Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 13 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds   

Lifting the Lamp of Liberty!

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   22 comments
Become a Fan
  (9 fans)

These words by Emma Lazarus, taken from her poem The New Colossus, are inscribed on a tablet at the base of the Statue of Liberty:

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!

 

When three of my own grandparents emigrated from Poland and Austria to become Americans, they first saw The Lady of Liberty in New York Harbor, then passed through Ellis Island (where today bricks are inscribed in the names of my family), and went on to become productive parts of their adopted nation.  Grandpa Max and Grandma Regina owned and operated a tailors' trimmings business in midtown Manhattan for fifty-five years.  Grandpa Sam and Grandma Jenny (originally from Baltimore and my only American-born grandparent) ran a neighborhood store in Woodhaven, Queens for many decades. After emigrating to America, to the best of my knowledge, nobody, particularly no law enforcer, ever asked to see their papers or challenged their right to be part of the American dream.

 

But, of course, that was back in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, before America lost sight of Emma Lazarus' words and of the meaning of the Lady of Liberty where they are still inscribed.  That America welcomed immigrants, and indeed they became the backbone of this nation.  Immigrants tilled the land, toiled in our factories and stores, built our railroads and other basic industries, paid their taxes, and raised their children and grandchildren as true Americans.  They were responsible citizens, and would have been mortified had their "papers" been demanded of them without good reason -- for the American standard, under the rule of law, is one of "probable cause" in such matters.

 

But it seems that that was then, and this is now, and some in the State of Georgia, a State founded in part by British convicts shipped off to the New World and other riff raff, now want to enact legislation aimed at the harassment of possible immigrants whose papers may perhaps be unclear, missing, or even non-existent.  Wheras the Arizona law on which our HB 87 is based is of dubious legality, and even more dubious Constitutionality, amounting to racial and ethnic profiling and making some law enforcers the arbiters of our rights and liberties, that is not preventing some Georgia legislators from proposing similar bad legislation for the Peach State -- even if most of those peaches are harvested by possibly-undocumented workers. 

 

The reality is that most of the jobs done by such workers are jobs Americans prefer not to undertake, even in a bad economy.  The low wages and poor working conditions in many of these jobs would be unacceptable to most of us.  And the better jobs already require employers to submit Federal I9 forms which certify that workers' documentation is in order.  Indeed, immigration is, and should remain, a Federal matter, not one subject to the vagaries of legislation in each of the fifty states.  Arizona's law is way off base, but perhaps understandable given that State's long border with Mexico to the South.  Georiga, however, shares no borders with a foreign nation, and has totally different conditions.

 

America would be ill-served by a patchwork quilt of punitive anti-immigrant measures varying from State to State, and resulting mainly in the replacement of the rule of law by the rule of fear.  Yes, humane and Constitutional immigration measures should be enforced in humane and Constitutional ways.  But this nation of immigrants should always lift its lamp of liberty beside the golden door, whether that door is in New York Harbor or in the State of Georgia. 

 

 

 

 

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 1   Well Said 1   Supported 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Eugene Elander Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Author's Biography Eugene Elander has been a progressive social and political activist for decades. As an author, he won the Young Poets Award at 16 from the Dayton Poets Guild for his poem, The Vision. He was chosen Poet Laureate of (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

American Banking's Shameful Double Standard

The Decline and Fall of AARP

Georgia's State Bar is a Bar to Complaints Against Attorneys!

Meet the Worst Post Office in America!

Ukraine and Putin: Shades of Adolf Hitler!

Romney's Rancid Rant!

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend