Perhaps it is time to declare that we no longer believe the words on the Statue of Liberty:
“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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!””
Perhaps we should not invite “the huddled masses yearning to breath free” to our land if they are going to end up in Alligator Alcatraz once they get here.
Perhaps America now prefers the “storied pomp” of empire to the message of world wide liberation. Perhaps we should give the Statue of Liberty back to France, or melt it down into commemorative coins of our all powerful president. Perhaps we should stop pretending to be hold up a “lamp beside the golden door.”
Or, perhaps, it is time for those who love liberty to clear our streets of military occupation. Perhaps it is time for “the land of the free” to replace prisons with homes. Perhaps, it is time for true patriots to renounce empty idol worship of the flag and commit ourselves to the democratic republic for which that flag stands.
You cannot love America and hate its people.