To those out there who are of the anti-immigrant mindset legal or illegal I say to you that you are Un-American my proof is simple. On the statue of liberty there is a poem.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-Emma Lazarus
She's not saying send these the highly educated, high earning potential, whose papers are in order, from just the right countries. All our ancestors (unless we are black or Native American) were immigrants. To say that we dont have room or resources or jobs for them typifies the "I've got mine" mentality that pervades our culture. Make them legal and pay them what they are worth. End of debate.
1 comment:
It is a nice poem, but there are a few details that have been "glossed" by time "American Folk Lore" that are not specificallly true:
1) The Statue is NOT a monument to an "open door policy" with respect to immigration into the USA.
WHAT IT IS:
French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for completion, to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi had previously prepared in 1869 a scale model of a giant statue of a lady holding a torch, for the entry of the recently built Suez Canal. The idea for the commemorative gift grew out of the political turmoil which was shaking France at the time. The French Third Republic was still considered as a "temporary" arrangement by many, who wished a return to monarchism, or to some form of constitutional dictatorship which they had known under Napoleon I of France. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a "sister" republic across the sea served as a focus for the republican cause against other political opponents.
(i.e.; a French Political Statement & Party Advertisement)
2) The Open door referenced in the poem is NOT the "Door to Immigration" into the USA!
IT IS:
The Statue of Liberty was originally called "Liberty Enlightening the World" and this is truly her task - to enlighten mankind to the promise that God has made to lift the darkness and show the way through it - through every conflict, war, tragedy, or loss; through every displacement of homes, lives, and fortunes; through every manifestation of oppression and disenfranchisement - Liberty lifts the torch of freedom high. She shows that the light of hope is always present and that there is a way home. This is the meaning of the Golden Door. It is the promise of the future.
3) The Statue does not have this poem as part of it, or engraved on it, or in it....
Where IT IS:
The poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, the winner of a contest underwritten by the New York World, was engraved on a bronze plaque in 1903, 20 years after it was written. The plaque is located on a wall of the museum, which is in the base of the statue. (It has never been engraved on the monument itself).
3) Immigration is not a RIGHT as specified in the Constitution of the United States, nor the Bill of Rights !
IT IS:
A policy that is often changed by Congress! And THAT, makes it VERY MUCH open to debate!
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