“No Statue of Liberty for them – oh, no—their emblem of welcome, going almost unnoticed until Kitty commented on it, was a small sign obscured by the cracked and boarded-up glass of an abandoned NAACP office they passed on their way out of Miami. A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY, it said. “Hello, America, “ Kitty muttered to herself, after repeating the worlds on the sign for her family.”

                                                                        -No Telephone to Heaven p 54

The passage was so deep to me. We are taught in school that all Americans are created equal; deserving of equal rights to education, protection, health care, and equality in every sphere of the opportunity structure. Even though these values have become ideological norms enforced by various forms of social institutions, minorities, especially those that identify or are identified as blacks that have been historically and presently oppressed learn other methods to negotiate the feelings of otherness. However, this is not the perception the United States wants to give the world. We are seen and act like the “super power” of the world, influencing various countries in their economies, politics, and even culture. However this “unified front” is false because of the racial power structure prevalent in today from the colonial periods.

            Its interesting to talk to people who aren’t from the US or when we travel outside the US talk about America. How people want to come to live the “American Dream”, to be in the land of opportunities. Yet, if one doesn’t fit into certain categories, they must learn how to adapt to societies subtle norms of inequalities: sexism, racism, and classism. This quote just expresses how romanticized America and its equal opportunity structure is really just an abstract reality.