"Amazing Grace" by Johnathan Kuzal

Essay by dancinsqrl07High School, 11th gradeA+, February 2006

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"Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozal focuses on race and poverty by exploring lives of inner-city people in the Bronx. Author Jonathan Kozal focuses on the troubles of everyday life for children who live in the poorest district of the United States, Mott Haven, in New York City's Bronx. These black and Hispanic children strive for survival while living in a community of violence and disease. Thousands of people were killed from fires, accidents shootings or diseases such as AIDS. Their lives seem horrible to think about but they're so used to them that to them that they seem as normal as everyone else's. Living in the poor urban neighborhood of Mott Haven, you never know what will happen next. No one is there to protect you not even the police. Sometimes police respond hours later. If you step on somebody's foot or even look at someone the wrong way he might pull out a gun and kill you.

These are not only adults but young kids. Women are victims of sexual abuse and rape on constant. For example, a little girl who was only eleven was found burned and murdered under the Bruckner Boulevard (Kozol p.48). People get killed for no reason. You can get shot simply just walking in the lobby of your own building. All this disruption is cause by the highest level of poverty seen in America. Poverty is caused by many ways but in the Bronx it seems to be the continuous cycle of drug dealing. Poverty effects the family, jobs and their living conditions.

The Drug problem in the Bronx is a continuous cycle that seems to continue to worsen. Majority of people have drug addictions that are so strong that it is a necessary part of their life. The Drug dealing is...