"It isn't, really," Gina said, "but back then, there were... there was more space, I guess, more room for people who were oppressed where they were from to come over and get out from under that oppression. Not that it helped," she added, somewhat waspishly, "since America has the same kind of oppression, just subtler. But it was a start, and at least here you probably weren't going to be murdered by the state."

Probably. Anyway.

"There's a lot of other large cities. Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Boston, just off the top of my head." And so many others in the middle of the States; it was just that those were the only ones Gina had ever been to.