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Gentrification in east harlem
Problems Faced By Inner City Areas
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As part of the summer reading assignment this year, I read the book Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol. In this documentary-style book, he told about the horrible yet completely realistic conditions of the most poor, rundown neighborhoods and districts in New York City. Kozol wrote the book for the purpose of telling the stories of the children who lived in these parts of the city. He dedicated his work to those children and it was his goal to inform readers that slums were in fact in existence and the children who resided there did not deserve to live in such a poverty-stricken area. The question "Why should their childhood be different from others across the country?" arose often and needs to be examined by all. In some ways the stories, accounts and tales of these inner city children were shocking. I was aware that slums existed, but knew nothing of how they functioned, what living conditions were really like, or how the people there managed to live. But in no way was I aware that such conditions existed in America, the so called "Land of Opportunity." It seems it was just the opposite in these ghettos. There was very little, if any for the people living here. No chance whatsoever of employment outside the ghetto, or being accepted outside it. It was their home, they were not supposed to leave it, and when they did they were eyed with hate by other people who did not want to be in their presence. I was also mortified by the extremely high amounts of child deaths in this particular ghetto. It seemed terrible that so many young children were getting killed, whether it be an accidental death in an elevator shaft, and mistaken shootings, or because of the extremely unhealthy conditions they were living in and the poor treatments that were available at area hospitals. I cannot even imagine myself in those conditions or anyone for the matter. The stories of peoples bravery in the face of so much adversity affected me the most. I am amazed by the people who live in these terrible conditions day after day year after year yet still have the drive to go on and encourage others that things will be better and that one day everything will be all right. I greatly admire the people like Mrs. Washington who raised a boy on her own, with no husband, taught him to live morally in such a place where it was so much easier to live the other way, and then opened her life to Kozol and told him everything about the ghetto. She lived with extreme determination, and often sacrificed her well being for the sake of others. She was a real role model for all those living in the ghetto. There was not a clear cut solution presented in the book, nor is there just one way to solve these problems. It seemed like things were still working against pulling the ghetto out of its poverty. The new mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, had just cut more funding for AIDS programs, an epidemic which ran rampart in the ghetto, and for welfare, which so many people living there counted on for their mere existence. One solution is to instead increase funding, helping those who live there get jobs, straighten out their lives, but after living there for so long, it would almost be virtually impossible, almost the same as a prisoner who has spent fifty years in prison trying to become part of the outside world. Another solution is to talk to these people, learn about them, let them get through to you, and to help them in anyway possible, but this too is hard to do. There is no definitive approach to solving the many problems of poverty, but we should be constantly working towards that goal. After reading this book, I do feel some type of responsibility, as I think everyone who reads this book does. I think that these conditions can not be allowed to continue, and these people living in the ghettos are humans like everyone else and it is completely wrong to segregate or discriminate them. They should not be treated inferior. But as much as I would like to do something, it seems hard. I would be scared to be honest to travel into these neighborhoods and talk to people there. Sending a check to a charity might help, but in a way that is just giving them a piece of paper once a year and pushing the whole situation out of ones mind. Something more personal has to be done to alleviate the suffering. But no matter what it is, these stories and tales of pain and suffering cannot continue, we as moral people need to decide how we can help.
While reading Amazing Grace, one is unable to escape the seemingly endless tales of hardship and pain. The setting behind this gripping story is the South Bronx of New York City, with the main focus on the Mott Haven housing project and its surrounding neighborhood. Here black and Hispanic families try to cope with the disparity that surrounds them. Mott Haven is a place where children must place in the hallways of the building, because playing outside is to much of a risk. The building is filled with rats and cockroaches in the summer, and lacks heat and decent water in the winter. This picture of the "ghetto" is not one of hope, but one of fear. Even the hospitals servicing the neighborhoods are dirty and lack the staff that is needed for quality basic care. If clean bed sheets are needed the patients must put them on themselves. This book is filled with stories of real people and their struggles. Each story, though different in content, has the same basic point, survival.
...ll. The inner city has many complications the fact that most are African American is a mere coincidence. If we as a nation are capable of fixing all institutions and structural issues we could bring the slums out of poverty. The cycle of unemployment and poverty is a terrible cycle that cannot only be judged by race and cultural values. When reading this book keep in mind the difficulties, any family or person could go through these tribulations. There are many arguments and sides to each problem; this is another one of those. The battle for inner city poverty, and the factors that go along with it, has not been finished. Wilson brings out a different aspect which could help people expand horizons and come up with better solutions.
Jonathan Kozol's book, Amazing Grace, analyzes the lives of the people living in the dilapidated district of South Bronx, New York. Kozol spends time touring the streets with children, talking to parents, and discussing the appalling living conditions and safety concerns that plague the residents in the inner cities of New York. In great detail, he describes the harsh lifestyles that the poverty stricken families are forced into; day in and day out. Disease, hunger, crime, and drugs are of the few everyday problems that the people in Kozol's book face; however, many of these people continue to maintain a very religious and positive outlook on life. Jonathan Kozol's investigation on the lifestyle of these people, shows the side to poverty that most of the privileged class in America does not get to see. Kozol wishes to persuade the readers to sympathize with his book and consider the condition in which these people live. The inequality issues mentioned are major factors in affecting the main concerns of Kozol: educational problems, healthcare obstacles, and the everyday struggles of a South Bronx child.
Kotlowitz does an excellent job portraying how demoralizing life in the ghetto really is. Through showing what the children of the book go through, Kotlowitz remains very neutral. He bestows the thoughts, fears, and hopes of inner-city children that normally are not exposed to those who do not live in these circumstances. Lafayette and Pharoah are only two of the thousands of children suffering in these disturbing conditions. The Chicago Housing Authority did go in and clean up the buildings, but without accessible money there is not that much that can be done. The children born into poverty cannot overcome the situation, unless they are provided with the means and opportunities to do so.
The West side of Chicago, Harlem, Watts, Roxbury, and Detroit. What do all of these areas have in common? These areas, along with many others have become mine fields for the explosive issues of race, values, and community responsibility, led by the plight of the urban underclass. Issues such as violent crime, social separation, welfare dependence, drug wars, and unemployment all play a major role in the plight of American inner-city life. Alex Kotlowitz's book: There Are No Children Here, confronts America's devastated urban life; a most painful issue in America. Kotlowitz traces the lives of two black boys; 10 year old LaFayette, and 7 year old Pharoah, as they struggle to beat the odds growing up in one of Chicago's worst housing projects. Their family includes a welfare dependent mother, an alcholic-drug using father, an older sister, an older brother, and younger triplets. Kotlowoitz describes the horrors of an ill-maintained housing project completely taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings are an everyday thing. Kotlowitz does a fine job at portraying ghetto life; those who are outside the American dream. He succeeds at putting a face on th people trapped inside the housing projects with virtually no hope of escape. One can truly feel a sense of great loss for the family, and a great deal of hope for the two young boys. You can truly feel yourself hoping that things will work out for them, and you can really feel like you know these young men on a personal basis. Kotlowotz spent a great deal of time with the boys so he could portray the world from the eyes of a child growing up in the ghetto, and he does an amazing job.
In the Pulitzer prize-winning novel Evicted, sociologist Matthew Desmond follows eight families as he exposes how the lack of affordable housing perpetuates a state of poverty. He even goes so far as to assert that it is eviction that is a cause of poverty, not the other way around (Desmond 229). While this latter argument is as engrossing and it is striking, analyzing it with justice is simply not possible within the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, it is these two factors—inescapable poverty and eviction—that engender an unrelenting condition of financial, emotional, and communal instability, effectively hindering any chance of upward mobility.
It is said by Felicia Morgan’s attorney, Robin Shellow, that the environment in which Morgan grew up in was somewhat comparable to a “war zone.” In some ways I agree with Shellow and believe that there are similarities between the two. Although the attorney makes it clear that there is a difference between the ghetto and a war zone and that the ghetto is in some ways worse. Shellow starts off by saying, “In war, there is at least a sense that someday there will be a resolution, some vision that things could be different. That is not the case in the inner cities. There is no vision. And there is no sense of who is friend and who is foe.” From what the media tells citizens, the g...
The impoverished and the homeless live in another world compared to those of us that are fortunate enough to have stable living conditions. Families are struggling to survive with the little government assistance they receive. The quality and space in a shelter or even government provided living is atrocious and, to be frank, borderline unlivable. Quindlen describes a family of six cramped into a single bedroom, an inexcusable and terrible way to live and yet better than nothing at all (332). Children of families that have to live in situations like this grow up not knowing stability or security.
In the story "Outcasts United" by Warren St. John it talks about how the families that have moved to Atlanta from various war torn countries struggle to live a normal life. Many parents of the kids barely get to see their children and rely on them to take care of the house and infants. These living conditions make it very hard for the children to get a good education, and better their families lives. Without a good education these families will live in poverty for many generations.
New York City is claimed to be one of the greatest cities in the world. Many are blinded by the breathtaking skyline, the endless opportunities, and the hustle and bustle of the streets. As one of the economic capitals of the world, it is surprising to hear that about 30 percent of children currently residing in New York City are living in poverty (Cheney). New York City has evolved into a city for the wealthy by eliminating inexpensive housing and jobs, forcing many families to the streets (Elliot). Many are unaware of how prevalent child poverty is.
In the ethnography “Understanding Inner-City Poverty: Resistance and Self Destruction under U.S Apartheid,” Philippe Bourgois, in East Harlem New York, researches the misunderstanding of inner-city poverty with an intersectional approach because of the way he incorporates the culture of resistance, race, class, and gender.
This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.
...is was an excellent book that discussed a lot of information. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. Within the book in each chapter it talks about every aspect of the street code with great information on each topic. The information that each chapter discusses are the, Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, the decent daddy, the mating game, and the black inner city grandmother. Each one of these chapters has major points and good information within them and I would personally want anyone to read this book because it helps you understand and give you a better view into someone else’s world.
Not many people would even dare to blink past these filthy areas as they were either completely oblivious and unaware or chose to ignore it. This wasn't until Jacob Riis, photographer, journalist, and social reformer used his talent and expertise to bring attention to the lack of viability in tenement housing with his book, How The Other Half Lives. Riis himself experienced a difficult journey through jobs that led to his later success, this allowed him a closer look at how the poor lived. He used his privilege as a successful photojournalist and police reporter to create the disheartening eye opening experience into a world that was incapable of helping itself. At this time many of the upper class citizen of New York City were blind to the horrific conditions immigrants were forced to live into, which gave Riis’ book the audience he needed to not only state the gruesome truth of living in the slums, but also present photographic evidence of inhuman living and working situations of that
Throughout Jane Eyre, as Jane herself moves from one physical location to another, the settings in which she finds herself vary considerably. Bronte makes the most of this necessity by carefully arranging those settings to match the differing circumstances Jane finds herself in at each. As Jane grows older and her hopes and dreams change, the settings she finds herself in are perfectly attuned to her state of mind, but her circumstances are always defined by the walls, real and figurative, around her.