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Poverty And Racism In Amazing Grace By Jonathan Kozol

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It was once said “six feet of earth make all men equal” (Anonymous) but why is it in Jonathan Kozol’s book Amazing Grace we see something completely different? Kozol takes his reader into the depths of poverty and racism by showing the reader the Bronx. Kozol makes a statement through pathos that America has a great problem that needs fixed and that problem is poverty and discrimination. Another theme that stood out is using children to show the lack of trust in police. Taken as a whole Kozol is trying to shine a light on how America has not let go of color of skin. For Kozol wants to remove the wool and show the face of reality to his readers and that reality is racism is real. Amazing Grace is the story of Kozol’s time spent in the south Bronx. In this time Kozol paints a picture of the broken, rundown, filthy surroundings of the life the people in the south Bronx. Yet this painting has a hint of tragic beauty …show more content…

As he visits more of the Bronx and meets the people that live there Kozol saw how little white people were around. He was curious and asked a group of children how many white kids where in their class. All the students answered none. But one answered something a little different, 12-year-old named Jeremiah said, “Since 1960 white people started moving away from black and Spanish people in New York” (P. 32). This brought Kozol to ask why he thought this and Jeremiah said is “how they live”. A 12 year old boy says the truth and Kozol wanted the reader to see it too. Yes, people may think there is equal opportunity for these children but it is about the way we live and in America the way we live brings the opportunity to us. For example later in Amazing Grace Kozol brings up the graduation rates in the schools and out of 3200 students only 200 may graduate. This here shows that first off the people of the Bronx don’t have the equal right of education for all. Little, 12 years old, Jeremiah really hit reality on the

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