Money cannot buy merit, wealth is not a substitute for esteem, and power is not an alternative for respect. That is the underlying message of author Madhulina Bandyopadhyay's Yes to Dignity.

Yes to Dignity is a quest for acceptance of a first-generation American in an institutional culture of covert racism. As Daniel Kahneman said:

"A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth."

Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact. Ms. Bandyopadhyay's powerful description of her challenges for acceptance at a premiere institution questions the sincerity of institutional motivation for equality and respect.

This book will make us all look beyond the window dressing, posturing, and perception management and understand how the status quo is maintained. We all have the choice of keeping "eyes wide shut" and go along to get along or accept the risk of speaking truth to power.

Yes to Dignity asks the reader: What is your choice?