Length: 1501 words (5.5 pages)
Rating: Red (FREE)      
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Barriers of Color, Prejudice and Fear in There Are No Children Here       

 
The barriers of color, as well as prejudice and fear show through in this story of two young boys growing up in inner city Chicago. Confined to the project housing the brothers and their family are well aware of their "caste" in society. The story follows the events of the Rivers family living in the Henry Horner Homes (near the United Center in Chicago). Over the course of about three years, the author describes the day to day experiences of the family, focusing on the two boys. Pharoah and Lafeyette Rivers are surrounded by what seems to be a prison of doom and despair. Faced with the unrelenting reality of ghetto living, the two boys always seem to hold on to a spark of hope. Their environment is somewhat standard for project housing. Something in apartment is always broken (the faucet in the bathtub could not be turned off; the constant sound of running water slowly draining soon blended into the background), the small space that they did have was over crowed by family members that floated through with their own children and friends.

 
The safest playground was the hallway, the spacious playground was missing parts of playground equipment, and was always blanketed with the threats of gangs, drugs, and gun play. When the children who opted to go to the playground, they did not fall on pavement, but rather blacktop paved with broken glass. Nearby was the United Center-a beacon for kids who looked for a way out of the projects. Hoping for a glimpse of team members, the kids entertainment did not come from going to see the game, but rather from waiting to see the Bulls.

 

The story chronicles the family's lives, the ups and many downs. The author gives the reader vivid details of their lives, which grants the reader access into feelings of hopelessness, frustration, and fear that the family deals with. However, boys provide the conduit for examining these feelings. A glimmer of hope shines through the dark realities of inner city childhood. The two brothers are like ying and yang when it comes to this. Pharoah's personality provides a pleasant yet heart breaking twist to the story. He is full of optimism, and eternally innocent. For example, Pharoah chases after a rainbow looking for some sort of treasure. Running as fast as his skinny legs will take him, he hopes to reach the end before it fades in the hopes that he will find a pot of gold(which he says he will use to move out of the projects). Crushed when his older brother won't help him chase down the rainbow, and even more deflated when the rainbow disappears, Pharoah's actions contrast the "adult" personality of Lafeyette(the older brother), and even contrasts the norms for many kids growing up in the projects. Repeatedly, children in this story are too far entwined into the dark side of their lives to ever catch a glimpse of a rainbow, much less bother to chase something. It is interesting how Pharoah seeks to challenge the unknown in this way. many kids, not knowing if the rainbow's end will hold a pot of gold or not, would not bother to chase it. It seems as though only those things that promise an end are begun by children in this environment. On the other hand, his innocence pulls at heart strings. He consistently runs from reality. When one of his brothers was arrested, and his mother, LaJoe, tried to explain the situation to him, his response was "I'm just too young to understand how life really is." Sweet at first, but examining his behavior through out the book, Pharoah overextends his naiveness to the point that it is a form of denial it seems. Granted, kids must be kids, but Pharoah's dream like world proved to be dangerous. He has stood up in the middle of a gang gun fight, lost track of time, and he is slowly falling behind in learning street smarts. Whether he likes it or not(which we see he does not), Pharoah has to contend with reality rather than just closing his eyes to it.

Lafeyette displays the other side to this innocence. He acts the adult at the young age of 12. Close to his mother, Lafeyette helps her care for the other children, take care of the home, and shares the burdens of their struggles. He worries over the bills and the children as much as his mother does. He is determined to set a good example for his younger siblings(there are 4 of them), although he mentions that his older brothers did little to help him. On the streets, he is careful to dodge the numerous traps of gang affiliations and dug involvement. Lafeyette's sensibility and determination are concrete characteristics of him, but not necessarily his peers. He has gotten in trouble, but through it all, hope of getting out of the projects is clear. Among the most striking aspect of Lafeyette is his keen awareness of the barriers he faces. At a young age he recognized the challenges he faced just staying alive into his early 20's. At one point in the story, he tells his mother that he is tired and "Anytime I go outside, I ain't guaranteed to come back." His frustration at not being able to get out of the system, broken heart after facing numerous deaths of his friends, and the stress of being so firmly planted in reality, with little time to escape into childhood, severely wore down Lafeyette.

The boys and their families do their best to make the home life "normal". Yet the question remains, how are these people where they are to begin with. The system of welfare and housing is a never ending nightmare. Kotlowitz illustrates this by also looking at national, state, and local politics. For example, he cites the Reagan administrations's cuts in federal funding for urban development, Mayor R. Daley's lack of consistency in addressing and alleviating problems in the project homes, and the hicago Housing Authority(CHA) bureaucratic sloppiness. At every level, we can see disregard to help the situation, and in the story we see the effects. For example, LaJoe's stove worked only temperamentally. At times the oven would not work for weeks. Many times, the apartment would smell of death and decay. The CHA, after years of complaints, finally investigated the Henry Horner Homes. What they found was far beyond angering and frustrating. The report revealed that about 2000 appliances were found in the basement of the H.H. Homes, some of them new, but were looted for parts or rusting away in the flooded basement. The inspection crew(wearing radiation suits) found dead animals, among the very least of the repulsing things found. For over 15 years, the CHA failed to maintain its buildings, obviously to the irect expense of tenants, but also to taxpayers.

 

The book's title "THERE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE", remarkably represents the predicament individuals are in. Pharoah is a child to the extreme, but not truly living the life of what a normal kid might, nor does Lafeyette enjoy childhood. Among every person in the projects, the traits and values childhood is thought to encompass are missing. Pharoah comes closest, but at a cost that could end his life. Also, the opening poem-"A DREAM DEFERRED" by Langston Hughes sums up the questions we ask in our minds about what is to become of these "children". Not allowing the chance to breathe, one will obviously suffocate. The poem asks if the dream "fester[s] like a sore...crusts and sugars over... Or does it explode?" Trying to understand the situation project housing creates for individuals, one can only wonder what is to become of the dreams of moving up in the world, graduating from school, and at the basic level-being alive to see these days. Questions of economic oppression, racism, and progressive development are raised by this book. The story clearly creates a picture f project living, but also expresses the deep rooted need people there feel of progress, to be treated as humans rather than the untouchables, and even more, reflects the neglect of man looking out for man. Relationships between authority and subordinate, black and white, family to friend are noted, and serve as a vital part to understanding the complexity of life in the under class.

 

Kotlowitz is sympathetic to those tangled up in the bureaucracy of the CHA and welfare. His choice of subjects to define the environment is wonderful. The reader is left with a feeling of frustration, but not without hope for progress. Society in the industrialized United States is suffering, and it is books like these that provide a look into a part of life many might never know about. We can only hope that the spark of hope in these two boys develops into the fire society needs to burn down the barriers of economic and color prejudice.