Sad reality

Tonight I had to go pilot a survey with a group of inner-city youth (give the survey a test run for those of you non-researchers). I had never been so aware of my whiteness in my life. In a room of about 20, I was the only white person. It was fine though, and everyone was very nice.

I'm handing out the survey, and one girl asks how she is supposed to do it. I didn't understand her question, until her friend pointed out that she couldn't read. I later found out this girl is 12 years old. 12. And she can't read. Her friend helped her through it, but what is this world coming to when this girl, who is involved in an after-school community program, can't read? It was so sad.

Another boy in the same group started to say "what does this..." and I thought he was going to ask for clarification on a word (which is what I was there to find out). I said "I'll help you, what's your question" and he quickly said "nevermind." I pressed him, since my job there was to edit the survey to be as user-friendly as possible, and he thought for a second and clearly decided I was trustworthy and said "This question asks if we have a job for pay. Does workin' the streets count?" All I could think to respond was "Do you get paid?" and he said "Yes" so I told him to mark "yes." Now this very sweet and respectful young man (who keep cutely calling me "miss") who was about 13 years old, just told me he's a drug dealer. Not 2 minutes later he tells me that through his involvement with this after-school program, he helps do things that make neighborhoods better and more of a community. So when he's not dealing drugs, he's helping make his neighborhood a better place. I am struck by the reality of these kids' lives, and how impossibly different their childhood was from mine. I have no brilliant ideas about how to rectify this situation of young drug dealers and 12-year-olds that can't read, but man this was an eye-opening night for me.