Statue of Liberty: is she only for us?

It sounds to me like some of our presidential candidates and governors want to erase Emma Lazarus’ words – “Give us your tired and hungry, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” – from our Statue of Liberty.

Then again, they might well be getting ready to take down both that Lady with the Torch and the one with the Scales of Justice altogether.

Why, who would want to face up to admitting our history that that Liberty was meant for “just us,” quite the same as “land of the free” was coined when Jim Crow was alive and well throughout the land?

Truth be told, we would have to own up to the fact that when our forebears arrived here others had already discovered and inhabited this beautiful land for eons and our immigrant fathers took it for themselves by force.

Has there ever been any accounting for that? If they build the wall around our borders actually or just in our minds, how will we be able to face Lady Liberty?

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Statue of Liberty: is she only for us?."