My mother came to this country at the age of six, braving a long steerage boat trip by herself to find the “Goldene Medina.” Her parents had come before her, and landing at Ellis Island, she came through the golden door of the country to find her way.
An unaccompanied minor, she spoke no English. At Ellis Island, she was greeted by the Statue of Liberty, France’s gift to the United States, a symbol of the exceptionalism of our country–a land based on creed, not religion, not ethnicity. A melting pot of languages, skin tone, cultural quirks, and no common thread other than they wished to escape from oppression, discrimination, poverty to make a new life. I shudder to think of what she might have suffered now, had she come through the Southern door, speaking no English, unaccompanied.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty is Emma Lazarus’s beautiful poem–a sonnet to what we, as America and Americans, stand for.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries sheWith 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-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Complacency is our enemy. Anyone that does not embrace the @realDonaldTrump agenda of making America great again will be making a mistake.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) June 14, 2018
She’s right about one thing. Complacency IS our enemy. The only way to fight this is with our voices, our actions, and our feet. But the most important way is in November at the ballot box. We cannot afford to abrogate our solemn duty to rid our country of the most dangerous, ignorant, autocratic-leaning, anti-American president in our history!