The Statue of Liberty: No Longer On a Pedestal?
by Mary Alexander
October 2024
The Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated in a ceremony on October 28, 1886.
Inspired by the suggestion of the French political theorist, Edouard de Laboulaye, the people of France commissioned and gave to the United States of American, a colossus statue, rivaling the great wonders of antiquity, called “Liberty Enlightening the World”, later known as the Statue of Liberty. This gift was to mark the Centennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence (10 years late). The only catch was the statue would arrive to America in 250 pieces, placing upon the recipient the requirement of building a foundation and assembling the gift. When American millionaires proved reluctant in funding this project, a Hungarian immigrant turned newspaper mogul, Joseph Pulitzer, rallied the masses to raise the funds needed. One unexpected group within the population rallied to the call and helped raise the needed money - that group was American school-aged children who collected and donated nickels, dimes, and quarters to help reach the funding goals of the project. In 1983, 97 years later, school children raised $225,000.00 to fund needed repairs and spruce up the memorial for its 100th anniversary.
Very few are aware that the sonnet created by Emma Lazarus and later inscribed in the interior of the pedestal, was also the result of fundraising efforts to erect the colossus. The final lines of the sonnet, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” recast the purpose and intentions of the gift. Depicting the statue as the “Mother of Exiles” created a tidal wave of change depicting America, not as an example of liberty, but as a place to which to escape and find liberty, thereby shaping American immigration policy ever since. Some 140 years later, American politicians and citizens believe this inscription is a statement of official immigration policy for the U.S.
Today this inscription divides instead of unifies. Taken literally, it is a call for unrestricted immigration and open border policies. It also implies if you come, you will have an easy life, have your needs met. and enjoy being free. And in the current socio-political climate, it says, if you impose any restrictions or requirements for immigration, then you are elitist and racist. It allows groups to enter the United States without the expectation or requirement of assimilation. It says you are welcome to come and maintain your cultural and social values, even if they diametrically oppose core American values. Don’t like our judicial system? Your community gets to have its own separate system. Don’t like our freedoms? You have every right to demand their restriction. In the process, America has become the world haven for the dissatisfied rather than an example for other nations to follow. No longer a melting pot, America is a like a grocery store with hundreds of ingredients and no recipe to incorporate all of them.
The Statue of Liberty is an example of how reframing a subject can have repercussions beyond our wildest dreams.
by Mary Alexander
October 2024
The Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated in a ceremony on October 28, 1886.
Inspired by the suggestion of the French political theorist, Edouard de Laboulaye, the people of France commissioned and gave to the United States of American, a colossus statue, rivaling the great wonders of antiquity, called “Liberty Enlightening the World”, later known as the Statue of Liberty. This gift was to mark the Centennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence (10 years late). The only catch was the statue would arrive to America in 250 pieces, placing upon the recipient the requirement of building a foundation and assembling the gift. When American millionaires proved reluctant in funding this project, a Hungarian immigrant turned newspaper mogul, Joseph Pulitzer, rallied the masses to raise the funds needed. One unexpected group within the population rallied to the call and helped raise the needed money - that group was American school-aged children who collected and donated nickels, dimes, and quarters to help reach the funding goals of the project. In 1983, 97 years later, school children raised $225,000.00 to fund needed repairs and spruce up the memorial for its 100th anniversary.
Very few are aware that the sonnet created by Emma Lazarus and later inscribed in the interior of the pedestal, was also the result of fundraising efforts to erect the colossus. The final lines of the sonnet, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” recast the purpose and intentions of the gift. Depicting the statue as the “Mother of Exiles” created a tidal wave of change depicting America, not as an example of liberty, but as a place to which to escape and find liberty, thereby shaping American immigration policy ever since. Some 140 years later, American politicians and citizens believe this inscription is a statement of official immigration policy for the U.S.
Today this inscription divides instead of unifies. Taken literally, it is a call for unrestricted immigration and open border policies. It also implies if you come, you will have an easy life, have your needs met. and enjoy being free. And in the current socio-political climate, it says, if you impose any restrictions or requirements for immigration, then you are elitist and racist. It allows groups to enter the United States without the expectation or requirement of assimilation. It says you are welcome to come and maintain your cultural and social values, even if they diametrically oppose core American values. Don’t like our judicial system? Your community gets to have its own separate system. Don’t like our freedoms? You have every right to demand their restriction. In the process, America has become the world haven for the dissatisfied rather than an example for other nations to follow. No longer a melting pot, America is a like a grocery store with hundreds of ingredients and no recipe to incorporate all of them.
The Statue of Liberty is an example of how reframing a subject can have repercussions beyond our wildest dreams.