Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
This past May I was fortunate enough to go to New York City for the first time. The first thing I did on my first full day there was brave the subway system to get from Williamsburg over to Battery Park. I was certain I was going to get lost, and I proved myself correct as I aimlessly wondered the Financial District for about fifteen minutes. But eventually I made it to my destination.
Even at a distance the Statue of Liberty caused a lump in my throat.
My own family did not come through that port, but I could just imagine the ships leaning to the side as immigrants rushed to view the skyline of New York. The jubilation of having arrived to this new land and its promise of opportunity. Of freedom.
We can have a long and tendentious conversation about how hollow, or in progress, those promises actually are. But we used to at least pretend to stand for something noble. We used to at least pretend to have ideals. The myth may always have been greater than the reality, but the myth was the torch that guided us.
Now a country that purports to be the greatest among nations is recoiling in fear from tempest tost children? In the face of huddled masses, we cower?
No. I say no.
Only love can drive out hate. Only acceptance can extinguish prejudice. Only equality can erase subjugation. We must accept these refugees because it is our moral obligation, and it is in the very spirit of our nation to do so! To deny them a refuge from the monsters that can strike in even our most powerful cities is to lose a bit of our humanity.
We used to stand for something. But we lost our way somewhere. How we deal with these tired and poor is a test of whether or not we can continue to be great. It is a roll call for the better angels of our national character, and we must ignore the 20 governors and untold Republican presidential nominees that seek to rule and coerce through fear.
Let these uprooted breathe free.
