Corrina: "Land of Equal Oppurtunity" and "Land of Difference"

I was in the group that looked at narrative #2 by Cynthia Selfe, "Land of Equal Oppurtunity" and "Land of Difference". Selfe takes a look at a few different ads that show white families portrayed living comfortable, happy lives. Selfe talks about the American cultural belief that we are the land of equal oppurtunity for all, regardless of class, race and religion. But in these ads they only show white or as Selfe calls them, "mighty white". None of the ads viewed show any other race or group of people. Our constitution says we are all equal, but over the years history has shown us that this isn't the case. Our nation has been responsible for genocide, and slavery and other crimes against people "different" from us. But now in this day and age, all races ARE equal. They are portrayed in commercials, magazines, and movies. I belive that because America has struggled with slavery, the "mighty white" have had a longer time to prosper and become powerful, that is why they were shown more in ads back in the 80's and 90's. It has taken us as an American whole a while to finally become the land of equal oppurtunity but we've made it, at last.

Selfe claims that "Our cultural experience, indeed, tells us something very different-that America is the land of oppurtunity only for some people." (page 304 par 1) In Selfe's time I would have toagree completely with this statement, but today in the 21st century we ARE the land of equaloppurtunity for all people. We have had to deal with slavery and other hardships. Therefore it has taken a longer time to become the place where all races are equal. No nation starts perfect, we sure as heck didn't but after time and learning from our mistakes we have become the nation we always talked about being.