Jonathan Kozol's piece to me was effective at putting the reader in the shoes of a life that isn't truly noticed by society as a whole. We try think about and show pity to those who don't have as much as we do, nor do we truly understand what these people go through on a daily basis. Kozol paints a picture right from the beginning at the struggle and the absolutely alarming statistics that these people are stricken with. They are by his own admission the "poorest of the poor". They see death and despair at almost every corner, either through overdoses on cocaine which has run rampart in their community or from random murders throughout the county. These children are faced with issues many of us couldn't even comprehend at that age because thankfully we weren't exposed to it.
I feel the most shocking thing in this entire article would be the fact that these children aren't even all that phased by their surroundings. Their overexposure to rampart violence and drug usage has completely desensitized them to problems like seeing a murder just down the street. As shown in the anecdote with the child named Cliffe. While walking with him in the park they walk by an area where as Cliffe put it "a guy got shot in the head" with little to no emotion in his voice. They even walked by a place where amputated limbs and bloodied bed sheets were burned and he even made light of that situation.
Now one could say that it's a coping mechanism, after all there is a large majority of children that live in that area who suffer from depression. They spend their nights crying without even knowing the reason why so they probably try to shove these traumatic events to the back of their minds. By doing this they are likely to have these sudden bursts of sobbing without reason because the memory that has been repressed for a time period is still effecting them emotionally and mentally. It's a very sad thing to think about but it's an issue all the same.
The children of this depressed area almost seem more adult like than the average child. I believe that because of what they have seen, such as the murders, people excessively depending on drugs. They know that life is not full of sprinkles and cupcakes, so it makes them stronger so they can hold their emotions back. Throughout the story St.Ann Church's always seem to make multiple appearances such as the beginning and ending point of the tour Cliffe gives to the writer. It seems like its the children's one place where they forget all of the bad and feel like innocent children. To have fun and laugh and forget about the outside world for a day or even a moment.
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