Amazing Grace

Many weeks ago I read the book Amazing Grace - The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol. I wrote a bit about this book in a previous blog, so I may be repeating myself. But basically the book was about the people living in the Bronx, and the book changed the way I see poverty.

I bookmarked a few places that I wanted to have other people read, although I strongly recommend this book to everyone. If I had my way about it, everybody in the entire world would read every one of Jonathan Kozol's books. One can only dream... :)

--"'Evil exists? Yes, I said that. People who let other people be destroyed do evil. People who know but do not act do evil too. I don't know if I would call them evil but they're certainly not thinking about heaven."' - the son of a woman dying of AIDS, living on welfare

--"Prisons, schools, and churches, many religious leaders have observed, are probably the three most segregated institutions in our nation, although the schools in New York City are quite frequently more segregated even than the prisons."

--"'Hypersegregation' has been introduced to speak of schools like these, where there are simply no white children, or not more than token numbers; and similar schools are to be found, of course, in almost every city of the nation. 'Two thirds of America's black children' notes the Times, 'know few, if any, white people.' The city rights momentum of the 1960s, says Professor Gary Orfield, one of the authors of the Harvard study, 'is dead in the water and the ship is floating backward.'"

--"'A dream,' he [Gary Orfield, I think] says, "does not die on its own. A dream is vanquished by the choices ordinary people make about real things in their own lives. The choices that some of your friends on the West Side have made may seem benign and innocent and, in the short run, even logical. But the net effects are very much the same as those we saw in Alabama and Virginia when white people left the public schools after the first court ordered. The motive may be different, and I'm sure it often is; the consequence is not.'"

--"I ask him why the children in the Nazi camps came to his mind when we were speaking of this neighborhood. He answers with a caution I have heard from others, when a reference to the Holocaust was made. 'It is not the same,' he says, 'But there are some similarities. There is the feeling of eclipse. There is the likelihood of death for many. There is the sense of people watching from the outside but seeming paralyzed and doing nothing. And there are the miracles.'"

--"I [Mr. Kozol] think that Mrs. Washington [the woman with AIDS, on welfare in the Bronx] is right to view the years before us as foreboding. I have never lived through a time as cold as this in the United States. Many men and women in the Bronx believe that it is going to get worse. I don't know what can change this." - This is the paragraph before the epilogue and Jonathan Kozol admits that he doesn't know what to do. His editors were not happy with him.

I'm fascinated and horrified that schools are such dismal places with such segregation where dreams are destroyed. I think that these sections stood out to me because it was a call to action. I agree that people who know of an injustice but do nothing to stop it are "evil" in a sense. There's no way that I can't not go into the world wanting to make a difference. I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll start by teaching these kinds of kids that need their dreams nurtured.

I guess it's hypocritical that I read these kinds of books and am inspired, and I'm covered in peace signs, yet I have done nothing. At least I'm planning to do something. I'm definitely going to be helping the community more this year at Western by being a part of Compass 2 Campus and being part of Students for Educational Equality and such. What makes me annoyed is that the peace sign has become so popular yet most people who sport the symbol don't understand what it means.

To me, peace means unconditional respect, a desire to understand, and a hope for equality for all people. Peace means dreaming of something bigger than yourself while being part of the movement. I want to be part of the movement. As I look at the words of peace on many of my shirts and the peace signs on my ring, earring, and necklace, I'm reminded that wearing the peace sign is not enough. I must act and make a difference somehow. And I will. It's just a matter of how.

--Elie

P.S. I was listening to "Revolution" by the Beatles as I finished writing this. :D