Statue of Liberty Inscription – 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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, 1883
That is the whole inscription. Trump's Ministry of Truth was hopefully "just kidding" about at least changing the IDEA of the poem but, I ask in all seriousness, how many viewers on Fox will think this is what the poem said? This is just obscene. Even from a totally practical point of view, I feel sure that many immigrants coming here, who eventually developed very large and profitable companies or came up with inventions etc. worth millions, were, for a time, on some sort of public assistance. Good grief.
A person's worth in terms of dollars and cents aside, immigrants bring new ideas, new foods, new perhaps small aspects of their former culture that enrich this country, give it a depth and flavor unlike any other. Trump is turning everything we ever stood for on its head. I can't wait for this administration to be over. We are going to be decades repairing the damage he's done to our international reputation. I fear it will never be back to a pre-Trump standing because there is always the possibility that one day another despicable person could be elected president.
Here's acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli saying on NPR this morning that the Statue of Liberty plaque should be changed to read, "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge."
"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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, 1883
That is the whole inscription. Trump's Ministry of Truth was hopefully "just kidding" about at least changing the IDEA of the poem but, I ask in all seriousness, how many viewers on Fox will think this is what the poem said? This is just obscene. Even from a totally practical point of view, I feel sure that many immigrants coming here, who eventually developed very large and profitable companies or came up with inventions etc. worth millions, were, for a time, on some sort of public assistance. Good grief.
A person's worth in terms of dollars and cents aside, immigrants bring new ideas, new foods, new perhaps small aspects of their former culture that enrich this country, give it a depth and flavor unlike any other. Trump is turning everything we ever stood for on its head. I can't wait for this administration to be over. We are going to be decades repairing the damage he's done to our international reputation. I fear it will never be back to a pre-Trump standing because there is always the possibility that one day another despicable person could be elected president.
Here's acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli saying on NPR this morning that the Statue of Liberty plaque should be changed to read, "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge."