Blog Post #2

Quotes

• "He doesn't answer me but smiles at the bears affectionately. "I saw a boy shot in the head right over there," he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad,.." 

I found this quote to be really sad. This little boy is only seven years old and has already seen more than I could ever imagine. I think the saddest part about this quote is that Cliffie doesn't really have emotions towards the situation. He says it in such a monotone way because to him its normal. It isn't abnormal to hear about murders and kids dying in his part of the city. Its just another part of his day to see horrible things that no person, let alone child should have to be exposed to. I think that this quote ties into what Kozol blames poverty on. I think Kozol feels that poverty continues because no one tries to get these kids out of these situations and the cycle just continues 

• "And lots of white people have expressed confusion about why it's controversial to broaden the #BlackLivesMatter movement to include people of all races."

I liked this quote because I feel like it is a very easy misunderstanding to have. When the #BlackLivesMatter movement first started, I was maybe a sophomore in high school and I fell into the category of really just not understanding why the hashtag couldn't be that All Lives Matter. I felt this way because I feel like all lives do matter and like everyone should be represented equally but after I read more into the idea behind black lives matter I completely understood the reason behind it. Black Lives need more representation. I liked this quote because it shows how easy it is to fall into the category of ignorance and how if you don't put in the research its so easy to be seen as ignorant or even racist, even when that is not your intention, and I think that is what the article is trying to point out.

• "The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants," she says. "The waste incinerator is just one more lovely way of showing their affection"."

I thought this quote was powerful because it tied into how I feel like Kozol blames poverty on society and how no one does anything to stop it. This quote shows how instead of trying to build the neighborhoods up or make them look nicer, the state just puts the things that no one wants to see or be around in the impoverished areas. Instead of putting money and resources into the Bronx to build it up and empower the people living there, the state just pushes them further down by making it a worse place to live. Once again this just reiterates the cycle of poverty leading to more poverty because the people see no other way out.

The whole time I was reading all I could think of was the US gymnast, John Orozco, who grew up in the Bronx. I'm a gymnast and growing up I always watched the meets on TV and whenever they showed John compete the commentators always focused on his past and how he came from almost nothing. They would talk about the hardships he had to endure and it always amazed me how he came from such a hard time to one of the best gymnasts in the country.