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| When i was reading the chapter from Amazing Grace it reminded me a lot of the first few chapters in this book Kozol wrote too. |
Although most Americans remain willfully ignorant to it there are slums in America. Recently i took a business trip to Philadelphia it was my first time to a big city. I remember admiring how every building looked like art, there was city sweepers, and everything was so clean. I had wanted to visit Philly's main DCYF building to get a sense of the programs they had for youth in care and how they implemented them so i jumped on the subway. Somewhere along the lines i took a wrong turn and when i got off the subway and walked up to ground level i was stunned. It was like the people here didn't exist as if, they had been completely forgotten about. I mean just a few blocks away i was beautiful, well kept, and bustling...what makes that side more important than this side? I was still in Philadelphia. The reading reminded me of this trip how one side of the city seemed so worthy and the other worthy of nothing. Honestly im still incredibly confused by the whole thing because when you have a city that is flourishing as well as Philly which holds hundreds of massive conferences and brings in millions of dollars you would think some of that money would overflow and help the lesser fortunate parts of the state grow. I would love to meet the man who made the decision on where the street sweepers can go I'd love to ask him how he decided at what parts of Philly are worthy of being clean and which parts are not.
This reading also reminded me of the days i lived with my best friend in Manton projects, RI. Bianca and I had become the best of friends after sharing a room in a local children's shelter and often we would run away and stay at her home in the projects. As a young white girl from Exeter i was definitely out of my comfort zone. When i was reading the chapter last night the feelings i felt i realized were not coming primarily from the reading but from my lived experience. Living in Manton i had grew accustomed to a whole new culture and although i first felt so afraid i left feeling like i belonged everything became "normal". There was cockroaches literally everywhere, trash on the streets, babies crying, and the violence....I can't even begin. When i was reading and the mother kept saying " What else can i say?" there is something that living in those condition does to people like they feel trapped. I get very angry when people mantain the attitude "Well why don't they just move out?" if only it was that easy. The youth that i was surrounded by literally lived in survival mode constantly there was fear of being "jumped", fear of the men, the dark. Those youth knew so much more about things they should have never had too. I could go on for days so.....
Anyways, in my personal opinion there is absolutely no need for "ghettos". To me they just emphasize how bad America segregates class and that's despicable. I feel like when a city has met it its needs the extra funding should go to the other cities. For example Newport has successfully financially supported its city after a yearly income of 1.2 million but it made 2.1 million take some of that overhead and help fix up providence. Why couldn't that work??.. Think of the benefits to that, Having "Ghettos benefits NOBODY. It's a fact that it generates high drug use, illness, and disease..and of course it does. You live in those conditions and tell me how you feel, how much hope you have,
