Kozol

Amazing Grace

Jonathan Kozol

Connections

I really enjoyed reading this piece and thought it to be very interesting and thought provoking. Many times I found myself thinking back to the Johnson article, Privilege, Power, and Difference. Although Johnson wrote his piece six years later, I could see some of the same issues being pointed at. For example, in Kozol’s piece he talks about the lifestyle of those living in poverty. One woman whom he talks to tells him about the many items that get dumped in the neighborhood due to its run-down appearance. He asks this woman if these kinds of things are insulting to them. She responds, “The truth is, you get used to the offense” (Kozol 10). The people living in this neighborhood have learned to “get used to” people dumping things they don’t want, essentially garbage, in their streets. I can’t help but to think back to when Johnson was discussing privilege. In his piece he said, “Privilege is always at someone else’s expense and always exacts a cost” (Johnson 10). These privileged people, lucky enough to have this “garbage” come to a poor neighborhood, and at the expense of those living there, and dump what they don’t want costing the poor to accept their state of poverty.

I also couldn’t help but relate Kozol’s reading to Delpit’s discussion of “the culture of power”. Kozol’s reading actually specifically referred to this idea of power. He quoted the son of a woman he spent time talking to when he said, “Somebody has power. Pretending that they don’t so they don’t need to use it to help people – that is my idea of evil” (Kozol 23). This boy explains that rich people, those in power, have done nothing to help those living in poverty. One of Delpit’s five aspects of power is, “Those with power are frequently least aware of – or least willing to acknowledge – its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence” (Delpit 26). These people living in this poor neighborhood in New York know very well that they are not in power. According to this boy, they also think that those who are in power, in this case people with money, should acknowledge that and do something to fix the issue of power.

Point to Share:

This reading raised a lot of thought and questions for me. One that sticks out is, why do people living in poverty just “get used to it”? Or more importantly, what can be done to ensure that they don’t? Just because you are born into a family living in poverty, doesn’t mean that has to become what’s “normal” for you. Every child deserves the chance at a better life. They shouldn’t be taught that people dumping their garbage in your neighborhood is something to expect.