My parents said that during the Cultural Revolution, my grandparents were locked up and shipped away. It didn’t matter whether they actually did anything wrong. “That’s why we left, so that something like that wouldn’t happen to you,” my dad said. “Tonight, seeing that police officer arrest Mr. Lorenz and actually come back here and apologize to Hank—okay, he didn’t really want to apologize, but still, he did—I know I made the right decision. America may not be perfect, but she’s free. And that makes all the difference.” I finally understood what my parents meant by “free.”
