I heard someone yell out at a Trump rally – “What about the statue of Liberty?” In an attempt to somehow justify illegal immigration.
Well, let me explain to the masses a bit of history about all that. The quote on the statue of liberty did not come with the statue. The words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” came from Emma Lazarus. It was her sonnet written for a fund raiser auction to raise money for the pedestal to sit the Statue of Liberty upon. The words were forgotten after the auction but in the early 1900’s after her death, one of Lazarus’s friends lead a campaign to memorialize her and the words that she wrote were mounted inside the pedestal of the statute.
Another interesting piece of history is that the statue was a gift from a free mason from France, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was originally built to be placed in the Suez Canal from a sketch that was to be made modeled after a veiled Arab peasant woman holding up a torch, guarding the canal.
There was much controversy over the statue to be place in the region originally intended and it was refused. Because of this, the artist looked to the USA to house his colossus.
The people of the United States were not agreeable to welcome this statue in its’ harbor either, as the majority looked upon it as a false goddess and it took a lot of politics to get the people to accept it. It was Pulitzer who through the propaganda in his paper and his political prowess with those of influence combined got the people to finally agree; although very skeptical. Then there was the matter of paying for the base to place it upon. Finally the funds were raised and the statue was placed. Emma Lazarus was one of those who knew how to write the words to move the hearts to make it all so.
Upon the Colossus, are these words written:
“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!”
I, for one, all my life had looked upon Lady Liberty as a beacon, until the day that I understood the origins and the matter. That is when my starry eyes were opened. After that, my nostalgia grew cold and less inviting. But, that is what I do when I understand the origins of things I once saw as symbols of good are revealed as symbols of pagan. That is just me.
But, none the less the creed written upon the statue does not say “Let us come illegally, live on your welfare contributions at tax payer expense, and give us our culture in your land or we will sue you or worse, if Islamist extremist, we will cut off your heads.” It does not indicate any of that.
Yet, I am wondering if it was not an omen whose time was forthcoming. And in that, I wonder if its’ time is not now here?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3342140/Statue-Liberty-inspired-Arab-woman-researchers-say.html
https://www.islamicity.org/3486/egyptian-origins-of-the-statue-of-liberty/
Dianne Marshall
Trump Protester Yells, What About The Statue Of Liberty?
