Our America by Laiyah

Our America by Laiyah - May 2017 Scholarship Essay

The book that influenced my life the most is a book called “Our America” By LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman. I Chose this book because LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman have made it their mission to be loud voices from one of this country's darkest places, Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing project. Set against the photographs of a young photographer from the projects, Our America tells us the unforgiving world of these two young men, and their struggle to survive unrelenting tragedy. With a gift for clear-eyed journalism, they tell their own stories and others, including that of the death of Eric Morse, a five-year-old who was dropped to his death from the fourteenth floor of an Ida B. Wells apartment building by two other little boys.
often painful,Sometimes funny, but always charged with their dream of Our America,These two young men reach out to grab your attention and break your heart. This book gave so many people a clear and real view of lower class people living in the ghetto and how hard it is. In the book it tells about the battle with massive unemployment, which causes despair and other things like substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and gang violence. I like this book because it inform those Americans who has closed their eyes. This book is also a wake up call. The author wants the readers to realize that America is more divided than they make it. He believes that a change can be made, but only if they help another, Because change doesn't come on its own.