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Amazing Grace by Johnathan Kozol
While reading the first Chapter of Amazing Grace, I couldn’t help but relate what I was reading to the country where I come from. Kozol takes the reader to the South Bronx, one of the largest, poorest and racially segregated places in the United States. The living conditions are abysmal as this community is “home” to a medical waste incinerator, garbage dumps, syringes used by meth users, and children’s parks filled with empty rusted toxic containers. Children within this community know at least one person who is infected with the HIV virus. This description is insanely similar to what is found in many neighborhoods in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. However, there is a similarity that lies in the children’s attitudes while living in these communities. Kozol’s description challenges the common narrative that poor urban children are “thugs” who don’t want to be approached by complete strangers. “There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway.” I view these children as “wise beyond their years” because they truly have been shunned by an entire nation, yet continue to live their lives in a normal manner with a joy that people not part of such situations take for granted. I command the fact that many of them have been able to stay grounded and firm in their belief while basically living 15 minutes from an entirely different world. 



Because of the nature of his writing throughout this book, Kozol’s audience can be described by the word “broad”. One could say that his audience are urban planners and city governments because they ultimately hold the power to enact tangible change throughout these communities. In fact, there is no one else to blame for these people’s situations than the government itself. In fact Kozol states, “So long as the most vulnerable people in our population are consigned to places that the rest of us will always shun and flee and view with fear, I am afraid that educational denial, medical and economic devastation, and aesthetic degradation will be inevitable.” The consigning in that statement is made by governments who somehow view grouping a large portion of individuals in low cost environments as practical. Another audience to Kozol’s work can also include, you and I, the normal reader who sees these words and reflect on them without having the ability of financially helping an effort to change the cruel truths described in these chapters. What we can do however is place our own lives into perspective and be thankful for what we have and not take any of it for granted.


Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Ch. 3-4)
Both chapters focused heavily on IQ and the role it has on the success of an individual. In Chapter, a man by the name of Chris Langan gets introduced and is described as having an IQ so high that he is considered by many as being the smartest man in the world. Unfortunately, as we learn in Chapter 4, this insane level of intelligence did not translate into any form of success. In fact, one could technically say that Langan never had a college education. The theme of Chapter 3 is essentially that IQ level no matter how high or low does directly determine the level of success an individual will achieve in life. In fact, one test by a scientist named Lewis Terman proved that point to be true. He believed that kids with the highest IQs would go on to be Nobel Prize winners, politicians, entrepreneurs, etc. Instead none of of his subjects, although achieving adequate middle class success, achieved that extreme level of success. Ironically, two kids he rejected for having IQs he deemed too low, went on to win Nobel Prizes.
The main takeaway from Chapter 4 is the role that “class” plays in success. Gladwell points out that there is threshold reached by gifted ones where beyond it, certain variables begin to come into play, with financial status while growing up being an important one. Gladwell compares Langan with Robert Oppenheimer, the man who famously led the effort to create the nuclear bomb in WWII. Both were intellectual marvels as child but grew up in dramatically different financial and familial situations. Langan’s father was barely in his life and the rare moments where he was, he barely contributed to Langan’s development. As a result, Langan grew up with a feeling of constraint which haunted him even in his post-secondary studies. Oppenheimer on the other hand grew up with both of his well to do parents in his life. They encouraged him to participate in clubs, taught him skills such as public speaking, and fostered his passions. As a result, despite his grave mistake in college, Oppenheimer developed practical intelligence on top of his already insane amount of IQ intelligence. The differences between their situations all led to the fact that one is a world renowned scientist who is credited with having helped change the course of history while the other is not even known unless a college student, like myself, is assigned a reading in which his name somehow comes up.

Thoughts on Mandela
Nelson Mandela needs no introduction. He is known throughout the world as one of the greatest revolutionaries in history. He authored the book “Long Walk to Freedom” in which he profiles his upbringing, education and struggle while imprisoned for his beliefs regarding the appalling nature of South Africa’s then apartheid driven government. In the section of the book I read, he speaks about how prisons are meant to strip individuals of their individuality, which in his case represented the voice of the many non-white Africans who suffered from the segregation that Apartheid made them subject to. In a way, prisons in general are meant to eliminate that spark that is within any human being that wants to bring change to fundamentally established governmental philosophies. The spark that suddenly lights up when they are faced with adversity or tough times. The spark that is the very basis of all genius and advancement. Mandela also emphasizes the fact that a group effort has more meaning and is generally stronger than a singular effort made by one individual when working towards achieving a goal. In fact, he states that had he gone through his imprisonment alone, he would not have made it out alive. By leaving the prisoners together, the government essentially gave them the life saving opportunity to bond with one another and reinforce to each other what they already believed in.
The central theme found throughout Mandela’s book is the well known yet simple concept that “together is stronger.” Change will not happen unless the oppressed stick together and fight their common evil or oppressor. Without relying on each other, the fight is essentially pointless. A chain is truly as strong as its weakest link. Mandela encapsulates this principle beautifully when he states “I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.” (81)


Thoughts on Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass is considered to be one of the greatest civil rights reformers in history. In his book, “ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” Douglass writes about his story and how it turned him into the great man that he became. “The fatal poison of irresponsible fire was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.” (330) This statement from Douglass is very powerful due to the fact that to that point, he describes the mistress as a woman of unparalleled kindness, which even alters his typical behavior around white woman. When applied to modern times or life in general, this statement teaches us that more often than not, we are a product of our environment unless we make a conscious choice to hold on to our individuality. In Douglass’ case, his new mistress had never been the mistress of a slave before as shown by her attitude, once she became one, she became filled with the disgusting hate that is so common within slave masters of the day.

After reading texts from both authors, I can make certain connections between Douglass and Martin Luther King. They are both similar in their ability to hit the emotional strings of their readers through vivid imagery but it seemed to me that MLK had a more futuristic tone to his argument. While reading MLK’s letter, I noticed that he seemed to be looking out for future generations while still criticizing the injustices of his time. All in all, they both are legendary civil rights advocates who were not afraid to speak out against the sheer evil nature of the biases and injustices fostered by individuals of the time they lived in.

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