drugs, participating in gang violence, and struggling with medical issues ranging from Asthma to AIDS. The narrative structure focuses on the lives and experiences of the people with in this community, the burdens they bear and how it seems at every turn they are kicked down time and time again. The only issue I see with Kozol's narrative is that he only briefly discusses the police's role in the community. Now I'm just curious if this omitted because the police don't have any role in enforcing the law in the South Bronx (as Kozol mentions in the story of the continued drug ring at Children's Park) or if its omitted to emphasize the lack of justice served to these people and the bloodbath that is Mott Haven. Kozol also gives us a few stories of people seeking justice on their own such as Sylvia (better know as Angel)'s grandmother killing of her son in law. Again, its not quite clear whether or not the police will investigate because South Bronx's lack of importance to the system, or the issue of rape accusations and an insufficient evidence to warrant an arrest/investigation. Either way, the situation is horrid nonetheless, my focus is on Kozol's lack of law enforcement because he covers the other points key to class struggle very thoroughly, and it surprises me he didn't go into more detail.

Kozol's other excerpts really do help to paint the picture of the bureaucracy of the medical system and the constant filling out forms and trying to get letters just to get medical care and food on your plate.  The descriptions of the hospitals really do convey that the lack of resources these people have, as well as the medical waste incinerator that was placed in the South Bronx because the Manhattan district rallied and protested it being built in their area on the grounds that it may give the children cancer. And because so many people are sick and/or homeless in this neighborhood, very few people have jobs they are able to maintain and thus they have no money to put food on the table and/or time to form a community to make changes in the district.