Closed: The Statue of Liberty

When I was a child, the Statue of Liberty held my attention. I memorized its words:

                                                      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-tosted, to me,
                                                I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would ever set my eyes on her. Then I lived in New Jersey for a year as a young adult. And there she was!

She was important to me because my Danish grandfather came to this country via Ellis Island. He would have seen her there, welcoming him. In his passage into this country, he shortened his Danish last name. No need for papers to validate who he was. He prospered here, once owning a large tract of land in the northern midwest. 

There he met the woman who became his wife. She too was a Danish immigrant, coming here when she was 14 with her parents. She was so proud to become an American that she changed her name from Bodil to Betsy, after the early creator of the American flag. Their children were not allowed to learn Danish because "we are Americans now."

Other ancestors of mine immigrated from Northern Ireland and Germany.

My husband's grandparents were German immigrants. They came here to escape religious persecution as members of a Lutheran sect.

For me, Lady Liberty is the symbol of my country's welcome. Without that welcome I would not have been the child of immigrants and an American.

During the recent government shut-down, The Statute of Liberty was literally closed. Closed because of Congressional and presidential differences over the Dreamers. Technically, these young adults are illegal immigrants, brought here as children in a time when immigration is far more complicated than it was in my grandparents' time.  But what child comes here by choice and follows complicated rules regarding citizenship? These Dreamers were educated here, many going on to college. Many married American women and men - and had children who automatically were American citizens.

But the current debate about immigration is far broader than these families. Overt and covert views about race and religion lean toward whiteness and Christian ancestry. Lady Liberty never made these criteria for immigration to this country. 

I feel fortunate to now live in a diverse metropolitan city. I have Muslim neighbors. Across the street lives an Ethiopian family. I encounter people of African descent - both the children of slaves brought here years ago and new immigrants from Africa, who have come out of the lack of safety in their country of origin. We have a large population of Hmong, who are contributing to the literary community here and who hold public office. The list could go on and on.

So now we would deny immigration from many countries. To even encourage Norwegians to immigrate here! How ludicrous to think Norwegians would be attracted to this county to hold jobs Latinos held as their entry to job advancement requiring technical skills and college educations!  

Millions of men, women, and children have fled their countries because of war. Ethnic cleansing continues. The days of my childhood are over when you sold what little you owned for ship passage and could land here with nothing in your pocket - and make a better life for yourself. But the desire for a better life still lives in the hearts of many people. It is this country - and others - who need to revise immigration laws put in place decades ago that are now discriminatory. There are no words on the Statue of Liberty that say: My ancestors came here and let's now slam the door in other's faces.

Give me your tired, your poor . . .

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!