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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2013)
Street roots Jan . 4, 2013 Sifting through the ashes of poverty to find sparks of hope BY JOE MARTIN that pervaded the Martinique Hotel in New York City, home to 1,400 kids and 400 t has been 45 years since Jonathan Kozol parents: “Christmas Eve of 1985 was not a published his first book “Death at an good time for poor women and their children Early Age,” which detailed the abysmal to depend on the public kindness or conditions endured by indigent black children prophetic reenactments of the Christian in Boston s inner city public schools. It was a gospel at the hands of civic and commercial shocking exposé of pedagogical indifference leaders in New York. and institutionalized violence for which Kozol “It was a time when opulence among the received the National Book Award. The city’s newly minted rich and super-rich was epigraph to that work is a quote from flaunted with an unaccustomed boldness in psychoanalyst Erik Erickson, who averred, the face of New York City’s poor and [T]he most deadly of all possible sins is the homeless people, thousands of whom were mutilation of a child’s spirit.” packed into decrepit, drug-infested shelters, An impassioned author, Kozol has most of which were old hotels situated in the chronicled the scandal of relegating middle of Manhattan, some of which in successive generations of so many decades past had been places of great impoverished kids — especially children of elegance.” One social worker told him bluntly color - to society’s scrap heap. In compelling that the Martinique was a “midtown death books such as “Savage Inequalities” and camp for the spirits of poor children.” “The Shame of the Nation,” vivid One family whose matriarch was named descriptions abound of criminal neglect that Vicki lived in Mott Haven, which “remains passes for schooling in a multitude of today the single poorest neighborhood in the desperate communities. With unflagging poorest borough of New York.” Miraculously, zeal, Kozol portrays lives of innocent kids the family was offered a chance for a new life caught in the appalling atmosphere of in faraway Montana. A church community ineffectual schools. Outside crumbling had decided to sponsor a family and provide classrooms many are pummeled by the chaos them an opportunity for a fresh beginning of troubled families. Such travails are removed from the inner city. So Vicki and compounded by dangers lurking on dismal her children made the trip west. Kozol urban streets. maintained contact with Vicki as she became The latest installment in Kozol’s running immersed in the exhilaration of life in commentary is “Fire in the Ashes.” It is an Montana surrounded by newfound friends. eloquent testament to his abiding concern But initial ecstasy gave way to troubles and, for the children and families he has depicted, eventually, tragedy. Her son Eric had been and the hopes and dreams often thwarted by having problems and they wore away Vicki’s poverty and feckless schooling. As always his optimism. His life ended with a shotgun blast subjects are portrayed with respect and to the head, which was ruled a suicide. Vicki affection. Kozol revisits families and never recovered emotionally from this individuals he has known over the years and dreadful loss and would later die due to brings their experiences up to date. There is pancreatic cancer. tragedy but also triumph. T h ro u g h o u t th e tu rm o il of th e ir CONTRIBUTING WRITER I Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America, by Jonathan Kozol K ozol re fle c ts on th e d isp iritin g co n d itio n s / jk \ « K X J 55 im p o v e rish m e n t and th e rad ical ch allen g e of Reprinted from Street Roots sister paper, Real Change News, Seattle. Canning jars & equipment, cookware, kitchen tools & appliances ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 11— LOOKING FOR AN AFFORDABLE PLACE TO RENT? Your online housing search just g o t easier. O d e JN C moving west, Vicki’s daughter Lisette persevered. Now married, her husband is completing a degree in dentistry, and she hopes to become a paralegal. She tells Kozol: “I’m going to give a good life to my children. I have to do it. I’m the one who made it through. I’m a stronger person now. I guess that I was always stronger than I knew.” Amid other poignant stories, Kozol gives a particularly touching account of Jeremy who was 12 at the time of their first encounter. His mother was born in Puerto Rico and did not speak English. She, Jeremy and his older brother lived “on the sixteenth floor of a badly rundown twenty-story building.” Jeremy loved books and reading. He was an aspiring writer. Because he was mild mannered and introspective, Jeremy was the target of bullies. Fortunately he became friends with a local Puerto Rican poet “who welcomed him into his home and talked with him for hours at a time about the books that lined his wall, immersing him in conversations about Greek and Roman history and reading him some of the famous British authors - John Milton, for example - and others he revered.” With the kindness of people like the poet and the help of Kozol himself, Jeremy’s story is one of hope and triumph. However, Kozol cautions: “Charity and chance and narrow selectivity are not the way to educate the children of a genuine democracy.” A steep price is exacted upon too many poor kids whose dreams are denied long before they reach adolescence. In “Fire in the Ashes,” Kozol reminds us that it is a steep price ultimately paid by us all. For the sake of our society and common humanity the time is long overdue to right this pervasive wrong. O N N r C J N N c c . Thousands o f listings • Free service Includes special needs housing EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY Call 2-1-1 or 503-802-8562 S M ir a d o r COMMUNITY STORE J ;' T à ' nr“***TP - ♦ MJ ^5 Organic cotton sheets, towels, & blankets Natural Kitchen & Home Food dryers 2 1 0 6 SE Division Books on meat-free cooking, gardening & sustainability Juicers 5 0 3 -2 3 1 -5 1 7 5 m ira d o rc o m m u n ity s to re x o m M on-Sat 10-6 • Sun 11-5 Meet Your Local Branch Manager: Rally begins 10am at the VOZ Worker . Center (MLK & NE Everett). From there, we march together across the river. « Communities aren't ju st streets and build ings, Communities are thriving places where cultures, commerce and souls grow stronger together ” - M ary We’ll march to Right 2 Dream Too to learn about the work being done there. Then it’s on to Sisters for hot soup and snacks, music and more! Mary Edmeades Social im pact Banking For more details and to rsvp, visit the Facebook event at http://on.fb.me/w9o8v09. SISTERS OFTHE ROAD At Albina Community Bank the most ordinary financial transaction can have an extraordinary impact on our local community. 503.4452155 XX X . rnedm eades@ aibinabank.com 1 a f LENDER r i / 1 % . You're going to bank somewhere, no* let y ° ur banking make a difference in places where you live and work?
