Talking Points 1 (Amazing Grace)

1. "At the elementary school that serves the neighborhood across the avenue, only seven of 800 children do not qualify for free school lunches. Five of those seven, says the principal, get reduced-price lunches, because they are classified as only poor, not destitute."

This excerpt from Amazing Grace honestly put me into shock. How can 793 kids be in that situation. How can we as people allow something like that? It's so unfortunate that in a way it's embarrassing for Americans, we are supposed to be a country that provides opportunity and a better life. By the statement above it's the complete opposite. There has to be something that can be done in order to help these people. In conclusion, this is honestly probably one of the most disturbing statistics I've ever read.

2. "A former cocaine addict who now helps addicted women and their children, she tells me that more than 3,000 homeless families have been relocated by the city in this neighborhood during the past few years."

When you sit back and examine this statement it takes a second for you to realize how ridiculous this really is. Not 3,000 people, but 3,000 families that is approx. 12,000 people that are homeless and relocated. That's the population of Syracuse University and imagine every student there being homeless and relocated. It's truly a sad situation, we as people have to make the extra effort to help people in need. This reminds of me relating back to article written by Johnson when he uses the dogs as an example of us being the most capable species on the planet yet we can;t even get along. Well, if we are the most capable species how do 3,000 families, homeless ones get relocated? We as people need to be better.

3. " Maybe five or six in 25, she says, have some legitimate employment. Another five or ten are selling drugs or doing prostitution."

If you do the ratio out it's about one out of every five people have a legitimate job. If thats a result of the poor economy than that is pathetic. If it's a result of people being lazy than as a person the need to take responsibility and get a job. Opportunities should be given to these people to improve their work status in order to help motivate them to get real jobs instead of resorting to the quick dollar with selling drugs or prostitution. We need to come together as people and help each other, motivate one another so that we can improve our living situations. These statistics are honestly depressing.

After reading Amazing Grace, all the information that was presented by Kozol was truly eye-opening and depressing. How can we let these problems get this bad? This reading really keeps bringing me back to that Johnson piece where he discusses how in-capable we are as humans. The statistics presented truly backs up that statement. This whole article proves how pathetic we are. I mean another example of this is the guy that got shot in the head outside of the club, like what makes us resort to that sort of thing? It's dumfounding to me. One question that is asked in the piece that needs to be thought about is how or what is like for children to grow up here? How can you raise a family in these situations? I really enjoyed this piece and I'm glad it really made me think about reality.