Our america addresses the central ideas of the american dream and equality most directly. As Lloyd Le Alan go around interviewing people we get a good idea of life in the projects, and the daily struggles that these people go through. Things like violence and drug/alcohol addiction. when we read this book, we compare their lives with our own and through that find the inequalities in our society.  This also attacks the american dream by showing how not everyone has the same shot. This is especially apparent when they interview that lady that works at the school and she talks about how the students at her school have been exposed to adult experiences like drugs and violence before they could walk. People are getting killed every day children are growing up surrounded by violence with nothing to cling to for comfort besides the idea of survival. They are also extremely poor not getting full meals lots of the time and our constantly battered by the materialistic ideas our society imbibes. how would you expect them to do anything else besides turn to gangs and crime in the hope that it will provide safety and comfort.

          I believe that this text is relevant to current american literature as Fredrick douglass was to american litteratur back in the day. it gives us a look at life through the perspective of people that live in the projects, which gives us the insight to understand the social cultural situation on a deeper more personal level. Because lets be honest we don't know and cant imagine is any other way. This is essential because if people outside the projects that are the only ones with the resources to help don't understand the problem they wont be able to and wont want to help.