This land was made for you and me – but not for them

Coming to America no easy task. Everyone knows these lines from “that Statue of Liberty poem”: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”...

Coming to America no easy task.

Everyone knows these lines from “that Statue of Liberty poem”:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

But do you know the rest of it? Or who wrote it?

“The New Colossus” was written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 as part of the fund-raising effort for the 89-foot-tall pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French, sans stand.

Lazarus was a Jewish-American whose family could trace their lineage back to the first Jewish immigrants to America. As descendants of this group of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, the Lazarus family belonged to the upper crust of Jewish society in the late 1800s.

Her father, Moses Lazarus, was said to harbor a desire to move in wealthy Christian circles, and so joined the exclusive Union club, and founded, together with the Vanderbilts and the Astors, the elite Knickerbocker club. He also built his family a summer “cottage” in Newport with the rest of fashionable society.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

A far cry from the “huddled masses and wretched refuse” whom Emma Lazarus encouraged Lady Liberty to embrace, but a classic example of someone who achieved the American dream.

Many Jews, and Italians, Irish, Germans, Swedes, Haitians, Puerto Ricans, Koreans, Mexicans — the list goes on and on — have not been welcomed with open arms when they crossed the borders into America, seeking the same thing all immigrants seek: freedom and a better way of life.

Emigrants from Ireland, escaping the terrible potato famine that laid waste to their land and people in the mid 1800s, were seen as worth less than slaves from Africa. The Irish were willing to take on jobs deemed too dangerous for the slaves, who were considered valuable property. There were plenty of Irish to spare.

Immigration to America and migration within the country has created a constantly changing kaleidoscope of cultures, and it’s not without its chafing.

Consider John Steinbeck’s classic work, “The Grapes of Wrath,” which graphically portrays the prejudice endured by families from Oklahoma, uprooted by the terrible drought that swept away their farms during the Dustbowl era.

Upon arrival in California they found not a land of plenty, but fierce opposition to their presence from immigrants who arrived before them.

In a choice between “in groups” and “out groups,” aligning with the established “in group” has been the preferred choice of immigrants. Until Sept. 11, 2001.

As we observe the fifth anniversary of 9/11, immigration is a hot-button topic, from profiling at airports to border security. Never have immigrants been under greater fire from a variety of directions, the government in particular. Somehow the clear goal of protecting the nation from terrorists has merged with the murky issue of illegal aliens from south of the border. Are large numbers of Mexicans seeking work more of a threat to national security than terrorists working to blow up airplanes and kill thousands of Americans?

But now, instead of trying to blend in, immigrants are speaking out and organizing themselves into a powerful force. Remember the massive nation-wide walkouts and demonstrations on May 1, “A Day Without Immigrants”?

A leader in organizing that strike was the National Immigrant Solidarity Network, a group which works to preserve rights for all immigrants. They have a Web site offering avenues of support for immigrants from all nations; they have collected signatures to get the Los Angeles City Council to adopt a resolution in support of the immigrant community, and they provide a strong voice for all immigrants, legal or not.

Ironically, since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom (the war to topple the Taliban), immigrants can fast-track to U.S. citizenship by joining the military. Instead of waiting three to five years, citizenship is instant. At a citizenship ceremony at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island several years ago I watched with a lump in my throat as hundreds of navy personnel from countries around the world pledged to serve their new country, as so many have before them.

Perhaps on Sept. 11, 2006 we should take a moment to remember those hopeful words at the base of the Statue of Liberty:

“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

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!”

Tags: