How would the books dystopia affect African Americans and other racial minorities?
Ramos: This is an excellent question. Like all good questions, however, it has no simple answer. As a Latino, I felt somewhat qualified to speak out about issues affecting all Hispanics. While some may argue that’s presumptuous on my part, it would be even more so if I speculated about racial dynamics regarding the African-American community and other minorities in the novel. So I knew tackling that subject fairly would require a considerable amount of space in the novel. During the editing process, I cut nearly 20,000 words from the America Libre manuscript. I wanted the novel to be a taut narrative that kept the reader focused on the principal characters and the plot. In eliminating thematic tangents, limiting the story to the Latino community was one of the choices I made. Interestingly, I’ve received numerous positive comments from African Americans who have read the novel. What do Americans need to know about the immigration experience? Ramos: I think most mainstream Americans kno
