Iris’s underlying anxiety is heightened by a horrific hate crime she narrowly escaped in her childhood. But as a mother, she turns out to be not that different from her own, raising her 9-year-old daughter, Mel, to value safety and conformity. When Iris moves into a predominantly white suburban housing development with Mel, she begins to see a mysterious wall in her front yard grow taller every night. The wall becomes a sort of societal gaslighting, a symbol of what we people of color know, but is not acknowledged. But only citizens can obtain these coveted bands, and even then, the children of immigrants, like Iris, are excluded.

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Persons: Mel, ”, “, Iris, it’s Organizations: U.S . Locations: United States, Texas, U.S