Accepting the truth in Amazing Grace

Its been months since I read Amazing Grace in FNED 346. But during that period of time, I've had the time to think about what I read about the neighborhood I grew up in. When I wrote my first response on Amazing Grace, I felt embarrassed and offended about what I read. Here I am in a classroom where I would be discussing the community I grew up in all my life....among a predominately white middle class group of students. How was I suppose to feel? But the truth is that in 1991, I was only four years old. I can't remember the conditions I lived during that time. But according to my parents, we lived in horrible conditions, It was always cold in our apartment and in order to warm up our home, my mother warmed up water on the stove. As bad as it may seem to be neighbors with drug dealers, they were harmless and only wanted to pay bills, just like anyone else. In fact, we got along well and were neighbors for more than ten years. I will never knock anyone's hustle, everyone is just trying to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. On the behalf of the South Bronx community and my family who Johnathan Kozol has helped tremendously... I just want to say facts, are facts whether I like it or not. But from 1991 to 2008, there have been lots of changes in the South Bronx. Housing has improved somewhat but the hustle and violence due to poverty still remains.