Pruning Roots

"Typical Harlem residents, mostly African American, some Hispanic, almost all poor or working class, all struggling to one degree or another with the challenges of raising and educating children in one of New York City's most impoverished neighborhoods. In ways, their sons and daughters were growing up the way Canada had, four decades before, just a few miles away in the South Bronx: but off from the American mainstream, their futures constrained by sub standards schools, unstable families, and a segregated city." (1)

This quote relates to the colloquium theme of the importance of education to a living democracy. People in poverty are simply shutout from mainstream America and are expected to fail. Not only are they in difficult situations to begin with but they are given mediocre opportunities to work with. For example, schools in low income communities historically receive less funding than schools in affluent communities. Canada strives to fight for people in poverty who are not acknowledged by society and the government. He is motivated by the segregation and the unjustness going on today that he experienced years ago. "There's just no way that in good conscience we can allow poverty to remain the dividing line between success and failure in this country, where if you're born poor in a community like this one, you stay poor. We have to even that out. We ought to give these kids a chance". (18) Canada wants to break the cycle of poverty by giving people from low income communities a fair chance to succeed.

"We're not interested in saving a hundred kids. Even three hundred kids, even a thousand kids to me is not going to do it. We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that's how we're loosing them. We're losing kids by the tens of thousands". (19) Canada's vision to provide the less fortunate with promising opportunities is not only a strength but also a personal challenge. I totally agree with him and I respect his vision but it is highly unlikely that he can help everyone by himself. "What I'm going to remember about tonight is how those mothers looked at me when their kids didn't get in". (20) It almost seems like he is disappointed in himself. I wish he would have also remembered the looks on the mothers faces whos children made it in the Promise Academy. His curriculum seems very promising and I think if he can some how get people in the school systems involved maybe his curriculum can change the infrastructure of the educational system in the U.S.

"The cause of the persistent achievement gap between rich and poor children and black and white children was not federal welfare policy, it was deep-rooted differences in intelligence." (33) I think this to me was the most surprising. It was racial and biased in many ways. Murray and Hurnstein basically concluded that intelligence is inherited because white people have higher IQ than black people.

Reading about the different perspectives of the root cause of poverty was very interesting. It reminded me of our strongly agree and strongly disagree activity in class. To me, what appears to be fair and less biased root cause of poverty is a little bit of all the different approaches. I think slavery, racism and years of oppression definitely has it's affects on African American people till this day. Just like the Native Americans who's suffered from traumatic events dating back to the Columbus days, they too have been suffering the consequences till now. I also think the structure of the American economy makes it difficult for people in poverty to get out. I think it has a lot to do with bad parenting skills, bad habits and decision making. I think it has to do with family background, the tectonic shift in society since the end of WWII, the government providing too much aid, language exposure at a young age, the environment and resources available. There are many root causes of poverty and Canada with his programs helps eliminate a number of these root causes.

One of the murals that stuck out to me was "Those we love we remember". The image that is biggest in scale and is most emphasized is the woman in the middle in tears. She draws the most attention and gives off a sort of emotional and somber type of feeling. Around her are different names, a person with an AIDS sign and different r.i.p signs. I think this is a tribute to people who have passed away. Anyone walking past this mural who had a friend or family member that has passed away can relate to this mural. Death is painful and is never forgotten and those we love will always be remembered.