Reflecting on Amazing Grace
In the book, Amazing Grace, Jonathon Kozol has brought out some very important perspectives that despite the fact that it’s 2018, it’s unfortunate that we can still relate. Kozol has pointed out a lot of mishaps in his book which he gracefully pulled in from the authentic statements of people, living in Bronx, he spent a lot of his time with, while writing the book. The important idea I think he is trying to get across is people are suffering which they don’t deserve to.
Kozol puts out the stories of the dysfunctional life people lives in a very neatly order. He mentions how AIDS and other diseases are so common in people of Bronx and how they are looked down by hospital authorities. It was all like the authority had given up on these people. The number of drug users were high and violence were common. In the first chapter of the book, Kozol brought in stories about the dysfunctional hospital system. He took a walk with a friend who showed him a place where hospitals burns bodies. The system was was so poor and ill-treating that even the nurses who worked at the hospital wouldn’t want to go to these very hospitals should they get hurt in an accident by always carrying a note around. Kozol talked about a woman in the book who had moved to Bronx after diagnosed with AIDS and every time she would go to the hospital, she wouldn’t even get a bed to sleep on until it was the sixth day of her waiting. There was one side of the city of New York which had the richest people living there while on the other hand, from Bronx to Harlem, the neighborhood was full of poor black and Hispanic people. Poor housing was evident of the miserable conditions these financially crippled people were in. Kozol even went on to talk about SSI or Supplemental Security Income, which despite being introduced to help out common people in their sickness, many people of the Bronx community were denied that because apparently having the AIDS wasn’t sick enough of a reason to claim SSI. And there were also cases where the negligence shown by the authority was immense; a girl who died of AIDS, was never approved for SSI while she was alive but only after she died. Her husband was able to cheat on the system by withdrawing money under his dead wife’s name for a long time right under the authority’s nose.
The people of Bronx had voted people to power indefinitely but they do not know who these people are who are doing all those utterly inhumane things to them. The powerful representative of each level of government have put them into housings where life can’t be lived. There are diseased people and the houses are in such poor conditions which can not be even imagined. The schools are not properly regulated and diseases such as AIDS were more common than we can think of.
The reason Kozol wrote so much authentic stories about the life of the people, wasn’t for triggering a war but discussion. It’s been more than twenty years and the sufferings of Black people is still evident from east to west coast. The Flint water crisis is a great example. Thousands of people living in the city is still underprivileged and still recovering from the water poisoning. If one asks the authority, they say the water is safe to drink but the people know it’s not.
The question that Kozol really leaves us with is why are they going through all these? Kozol mentions a Hispanic girl who takes her mother to doctors because she can’t speak English, and the girl cannot even describe the poor treatments they receive. For me, it is kind of relatable due to the fact that I am a daughter to two immigrant parents and I have to carry out the same duties as her. I have had the privilege to immigrate to this country to live as a legal resident and I am grateful for the living conditions I have got. But reading the book by Kozol, my mind has opened up so much. I have been thinking about the underprivileged living here, who were so much close to living a perfect life in a bubble, just like how the American Dream states. But who is to be blamed here? For the jobs that do not feed them enough nor are the proper medical treatments any less expensive to not starve them year-long? Most importantly for the living conditions they just happen to stumble upon?
Food for thought!
Kozol puts out the stories of the dysfunctional life people lives in a very neatly order. He mentions how AIDS and other diseases are so common in people of Bronx and how they are looked down by hospital authorities. It was all like the authority had given up on these people. The number of drug users were high and violence were common. In the first chapter of the book, Kozol brought in stories about the dysfunctional hospital system. He took a walk with a friend who showed him a place where hospitals burns bodies. The system was was so poor and ill-treating that even the nurses who worked at the hospital wouldn’t want to go to these very hospitals should they get hurt in an accident by always carrying a note around. Kozol talked about a woman in the book who had moved to Bronx after diagnosed with AIDS and every time she would go to the hospital, she wouldn’t even get a bed to sleep on until it was the sixth day of her waiting. There was one side of the city of New York which had the richest people living there while on the other hand, from Bronx to Harlem, the neighborhood was full of poor black and Hispanic people. Poor housing was evident of the miserable conditions these financially crippled people were in. Kozol even went on to talk about SSI or Supplemental Security Income, which despite being introduced to help out common people in their sickness, many people of the Bronx community were denied that because apparently having the AIDS wasn’t sick enough of a reason to claim SSI. And there were also cases where the negligence shown by the authority was immense; a girl who died of AIDS, was never approved for SSI while she was alive but only after she died. Her husband was able to cheat on the system by withdrawing money under his dead wife’s name for a long time right under the authority’s nose.
The people of Bronx had voted people to power indefinitely but they do not know who these people are who are doing all those utterly inhumane things to them. The powerful representative of each level of government have put them into housings where life can’t be lived. There are diseased people and the houses are in such poor conditions which can not be even imagined. The schools are not properly regulated and diseases such as AIDS were more common than we can think of.
The reason Kozol wrote so much authentic stories about the life of the people, wasn’t for triggering a war but discussion. It’s been more than twenty years and the sufferings of Black people is still evident from east to west coast. The Flint water crisis is a great example. Thousands of people living in the city is still underprivileged and still recovering from the water poisoning. If one asks the authority, they say the water is safe to drink but the people know it’s not.
The question that Kozol really leaves us with is why are they going through all these? Kozol mentions a Hispanic girl who takes her mother to doctors because she can’t speak English, and the girl cannot even describe the poor treatments they receive. For me, it is kind of relatable due to the fact that I am a daughter to two immigrant parents and I have to carry out the same duties as her. I have had the privilege to immigrate to this country to live as a legal resident and I am grateful for the living conditions I have got. But reading the book by Kozol, my mind has opened up so much. I have been thinking about the underprivileged living here, who were so much close to living a perfect life in a bubble, just like how the American Dream states. But who is to be blamed here? For the jobs that do not feed them enough nor are the proper medical treatments any less expensive to not starve them year-long? Most importantly for the living conditions they just happen to stumble upon?
Food for thought!