Jonathan Kozol: Amazing Grace

Jonathan Kozol:Amazing Grace Christina DiPalma

1."Nearly 4,000 heroin injectors, many of whom are HIV-infected, live here. Virtually every child at St. Ann's knows someone, a relative or neighbor, who has died of AIDS, and most children here now know many other who are dying now of the disease.One quarter of the women of Mott Haven who are tested in obstetric wards are positive for HIV. Rates of pediatric AIDS, therefore, are high."(Page 4)

This quote above I feel captures what some of the people from Mott Haven and even the South Bronx goes through. The people who are affected by this severe living conditions are most of the people and it also affect a numerous amount of the children. I feel that 4,000 people who inject themselves is a lot and plus they already have HIV's which is making it worse on themselves.I feel that having every single child knowing someone who has died from AIDS and having them know many others who are going die from it, is not a good thing because it does affect them.Having this severe living conditions going on in a certain place really shows that this stuff can happen to people no matter where you live and it affects everyone in the community, even the kids.

2."Unlike many children I have met in recent years, he has an absolutely literal religious faith. When I ask him how he pictures God,he says, "He has long hair and He can walk on the deep water." To make sure I understand that this is an unusual ability, he adds,"Nobody else can."(page 8)

This quote to me shows that a young boy not only takes religion literally. This shows that he believes in religious faith and this shows that he believes in a numerous amount of things. This young boy brings God up in a lot of other experiences such as when he went to get a pizza and he had given a guy some pizza that he bought. After that the author asks the boy why he gave the poor guy pizza and he said that God told us to share. I feel that God is what this kid brings into his experiences. I also feel that he feels that God is always around him and tells this boy in a way what decisions to make in life.

3."I don't know how sick you have to be to qualify for SSI. My girlfriend died from AIDS in March. She never did get SSI. 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 bury her. They had to see the death certificate."(page 20)

This quote talks about an experience a guy who went to their doctor and their doctor said that he should go on SSI. He continues saying that he tried to apply for it but they said he was not sick enough. I feel that this is wrong because this guy has cancer and cancer is one of the worst sicknesses you can get. This makes me sad because you have people that are collecting from the SSI, from their loved ones who are dead and then you have people who are really sick who are not getting help from anyone. The boyfriend who is collecting from his girlfriend is morally wrong because you have people out there who honestly need it because of sickness they have.


Questions/Comments/Points To Share:

This reading to me was a real eye opener because this piece talks a lot of what people go through in life and even though we are not around these types of things, I feel that at first I do not believe such things like this because I do not live in an environment like that so, I would not know first hand about the situations that occur with the type of person you are. I feel that it relates to other texts that we have previously read in class readings. The one reading that comes to mind is the Johnson reading because I feel that people from different backgrounds get certain privileges which made me think of that when I read about the guy who was getting SSI even though his girlfriend had been died while on the other hand, there was a guy who had cancer and he had been denied.

One question I would want to know is how people get more privileges than others when they have worse conditions than others.