About Me

My name is Sabrina Jouney and I'm an 18 year old student at the University of Michigan Dearborn. What I'd like to discuss is that community service could go farther than just helping within just your community, meaning while you can start off in your community, you should strive to go outside of it as well and help other people within other places that are in need. Even though I myself are guilty of not making my voice heard as well, I still have a head full of ideas that could help us as a society shape the future. Change lies within the younger generation, and that's why I want to become an elementary school teacher, because I strive to shape young minds into powerful minds that crave change

Introduction

Often, when presented with the word “community”, people think immediately of their own community. However, I’d like to challenge that thinking process and present a new way to think about the word “community”. When I think of community, my thoughts don’t immediately go to the place that I live in. I don’t think about only my neighborhood or only about the people around me. I think about different societies all around the world, and how one community has the power to impact other communities as well. I like to think that we should put more emphasis on getting involved in multiple ways, and making everyone feel like they have the chance to do something great and have a big effect on the place around them and then even further than that. It may start with your community, but it shouldn’t be limited to just your community. Even though I am guilty of doing the same thing too, of not making my voice heard, I'd like to express some of the ideas that I have that I plan to put into action in the near future

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My personal experience- an eye opener

When I went to Las Vegas in 2010, that was my first time being exposed to the homeless. I’ve never been to a city area before (even though I live 20 minutes away from Detroit) and I guess I never really saw someone who was homeless before that day in Vegas when we were walking back to our hotel room and there were several people sitting along the sidewalk with signs saying they were hungry and that their children were cold. I will admit, it was very scary to see at the time and I thought that this wasn’t something that was very common. That poverty isn’t as big of an issue as it actually is. However, now that I’m older and actually understand how bad poverty is in America, I’ve started to notice it more and more. In 2017, there were roughly 39.7 million people in poverty. The poverty rate in 2017 was 12.3%, and that was down 0.4% as compared to 2016 (United States Census Bureau). In 2010, there was an estimated 46.2 million in poverty (Stephanie Pappas, US 2010 Poverty Rate). As you can see from these percentages, we have improved, but not enough.

I think that before, in 2010, I just didn’t understand what it meant to be homeless or in poverty because my parents sheltered me from it. My father even admits to it. He works in Detroit, but more of the run-down areas, and he says he could never imagine even driving though those areas with me there because of what he sees on a day-to-day basis. This brings me to Kozol’s Amazing Grace. In the book, Kozol goes through the South Bronx and explains his observations as he talks to the people and looks around his setting. It was a real eye-opener for me when I first read it as to I don’t see things that were described in the book very often in my everyday life. And the fact that Kozol’s main focus is how the children live their lives in the South Bronx just makes it more impactful for me, because I’m only 18. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was 12 years old. It wasn’t that long ago that I was going through childhood, and reflecting back upon it, I had a good one, but the kids Kozol describes are going through things that no child should ever have to go through.

“He speaks of people who, he says, ‘go like this,’ cupping his hands over his face and making the sound of sniffing. ‘What are the sniffing?’ ‘Something called cocaine, I think. A kind of chemical… ‘Then, in the alleys sometimes, you see addicts with their needles and the rope around their arm. It looks like a bracelet. If they see me, they say, ‘Go away!’” (Kozol 97). This is a quote from Kozol’s Amazing Grace, and keep in mind he is talking to a 12-year-old boy. This is normal stuff for him, same for the rest of the kids in the South Bronx. They see these things and think it’s normal since their so used to seeing this, and honestly I never knew about this issue until I read the book. Granted, this book was written in 1995 but in 2016, 40% of children are below the poverty level (City Data). Not on the brink of poverty, but below the poverty line.

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How does this apply to today's time?

Let’s jump into today’s time. I shared my thought process on not learning the full story when it came to history because I feel like that affects us in today’s time as well. What I’m trying to get at here is that we don’t know the full story about anything when you think about it. Very rarely do we ask ourselves what’s happening outside of where we’re living, let alone what’s happening outside of our own lives. It sounds selfish, but it really isn’t. We have our own lives to worry about too, and we don’t have time to save the world, right? Wrong. No, we literally cannot save the entire world, but we can start it off. How I like to think about it is like a band. In marching band, you have a drum major who gives the band the first downbeat, and then the band starts to play together. There might be solos here and there, but the band always has to come together to play the music beautifully. In any type of movement, it takes the downbeat of one person to make the whole community come together and play. In order to get the full story of what’s happening in the world around us, we have to go out there and see it for ourselves. Establish connections with people within our own communities and learn where they come from. Whether they come from the other side of Telegraph or if they come from Syria, they have a different community than you do. They have a different part of the story to share. No two areas are alike.

According to CBS news’s 11 poorest cities list, Detroit ranked #1 (America’s 11 poorest cities). I didn’t only stop here however. I checked multiple lists, and even though Detroit wasn’t number one on all of them, it was still up there. According to Mlive Michigan news, going off the census data, Detroit ranked #6 on cities with the lowest median household income (See richest, poorest U.S. cities). Before writing this essay, I’ll admit, I didn’t know any of these facts myself. Like mentioned before, I haven’t really been to Detroit all that much growing up. When we would go down there to go to Campus Martius or the riverwalk, my dad would drive through some of the poorer neighborhoods. I would see houses that had windows that were bordered up, some roofs were ripping at the seams, bricks were falling out of the front of the house, some houses even had evidence of burns. Some of the places that need the most help are the ones that are closest to us.

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Works Cited

Leob, Paul. Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times. St. Martin's Griffin, 2010.

Webb, Paul. Selma. DuVernay, Ava. Pathé UK and Plan B, 2014.

Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. Broadway Paperbacks, an Imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., 2012.

Kennedy, Bruce. “America’s 11 poorest cities”. Moneywatch, CBS, February 18, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/media/americas-11-poorest-cities/

Fontenot, Kayla. Semega, Jessica. Kollar, Melissa. “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2017”. United States Census Bureau, September 12, 2018, https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2018/demo/p60-263.html

Pappas, Stephanie. “US 2010 Poverty Rate Highest Since 1993”. Live Science, September 13, 2011,  https://www.livescience.com/16034-2010-poverty-rate.html

City-Data.com. “Bronx, New York (NY) Poverty Rate Data”. 2018, http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Bronx-New-York.html

Reflection

When writing this paper, truthfully, I was kind of stuck on what to write about. I spent a good 10 minutes just staring at the blank paper that would soon be my mind map. But, what kind of got my gears turning was thinking of other classes I’ve taken, not just this one. I’m taking intro to sociology, and I remember during class one day my professor was talking about how even though this generation has social media and so many different outlets that could plug them into different places all around the world and that with the technology and ways of communication that we have today, we are still so clueless. I can’t argue with him though, because as much as we like to deny it, we don’t really know anything that’s happening in the world around us. He basically said that if it’s not happening around us, that we don’t care to find out pretty much. That we’re only concerned with where we are, the people that we know, we’re only concerned with ourselves. Basically, we’re a selfish generation (disclaimer: He didn’t say it this harshly, I’m making him sound harsher than he actually is, but I’m doing this for the point of summarizing). Also, as you saw in my paper, I credited my social justice class last year. I’ll be quite frank, I wasn’t really a fan of that class while I was taking it, but now that I look back on it, it really helped me prepare for this class and for this paper too. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to write the way I do about these topics without that social justice class.

Personally, I was already inspired while I was writing this paper, but honestly I have to say that while I was typing away my ideas, I became even more inspired and more excited for the years to come. I’m excited for my future career, and I’m even more excited to put my plans to inspire others into action. I think I might have even motivated myself even more by writing all of these ideas down. Like they say, you’re more likely to do something if you write it down.

I can safely say that this class had brought a lot of social issues to my attention. Reading Bhutto, Mandela, and Douglass’s stories were truthfully insightful, and especially discussing how these stories contribute to my idea of democracy. Really these stories seemed to bring a new light to my thought process and make me so thankful for the things that I usually take for granted, like education and the right to vote and use my voice. These are things that not everybody gets the opportunity to do, and after this class, I take that more into consideration. Even though I’m constantly complaining about how stressed out I am for finals or how much I dislike going to class sometimes, I’ll always remain thankful that I was given the chance to come to school and learn. Even though when people are voting the lines are so long sometimes and you have to wait for hours sometimes, I still keep in mind how lucky I am that once I turned 18, I was able to vote and have a say in where I want my future to go. Long story short, this class made me reflect more deeply about things I never really gave much thought to before.

 

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Blog Post 1- Bhutto, Mandela, Douglass, and Democracy

When reading both Bhutto and Mandela’s stories, I couldn’t help but feeling empowered and inspired to look and think about democracy in more depth. In our American society, we’re used to the common phrase “with liberty and justice for all”, as stated in our Pledge of Allegiance that most of us were told to do every morning in our classrooms before we started the day. It would come on over the PA and students were told to stand up, put your hand over your heart, look to the American flag that most, if not all, classrooms had, and repeat the common “I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America...” and so on. We’re taught to believe that we live in a country of opportunity, freedom, and most importantly, the power to use our voice. Even though our country has had our struggle with it, we now live in a democracy. The whole “power to the people” idea was something that I was fortunately born into. But that’s just the thing: I was born in a democratic nation. Not all people can say the same. Some, like Bhutto and Mandela, had to fight for democracy and their voice. Their stories of hardship, persistence, patience, struggle, and sacrifice opened my eyes and showed me that the idea of democracy is something that some countries are still fighting for. And based on Mandella and Bhutto’s stories, it is something worth fighting for.

Bhutto’s story really forced me to open my eyes, especially since I am an Islamic woman as well. The topics she touched upon, such as how Islam and democracy can work together, but the West tries to prevent that from happening, was hard to swallow. The first 12 minutes of the documentary were also very thought-provoking, especially since I could hear her voice and how confident she sounded despite all the threats made against her. Even in her book, her writing doesn’t express and haste or anxiety. With the West saying that Islamic countries could not possibly live with a democracy because “Muslims believe in the sovereignty of God and thus cannot accept man’s law.” (pg. 180), she never showed any anger. She only displayed her thoughts and opinions with quotes from the Quran, explanation of the Islamic religion, and how all mankind, even people of Islamic belief, understand the responsibilities of humankind to create a just society. 

As mentioned before, it was stated that I was happy to be born in a country where we live and breathe democracy. It’s something that I thought I should be proud of. However, Bhutto forced me to open my eyes once again. She pointed out that the United States “speaks of democracy almost in context of the values of religion, using rhetoric about liberty being a ‘God-given’ right. And Western nations often take that standard abroad, preaching democratic values like missionaries preaching religion. The problem arises, of course, in its selective application to bilateral foreign policy relationships.” (pg. 187). This quote got to me because we, as Americans, are proud of our democratic system, but we don’t like to share that ideal. That we, the West, believe that Islamic countries cannot handle their “God-given” right. That we “deliberately blocked any reasonable chance for democratic development in Muslim-majority countries.” (page 186), yet we say how great it is. Long story short, Bhutto’s story hit home in more ways than one. It hit the country I live in and the faith that I believe in. But I am glad that it hit home for me, because it made me connect to her story and really see things the way she did. She was determined and more than willing to put her own life on the line to give the people of her country power.

Bhutto’s argument also ties in to the story of Douglass. The West brags about their democratic values and beliefs, yet they choose to ignore that at one point in time, they weren’t as democratic as they claimed to be. In the 1800s, Fredrick Douglass, along with thousands of other people of color, were denied very basic human rights, including the right to vote and even have their own voice: so, they couldn’t participate in America’s “democracy”. Blacks weren’t even allowed to learn to read and write, so they probably didn’t even know about the democracy that they couldn’t take part in. However, Douglass went against that right and taught himself how to read and write, despite it being deemed “unlawful and “sinful”. In a book he learned to read, “The Columbian Orator”, Douglass soon began to develop his own voice and opinions, and it appears the words on the paper were becoming his own thoughts. “They gave me tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance... What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery; and a powerful vindication of human rights.” (page 334). This explains that once Douglass learned how to read, the idea of human rights and democracy made more and more sense to him. I take Douglass’s story as a huge eye-opener to realize that America hasn’t always been democratic and as great as I thought it was, and that we like to hide our bad pasts under the rug, just like Bhutto states in relation to her argument (“This so-called incompatibility of Islam and democratic governance is used to divert attention from the sad history of Western political intervention in the Muslim world...”) (page 186).  

Something that Mandela’s story showed me was the importance of knowing your enemies and your allies. “It would be very hard if not impossible for one man alone to resist.” (page 73). You must understand what the enemies (the authorities, in Mandela’s situation) are trying to do, so you know what you have to do in order to survive. Mandela couldn’t have done anything without his fellow prison mates, because they stuck together, supported one another, and gained strength from each other. “But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.” (pg. 74). We benefit from a group of people because we cannot grow alone, we cannot conquer alone, we cannot survive alone. Like stated in our previous reading “Soul of a Citizen”, it benefits us more to speak out about what we believe in and get involved in our causes and create new bonds with people who feel the same. The way I like to think about it is to imagine if Mandela or Bhutto never spoke out about their cause, if they never formed allies like fellow prison mates or the people of the Pakistan People’s Party. Would things be the same way they are today? What if Douglass gave up on learning how to read and never fully understood what he was missing out on, thus never having the idea to escape and publish a book on what really happened within the life of a slave?  

 I believe that the fight for democracy is an important one. As mentioned before, I never realized how important our democratic government is to our society. For Bhutto who didn’t have democracy in her country, to Mandela and Douglass who were denied that basic right, the fight is worth it, but it’s a shame that they had to sacrifice so much for it. Although, through this sacrifice came great stories of heroism.

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Blog Post 2- Analysis

Something that I got out of all our discussions in class and in reading was the concept of freedom. How freedom is something that we take advantage of everyday and don’t really think twice about. For people like Bhutto, Fredrick Douglass, Mandela, MLK, among so many others, freedom is something they thought about long and hard. All these leaders had to fight for their rights one way or another, and it wasn’t an easy fight. I was born into a nation that already has freedom for all as their number 1 priority, except it wasn’t always like that. Hearing the stories of all these powerful activists opened my eyes to think about where we once were as a society, and that things haven’t always been this easy.

For example, with Bhutto, she felt as though the West, which is where we live, doesn’t believe that Islamic nations and democracy go along hand-in-hand. As an Islamic woman, this was especially thought provoking because I know that our religion and our beliefs will not stop them from co-existing equally under a democracy. “... Islam is clearly not only tolerant of other religions and cultures but internally tolerant of dissent. Allah tells us over and over again, through the Quran, that he created people of different views and perspectives to see the world in different ways and that diversity is good.” (Bhutto 185). She claims that extremists in Muslim countries have created the bad image of Muslims that the West thinks about, but that isn’t who they really are. Bhutto thinks that real Muslim belief is that we as a people were sent here to live amongst one another and learn from one another, and that’s why power to the people is so important. Because we shouldn’t take away anyone’s God-given right of voice, and we shouldn’t ignore why Muslim countries deserve the rights that the West brags about.

Another thing is even within our own country, we didn’t always give everyone who lived here the same advantages as everyone else. In the story of Douglass, he was a slave here in the U.S., where we claim our main priority is freedom. We need to look back in time to realize that that has not always been the case. Douglass was denied very basic human rights, even the right to learn. He couldn’t read or write, and if he was caught doing so, he'd be punished. This is something else that we take advantage of as well: the fact that we are able to obtain an education. Education is such a beautiful thing that we don’t really think twice about, but to people like Douglass, it was all they could ever think about. When Douglass was finally able to get his hands on some reading material and eventually teach himself how to read, he said that “They gave me tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance... What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery; and a powerful vindication of human rights.” (Douglass 334). A powerful message that I took from this quotation was that he learned about his basic human rights when reading this is that not only did reading open up Douglass’s mind, but it also connected him with his current situation. That slavery was an invasion of human rights, and it’s so shocking to me that if he didn’t learn how to read, he wouldn’t have known the extent of the situation he, among many others of his race, were in.

This ties in with MLK as well. King stood up for what he believed in, and that was freedom and justice for people of color in America. “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come.” (MLK Letter 4). Stories like MLK’s and Bhutto’s and Mandela and Douglass all have one thing in common: freedom for them and their people wasn’t an option until they made it one. Even though this isn’t a direct discussion we held, it’s something that just came as a shock to me when hearing the stories of these great figures.

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Blog Post 3- What is citizenship?

The Google definition of citizenship is “the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country”, but I believe that it’s more than that. My definition of citizenship is similar to the actual definition, yes, but I also believe that being a citizen also means trying to the best of one’s ability to better their country. It doesn’t even have to be the country, it could just be the community. It doesn’t mean having to run for president in order to help our country, it means taking it one step at a time. Doing something small for your community, like donating to a local charity or volunteering at a hospital can do a lot for your country. It doesn’t mean having to attend nationwide protests, it could just mean informing your own self on issues and spreading that knowledge to your peers so now their educated too. Speaking of knowledge on current events as well, this applies to one of the main things that can help us impact our community: voting. 

Like mentioned before, I believe that citizenship is doing more to help not your country, but just even starting with your community. One big way to do that is by voting, which is also one of your civic duties as a citizen. Voting, even if it’s “just the primaries”, can make a big impact on your community and on your country in general. No matter what you’re voting for, it’s a big deal and also is one of the easiest and convenient ways to make your voice heard. As a citizen, you just now made a huge contribution to your community by just filling in a bubble sheet. It is, of course, a lot more than just a sheet with names that you have to bubble in, but it isn’t that hard to get out and vote and make your voice heard, thus making a difference and helping your community (hopefully) move forward and advance.  

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I actually casted my first vote today, and it felt very powerful and even though again, physically it’s just a bubble sheet, it’s much more. You’re actually taking part of your state/country in your hands. To me, that’s a huge factor of citizenship. I also believe that knowledge is a huge part of citizenship as well. Again, like previously mentioned, even just learning about a world-wide, nationwide, or community-wide issue can help make a difference, and can help better move you and your fellow citizens forward. And not only on current issues, but also educating yourself on past issues. Even though we don’t want to relive the past, that’s just the point. Educating ourselves on what happened in the past can help us move forward, and like the Google definition of citizenship states, “advances” us.  

Going back to a little while ago in the semester, we read about MLK and how he was one of the many influential leaders that helped us become more equal, despite differences in skin color. I’m not trying to imply that we’ll go back to that, but it’s good that we learn things like that (the bad things that happened in our country, it’s good to know about the bad and the ugly) so we can find ways to prevent it from ever happening it again, and pushing our country backwards instead of forwards. Also something else that I connect this to is Chimamanda’s “Danger of a Single Story” TED talk, and also the first chapter of “Soul of a Citizen”. I think back to these because they both discussed how we don’t always get the whole story. Chimamanda shared the story of how her roommate in college asked her to play her native songs and was surprised when she played popular pop music, and how Chimamanda could use kitchen appliances. In “Soul of a Citizen”, the example of Rosa Parks was given, and how she’s the face of one of the biggest movements in American history, yet we don’t know all the hard work that was actually put into equal rights for the races. It was much more than Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat for a white man, yet we don’t always consider that. This is why I think that educating yourself on past and present issues is important, and when I say we must educate ourselves, I mean educate ourselves on the whole stories.  

In conclusion, I believe that citizenship revolves primarily on trying to better our country or our communities one step at a time, and no action is ever too small. Every small act of kindness counts, every vote counts, every volunteer hour counts, every dollar donated counts, and the list goes on and on. I believe that citizenship is educating ourselves on the past and using the to reflect on the present, and also making ourselves aware on past issues to make sure we only more forward and advance as opposed to move backwards.   

Blog Post 4- Reflection

One story that I’m choosing to reflect about is on page 74, the story about Charlayne and the drug dealers on the stairs of her apartment building. She says that some of them treat her politely, and other don’t, like this one drug dealer that knows she doesn’t like him, and followed her down the stairs and down the street. He even followed her into the store she was going to and tried saying something to her. I feel the need to go back to this story because it makes me personally feel uncomfortable. I couldn’t imagine something like that happening to me or what’d I do if I were in Charlayne’s position. And the fact that he probably had a shot-gun with him (the men on the stairs did, it didn’t say if the dealer who followed her had a gun on him or not, but it’s still scary to think about either way. Like the mere thought that the men on the stairs who were with him had guns is absolutely terrifying) makes it even more uncomfortable. She’s a woman who was alone, being followed by a drug dealer, possibly with a gun. As a woman who’s been in somewhat of a similar situation (my friends and I were driving and got followed for about 10 minutes by two men) I just can’t imagine that there isn’t much emphasis on safety in the Bronx. Especially since she probably grew up around this stuff so it didn’t startle her as much as it would’ve startled me, but it’s still sad and scary to think about

Another story I’d like to reflect on from the first part of the book is on page 95, when Anthony was explaining the plague that’s coming to the Bronx. He lectured Kozol about the history of plagues, but when Kozol asked about the plague that he’s referring to, he talks about drugs, sadness, and desperation. Kozol asked what could end this plague, to which Anthony responds that only God can fix it. I chose to reflect on this story because it has a powerful meaning behind it, in my opinion. Because the conversation between Anthony and Kozol continue for several pages, however on page 96, Anthony says that the Bronx isn’t God’s Kingdom. His Kingdom is a place of glory, but the Bronx is a place of pain, and I highlight this part of the conversation because it’s sad to think that even the people of the Bronx have lost all hope, that they know their city is in shambles, and there’s not anything they, as a society, can do about it. I feel like this shows that there’s a sense of hopelessness. I also think this is interesting because in psychology, we’re learning about happiness, and some of the happiest people are those who have strong religious relations because with religion comes hope and faith, but it even seems like that doesn’t apply to them. That having a belief in a greater power doesn’t do them much good. Also, something that surprises me the most too is that these are all the thoughts of a 12-year-old boy. He seems so educated about the area he lives in, yet he feels as though he can’t do anything about it which is sad since he’s so young and has a whole life ahead to make a difference.  

Jumping to the second half of the book, I’d like to discuss the story shared on page 151 continuing onto page 152. The story about “moondog”, a 21-year-old man who was shot because he was protected a pregnant woman. The woman and the baby are fine, but the man who protected them died. He loved dogs and would bring him home, he put others far before himself and meant it, he had a good heart, yet died young. Also, as if this didn’t already tug at my heartstrings, the fact the Kozol described the painting of the dog (which represented the man’s death) was an unusual memorial. I’d like to draw attention to this because yes, even though it was unusual for the area, it’s something beautiful. It’s a sad story, but a happier moment because the man loved dogs, and that’s kind of how he’ll be remembered. By his love of dogs. And even though the way he died was very noble and heroic, they’ll know who he was as a person, that people who didn’t know him, like Kozol, will associate the deceased with something that was part of their life, something that was meaningful to them. It’s like the memorial is a celebration of life, and I think that’s one of the most optimistic things in the book. Even though it’s a very small moment in the book, it still holds high significance to me, because I personally believe that the deceased should be remembered by who they were before their dying moments.

The last story from the second half of the book that I’m going to reflect upon is the story on page 217 continuing to page 218 about the AIDS epidemic. The stunning fact of how some 10,000 children had lost their mothers to the epidemic in 1993 (when Kozol first began to visit the Bronx) is so tragic and I can’t imagine ever having to go through something like that. Quite frankly, I don’t even want to imagine something like that. It’s so sad to me that these kids will have to grow up without a mother or father due to AIDS, and that part of their childhood was taken up by a parent dying from this epidemic. I can’t and don’t want to even think about the amount of trauma these kids will have to go through while growing up, and this’ll be what they remember for the rest of their lives. Not only will they have to live with the fact that one of their parents died from the disease, but they’ll also suffer through the disease themselves. 91% of children in New York who are born with AIDS are black or Hispanic. 91% is an incredibly high percentage. And these were kids who came from neighborhoods who were also known for drug abuse, and that’s such a terrible thing to think about. That they spent their childhoods not only without a parent in their life, but also grew up around drugs and now will have to continue their life with the memory of their parent dying from AIDS, but also that they themselves have the AIDS virus, and that they might not even have that much time left. As mentioned before many times, this is such a shocker for me to hear about, because I didn’t know that the area of the Bronx was this bad and had this bad of an impact on children's lives. 

I think while each of these stories have their own kind of individual meaning, they also hold a meaning of their own all together. Like when you put all these stories together and try to find the overall meaning, you see how much this affects the lives of individuals in the society of the Bronx. That’s what I really like about how “Amazing Grace” is formatted, that there’s so many different stories about individual people and their own views and stories and thoughts, as opposed to just asking on person or making assumptions about the society as a whole. Kozol doesn’t generalize, he talks to many different people and gets their sides of the stories so we get different aspects of what life really is like in the Bronx and how it’s personally impacted them, because even though the society is suffering as a whole, they each have their own story of suffering to share. They have their own opinions on what they’ve been through and what the Bronx has been through, and I feel like hearing the variety of anecdotes has made this book have a greater impact on me, and that’s what Kozol wants. He wants the stories and the discussions to have a strong impact on the reader, no matter who that reader is. And Kozol doesn’t really put his own responses to the stories in the book either, so you, as the reader, don’t have any sort of way you should feel about what you read. It’s all up to you on how you interpret everything. And that’s what I think Kozol’s point is. To emphasize the individuals’ stories in the book, but also emphasize your own thoughts and opinions about what has been happening in the Bronx. 

I want to draw attention back to the conversation between Kozol and Anthony about how the plague of the Bronx could be fixed. Anthony said it is all up to God, that no one could do anything for them. And this brings me to the discussion of how important it is to have motivation to make an impact. Anthony, along with probably a lot of other people in the Bronx, have some sort of learned helplessness. They feel as though they can’t do anything, and only a saving grace could help them. I took a social justice class last year, and we learned about the importance on having a voice, and how every generation has the power to make a change, whether it be young or old, but the future lies in the hands of the younger generation. And the fact that Anthony feels as though there’s nothing that anyone can do probably means that they won’t do anything to help try and fix the problems in the Bronx. One kid can’t do it all, but a whole generation of hopeful kids could do a lot. One kid can’t do it all, but one kid could start it all. Change has no start time or no end time, societies are always changing. It’s up to us to determine if that’s going to be a good change or a bad change. 

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Conclusion- a little sprinkle of hope

What I hope to do is start here. I do wish to help more within our community and then expand off into places bigger than myself. How I plan to do this is become an elementary school teacher. What help could this do? Well, the main reason why I chose to go into elementary school education as opposed to another type of education is because children’s minds are so open to new ideas. They’re like fresh, blank canvases that are just waiting to have color splashed on them. I’m not saying children are the only ones with open minds, but the future is with the younger generation. Starting early and inspiring them to do something great when they’re older is the perfect path to go. Even though I don’t remember much of my elementary school career, I do remember one thing: my fifth grade teacher. She’s the one who brought up all the creativity in me, because she believed in me and took time to work with me. She’s the one who made me consider becoming a teacher myself one day, and if I could have that same impact on kids, we’re one step closer to saving the world.

The funny thing about this is that I actually had a conversation about this with a few friends the other day. We were talking about our future careers and I told them that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, and my one friend mentioned that this is a risky career choice considering the fact that the education system is extremely poor in Michigan, and I responded that that's one of the reasons why I want to leave Michigan and teach elsewhere. To my surprise, they said that they wanted me to stay so I can fix the problems that were going on here, that I should use the fact that the education system is so poor as a reason to stay. It was kind of a funny way of thinking, but she said that I should stay and try to fix it and then, if I still wanted to move elsewhere, to then fix other education systems too

We joked around about how I would fix the education system here and then go on tour like some kind of celebrity and fix other places too, and I just kind of laughed it off at first, but writing this paper really made me realize that maybe this idea wasn't too far-fetched. That maybe I could do something greater and that I could fix the education system here, even if I thought that it was too big for me. Turn the impossible to possible. Maybe one day I will go on tour like some big celebrity and change the way the education system is. Maybe one day I will change the world

What I really aspire to do is inspire. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to have a life-changing impact on someone, and I'm hoping that becoming a teacher could help me fulfill that. What I really admire about elementary school teachers is that they're basically playing a huge role in a child's life, whether they know it or not, and I'm sure they do. They're helping children grow everyday, and it's so much responsibility in their hands. They're not just responsible for one, two, or even three kids, they're responsible for 20-30. I remember in fifth grade, my teacher had such an impact on me. She inspired me, she was my favorite teacher. She was my homeroom teacher and also my language arts teacher. She enjoyed writing little stories of her own, and one day she brought in her writing journal. She drew pictures on the side to illustrate her thoughts, and the pages were decorated with doodles and stories. She always told my class to be as creative as possible when we wrote, not just with our words, but how we display the story. Whether that just be with imagery or if we draw out the images in our heads ourselves, we should always express creativity in our writing. I didn't know it then, but the fact that I still remember that day in vivid detail tells me something; she imprinted something in my life. I don't owe all my dreams to express creativity to her, but she definitely had some sort of influence on me, and I hope to do the exact same children for other young children someday too.

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Where did this idea come from?

This thought came to me last year in my social justice class when my teacher brought this thought process to my attention. She would spend class after class just having us talk about how loud our voices are and that if we use our voices, we could accomplish such amazing things. This is something that a lot of people don’t really think about, however. What we as a people are stuck in is the idea that we can’t do anything, or that it takes someone “special” or “born to be great”. We underestimate the power that we have within us, and we don’t know that our peers are our best allies. We think “oh, someone else can make a difference”, “someone else can take care of it”, “I’m not cut out for it”, “What difference would I make?” and the list goes on and on of all the excuses we have.

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This makes me think about the first chapter Soul Of a Citizen, more specifically, the very beginning. Loeb introduces us with the story of Rosa Parks, a social justice icon who refused to give up her seat for a white man and started the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery. However, before this, Loeb presents us with the sentence “We can learn a lot from the tales we tell about our heroes” (Leob 1) and then proceeds to talk about how this action “didn’t come out of nowhere. Nor did she single-handedly give birth to the civil rights movement” (Leob 2). Leob isn’t trying to say what Parks did wasn’t heroic in a sense, but that we shouldn’t make her the soul face of the civil rights movement. This is where I will now move to the story of MLK, who is also another soul face of the civil rights movement. In the film “Selma”, it shows more insight into what really happened during MLK’s peaceful protests. The film shows long, sleepless nights of pacing back and forth, arguments with friends, followers, and families, not to mention all of the police brutality. Men and women being beat with nightsticks, kicked down and then being stomped on, the sounds of shots being fired multiple times at one person even when they were down, it was horrifying to watch. It hit harder than I thought it would, and I was even angry at myself that it took me this long to realize what really happened to MLK and his followers. They just wanted equal rights and they did it with just the clothes on their back. They didn’t carry arms with them, they marched together peacefully, and this is what they had to face.

Going back to Loeb’s quote, you really do learn a lot from the tales we share. I personally learned that I was never given the full story. I was always told that Christopher Columbus was a hero because we wouldn’t be here without him. I was always told that Rosa Parks was a hero just because her feet hurt and she wouldn’t get up. I was always told that MLK was a powerful man in the Civil Rights movement because he marched and gave a speech from jail. I was always told that women being given the right to vote was pretty much the equivalent to giving women equal rights as men. None of this is true. None of this is the full story of anything that happened. Growing up, learning about our history, we were never given a full picture, the full story. Unfortunately, we never will learn what truly happened in our nation’s history. We can’t go back in time and see what has happened, unfortunately time travel is impossible. But, like the famous saying goes, we can only move forward.

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