The Invisible Child By Andrea Elliot

In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and

Homelessness is so prevalent in our society that many people have become socially and morally numb to the issue. As homelessness worsens, the homeless are being seen less and less as humans and more as a nuisance such as pests and wildlife, or even just a statistic. Being at the bottom of the social class structure is rough, to put it lightly. There is nothing glamorous about living at the streets; in fact, there are very few positive points, if any, to being homeless but that doesn 't mean they

myth of meritocracy, or the relative truth of it, can have a negative effect on colored children. For example, Dasani is an 11 year old African-American girl living in “a decrepit city-run shelter for the homeless” in New York (Elliot). It is obviously no place for a child. Dasani, however, is quite smart and is described by her principal as “the kind of girl who could be anything- even a Supreme Court justice- if only she harnesses her gifts early enough”. But, it is hard for children growing up

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E SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in