Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation.

Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol  Name Institutional Affiliation
 Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol    The United States has a history of segregation, and the ills that have accompanied segregation have rendered many lives unproductive. In Jonathan Kozol’s book Amazing Grace: The lives of children and conscience of a nation, the reader is brought to the real experience of people living in a dilapidating condition of poverty and all other social ills associated with segregation. Lucky enough, Reverend Martha Overall has decided to live among this society try to help as much as she can the society overcome or at least, cope with the situation. When Kozol talks about the ministry of Reverend Overall, the pastor describes the lives of children in the segregated South Bronx as “evil at work.” Children in South Bronx do not live poor lives by choice. It is the society that has failed them.  According to Reverend Overall, children in Mott Haven have the potential to excel and live a standard life that the society has deprived of them. Their lives have been, however, ruined by the conditions of the environment where they are born. The situation in South Bronx is not conducive for children to study, leave alone to lead healthy lives. Rev. Overall tells Kozol that children know of people that are going to die of AIDS. Children are also exposed to drugs from a tender age, some of them have turned to criminal life and prostitution. Their lives are confined to poverty. While it is true that the American Society has a history of segregation, the life for children in Mott Haven is harsh to the extent that they place is described to be associated with hyper-segregation. Children do not go to church for prayers, but they only go there for food and plays. Additionally, Rev. Martha describes Mott Haven to be the “poor of the poor…” (2012, p. 115). This indicates that the situation is evil to the society and no moral society should be letting this to happen. Unfortunately, Rev. Martha notes that everyone with the power to help has turned a blind eye to the situation. The government is not willing to help the poor child...