Jonathan Kozol, through time spent with people in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the South Bronx, was given the ability to look at the lives of its residents. He saw that a large majority of the population was victim to AIDS and drugs. He saw that gunshots were almost a daily occurrence despite the presence of many young children. He saw that the idea of the curse of race and socioeconomic status had been engrained into the minds of children before they were even old enough for school.
David Washington, a young man with whom Kozol spends a great amount of time and phone calls, believes “that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that they don’t need to use it to help people – that is my idea of evil.”
Perhaps the worst evil that Kozol witnessed was the city-funded mural painted on a wall in the neighborhood that faces the highway. It creates the impression that one is looking into the pretty homes in the neighborhood, painting the illusion of a comfortable lifestyle of the neighborhood, while exactly the opposite is true.
What were the intentions behind the mural? According to Gizelle Luke, program director of Covenant House in West Manhattan, “the idea is that [the tourists and commuters] mustn’t be upset by knowing too much about the population here.” Not only does this contribute to the ignorance of outsiders but also emphasizes segregation of races and classes. The mural paints the dream of a better life for the people of the neighborhood, but the irony of this symbol only enforces that this illusion can never become reality; it must live forever as merely a pretty picture in the mind.
Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol. Chapters 1-3.
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