On a recent flight from D.C. to LaGuardia, I was treated to the most stunning sunrise. And as the plane descended into New York City, I caught a glimpse of Lady Liberty stoically keeping watch over the harbor, her famed torch shimmering with the brilliance of Mother Nature’s handiwork.
Looking down at her, for me, was an emotional reminder of her purpose.
Her visionary, Edouard de Laboulaye, was fascinated by our Constitution. And understandably so. His own country, France, had been heavily divided between loyalists of a repressive monarchy and citizens who supported enlightenment ideals — beliefs that people had rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This fascination eventually morphed into a gift that was intended to be a symbol of “liberty enlightening the world.”
A gift, I should say, that is as cherished as it is abused.
Since her debut 130 years ago, she has been the poster child for an exhausting list of cause célèbres — women suffrage, Prohibition, abortion, wars, government shortcomings, poverty, gun control, alleged constitutional violations being among them. What we see as unfit in this country often becomes her burden to bear.
The latest debate on immigration is a perfect example.
For the last several months, politicians have used her as an authoritative voice on immigration. "I believe the enduring symbol of our country is not the barbed wire fence. It's the Statue of Liberty," said Martin O’Malley. “The day America says, ‘Close the gates, build the wall,’ then I say take down the Statue of Liberty because you’ve gone to a different place,” lamented Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Others have taken to quoting the sonnet inside her pedestal’s wall, “‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ That’s the spirit that makes us Americans,” tweeted the White House.
The problem here is twofold.
Edouard de Laboylaye’s envisioned Lady Liberty to be a global symbol of our nation’s evolving democratic process, not a ventriloquist dummy for lethargic politicians. And let’s be clear on this. When she is used for political agenda, it is indicative of a stagnant democratic process. Instead of using the liberties symbolized by her to cultivate innovated immigration solutions, our politicians take to cowering behind her.
So much for liberty enlightening the world.
The sonnet inside her pedestal albeit beautiful should also not be used as an authoritative voice on immigration. Why? The writer of the sonnet, Emma Lazarus, not unlike our politicians, used Lady Liberty for her own agenda, which ultimately deflected Laboulaye’s intent.
Lazarus was asked to write a poem about liberty for the “Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty” — an auction that raised money for the pedestal. A celebrated Jewish nationalist, Lazarus was a woman years ahead of her times. She not only advocated for a Jewish state well before Theodor Herzl’s Zionist movement but she became the voice of Jewish immigrants through her writings.
At the time of the sonnet’s inception, America was in turmoil. An influx of Russian Jewish immigrants had simultaneously sparked both an immigration crisis and a wildfire of anti-Semitism. Lazarus, having worked directly with these immigrants, was discouraged by America’s reception of them. And although she initially declined to write the sonnet, it was her passion for these Jewish exiles that ultimately gave her the motivation to reconsider. She put pen to paper, dismissed the intended theme of "liberty" altogether, and morphed the sonnet into one of immigration, even going so far as to rename Lady Liberty “Mother of Exiles.”
Some may argue that Lady Liberty’s history is inconsequential, but I beg to differ.
She was always intended to be a silent symbol of the freedoms given to us under a democracy, and this hasn’t changed.
Emphasis on “silent.”
Politicians engaging in the immigration debate have to realize that she has no voice nor does she have authority in regards to policies. Lazarus herself even prefaced "Give me your tired, your poor” with “With silent lips,” a piece of the sonnet that is conveniently never parroted.
More specifically, they have to be reminded that although she greeted over 12 million immigrants to our shore, it was with regal muteness. She bore no opinion as to how many of these immigrants were allowed to stay or what nationalities she preferred or how America was to accommodate them or whether she wanted them in her land. All of these decisions … wait for it … were made by politicians through the democratic process that she so grandly symbolizes.
It’s frankly time to let Lady Liberty’s lips fall silent and be the lady she was always intended to be — a symbolic reminder of the liberties that we have been given under a democracy.
Cindi Merrell is an ESL teacher, mother of three, and wife. A transplanted Southerner, she has an affinity for pecan pie, writing and keeping up with world events.