Kozol, "Amazing Grace" and Goldberg "Jonathon Kozol"

Jonathan Kozol's"Amazing Grace" was both informative and moving. Kozol spoke about the hardships of those living in the Bronx. Issues such as welfare, disease, murder, drugs, prostitution, housing, and hospital conditions were some of the topics Kozol described. It amazed me how these people are living and what small children are constantly subjected to. It made me question how anyone could expect these people to better their lives when they are not given the tools to do so. Another thing that shocked me was that the city of New York allowed a burner to be placed in the Bronx since the previous location on the East Side of Manhattan had been "successfully resisted by the parents of the area because of fear of cancer risks to children". I had to question, why was it not okay for children on the East Side to be subjected to cancer risks, but it was alright for the children in the Bronx to risk the same outcome?
Some of the stories that were told stuck with me for much longer than it took for me to read them. One such story was the following... "In early July of 1993, shortly before the first time that I visited the neighborhood, three more people were shot in 30 minutes in three unrelated murders in the South Bronx, one of them only a lack from St. Ann's Avenue. A week later, a mother was murdered and her baby wounded by a bullet in the stomach while they were standing on a South Bronx corner. Three weeks after that, a minister and elderly parishiner were shot outside the front door of their church, while another South Bronx resident was dscovered in his bathtub with his head cut off. In subsequent days, a man was shot in both eyes and a ten year old was critically wounded in the brain". This description of the amount of violence the residents of this area had to deal with on a daily basis, the fear they must feel doing simple tasks that I take for granted, really made me realize how bad they have it and how hard it would be for one to get out of that horrible situation and environment. Not to mention that most are barely able to afford the necessities in life like food, clothing, and housing so how would it be possible to pay for an education which in this day and age is so rediculously expensive.
I feel that "Amazing Grace" was the most eye opening article thus far. It did not sugarcoat any issues. Kozol also touched on the codes of power that Delpit's "Silenced Dialogue" talked about. One of the boys that Kozol met with frequently, David, called him one night and said, "'Evil Exists' . . . 'I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in tis city is something that a preacher could call evil. 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.'"

Goldberg's "Jonathon Kozol" is basically going against the teaching of Jonathon Kozol. Goldberg beleives that his books are turning American's into a culture who does not have pride for their country and will criticize it every chance they get, but will be easy on other countries. I do not really agree with much of what Goldberg says because how could one man change the way people act or their patriotism? Goldberg also stated that Kozol has affected teaching methods in America. This may be true, I'm really not sure, but again I feel that maybe Americans are so outspoken about their own culture because they were raised to say what they feel and to be grateful for the freedom of speech. The only quote that really stood out to me was "Far too many of today's schools are violent, and far too many are filled with kids who dont care much about learning." I'm not really sure what this had to do with Kozol, because he certaintly could not have single handedly done this to American schools. Goldberg's article was confusing to me, it felt like he was trying to stretch ideas in order to make Kozol look villanious but his points really had no significant relation.