I am Puerto Rican, born and raised in the Palestine of the Caribbean — an island that has been passed around for centuries by two colonizing powers. I grew up with a father who believed that the United States was the Garden of Earthly Delights. In his telling, America was a magical Oz where everyone was equal and anything possible. He painted it not just as a country, but as an ideal. I never fully believed it, but that was his mantra. He gave me two choices when I turned 16 and was deciding where to go to university: Either...