Response to Caiti's Blog - Amazing Grace

Caiti's blog post:

"Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol, Quotes

Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol was a serious tearjerker.  Every page had something shocking and horrible on it.  This piece really affected me.  I am glad that I read White Privilege by McIntosh first, because to be honest when first reading that article I did not agree with a lot of the “privileges” that were placed upon me and my race, but after reading Amazing Grace it opened my eyes to how truly blessed I am. 

This quote from Kozol demonstrates how the innocence of many children has been stolen from them due to the environment they were born into and the pain they go through everyday.  “He doesn’t answer me but smiles at the bears affectionately.  I saw a boy shot in the head right over there,” he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad, then looks up at me and ask politely, ‘Would like you like a chocolate chip cookie?’”   The way the little boy just mentions it in passing shows how little tragedy effects him since he has to deal with it every day, it is almost normal to him. 

So many people need help from the government and it makes me so angry that people that legitimately need it do not receive it.  “After she died, the checks began to come. Now they keep on coming.  Her boyfriend cashes them each month. She’s dead! They have to know she died. They paid to bur her.  They had to see the death certificate.” This shows how truly “effed up” the government systems are.  They finally help a woman when she is already gone. 

This story stuck out to me the most.  The little boy was sent to the store to buy three slices of pizza one for him and one for his mom and dad.  He saw a man less fortunate then him and gave him some pizza.  When Kozol asked the little boy if his parent were mad he gave away some pizza he responded, “ Why would they be mad? God told us share.”  This shocked me he has so little yet he still has the heart to give to the less deserving while there are people out there who have so much but do not give anything to the poor. 

In class I really want to talk about the first quote I mentioned, I do not understand how something as serious as seeing a child shot in the head could not faze a child.  I want to discuss how this could have happened in our society. "

My Response:

This blog posted by Caiti Donovan basically took everything that I was thinking, and put it down on paper. As I was reading Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol, I became more and more shocked with every turn of a page. The stories that he writes about and the places and issues he has witnessed are extremely heart-wrenching. This piece is very straightforward and honest and it is easy to feel Kozol's agony and compassion towards these people. 

I strongly agree with the points that Caiti made in her blog about this story, especially the one regarding the connection between Amazing Grace and McIntosh's piece, White Privilege. At first, some of the privileges that McIntosh listed seemed a little too over the top for the present day, but those privileges are very true to the people that Kozol writes about. Those unfortunate families that live in extreme poverty only dream of having half of the privileges we have. It is certainly a tough subject to think about. 

The first quote Caiti talks about is from Kozol's conversation with the little boy, Cliffie, when they were taking a walk together in Mott Haven, NY. Cliffie was basically telling Kozol about his life and his experiences living there. He tells him "'I saw a boy shot in the head right over there,'" and he says it with no sign of sadness or remorse, as if, even at that age, he is so accustomed to witnessing such horrifying incidents. For us, we're reluctant to even let children watch such things on television and video games, let alone have them experience them in reality, right in front of their eyes. But unfortunately, they don't have a choice. 

Caiti then brings up the subject on the government and the aid that it gives, or actually doesn't give, to those who are in need. The elderly lady, Mrs. Washington, was in such great need of assistance both medically and financially, and she never seemed to receive it. She spoke of how one of her friends had recently died from AIDS and she had never gotten help from the welfare. It was only “after she died, the checks began to come. Now they keep on coming.  Her boyfriend cashes them each month. She’s dead! They have to know she died. They paid to bur her.  They had to see the death certificate.”  This welfare is there to help people, but they won't even try to keep them alive. I understand that the government can only get so much money from the states but there are many people who receive assistance that aren't in dyer need of it; at least not as much as some one on their death bed. 

Lastly, Caiti quotes Cliffie again when he was telling Kozol about the time that he has given away his slice of pizza to a homeless man he ran into on his way back home. Cliffie's explanation for his deed was simply "God told us share." Just that line alone proves that children aren't really children when they live in these types of situations; they don't have the chance to be. In their cases, they have to do some major growing up and maturing in order to even survive. Cliffie knew that the homeless man was in worse condition than he, and even though he felt hungry, and he really wanted to eat that slice of pizza, his desire to do the right thing overpowered all those thoughts. 


Here is a video I found that goes along with Kozol's story. 

I feel it is definitely necessary to bring up that last issue in class; that some children really don't have that chance to just be kids, to go around town just having fun and thinking nothing of it. We have so many more privileges than these people, and no matter how many times this subject is brought up - that there are families upon families living in poverty out there - it is still so easy to forget about it. All of our issues we think of as so problematic, are absolutely miniscule, nothing, compared to what some of these people go through. I think we should all keep that in mind. I know I will try my hardest everyday to keep these people in my thoughts and be grateful for absolutely everything I have.