"Excuse me Ms. Liberty is you light going out?"

The New Colossus 1883
By: Emma Lazarus
Poem Review

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

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-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


Outside the reach of the welcoming arms of the statue of liberty and Ellis Island lie gates that separate and guards that keep watch over the borders of the land behind the golden door: America. It is perplexing to comprehend the contrast of the attitude of the lady in this poem to that of many Americans today.

Once upon a time, America - the melting pot, was a country known for its freedom, democracy and openness to immigrants; but this unique freedom seems to be dimming from plain view. There is much debate within the United States on what makes an individual American. Those individuals that have immigrated into this country legally in recent years often feel a sense of disgust for those people that break through the borders illegally. Some legal immigrants sense that border runners have cheated their way into the country, but there is little consideration as to why the border runners are so intent to make their way into the U.S. While some dismiss the poor living conditions, non-sustaining wages, and government oppression as poor reasons for flight to America. It is interesting that legal immigrants often relocate to the U.S. for the very same reasons. The difference simply being that some individuals have the resources or connections to be processed legally, while others may not.

The New Colossus, written by Emma Lazarus in 1883; seems to be writing about a much different country than we live in 2006.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

The United Kingdom seems to match this description at the time this poem was penned, but the atmosphere and global appearance of the United States is currently alike this image of an impassable, aggressive entity that the writer so negatively portraits. Its as if our county has become like an imposing, uncaring parent tied up in nominal details of their childs life while turning a blind eye to their basic daily needs.

Compassion, strength and hope are the words that come to mind as Lazarus describes the Mother of the Exiles in the next phrase.

Here our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is 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

Imagine the warmest most steadfast welcome an individual can receive and before them stands, Mother of the Exiles. Her arms are open to the world, inviting the weary world entrance into two cities (and an entire country) full of possibility. Her wish is that the excessive, wealthy and privileged people of the world would stay in the lands that they had succeeded so to provide a new land of opportunity for those that had no splendor in life.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

This Mother of the Exiles was not interested in welcoming people into her land that could provide something for her benefit. She was intent on accepting, caring for and welcoming those people that no one else desired.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tosses to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I cant help but wonder where I would be (and if I would be) had my great-great grandmother and grandfather had not been permitted to enter this county from Wales over a hundred years ago. What was it that drew my distant relatives to come to this country? For most immigrants then, it was the hope for a better present and future for themselves and their families. Today it is the same desire, to have the life that is only possible in America: a life full of opportunities, potential and the American dream.

The Mother of the Exiles raised her lantern to the huddled masses even before a segment of Lazaruss poem was placed on the base of the statues platform. Her poem was found after her passing by a New York arts patron in a collection of writings gathered to raise funds to purchase the platform for the statue in 1883. Upon the discovery, the last five lines of the poem were placed upon the platform that Lazarus had prior to the death had helped to raise funds for. After twenty years of visitors to the statue, school textbook accounts of the poem and the inclusion of the sonnet in a Berlin Broadway musical; the entire poem was placed over the main entrance to the statue in 1945.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LIBERTY/lazarus.html)

In this country, there is great debate over what makes a person an American. Some strictly say citizenship is the key, association of a particular religion for some holds some importance, others it is a commitment to pledge allegiance to the flag, and still others say that training and education are critical to acquire citizenship. (In the Monitor, 8/21/06;USA Stories: World Wide Web) While it is important to consider the effects that overpopulation could possibly have upon individual opportunity and the stability of the countrys economic structure, it is the dramatic turn in attitude towards potential immigrants that raises some serious questions.

In the year 1883, Lazarus a wealthy New Yorker, wrote a poem to welcome a population of individuals that in 2006 that many privileged political or socially important individuals would refuse to consider becoming Americans. It would be naïve to assume that all American citizens were pleased by the great influx of immigrants to American in the 1800s. The bias that many Mexican and Iranian immigrants face today is very similar to the difficulties faced by the Welsh and Irish immigrants of Lazarus day, but many Welsh and the Irish did immigrate successfully into America.

The current attitudes of many Americans concerning present day immigration policy cause me to wonder if the new immigrants will succeed in even gaining the opportunity to attempt the American dream? It is the fluidity or multicultural diversity that has provided America to be a country that is unique to all others. It is the willingness to open the golden door and absorb the ideas and perspectives of new blood that has always kept our county vital and progressive. If this country, often referred to as the melting pot is taken off of the stove due to fear of who and what we dont know or understand, we are in danger of become stale and spoiled by our own self absorption.

Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus is a reminder of the optimistic, compassionate heart that yearned for people, all people, to be free. It is that free America that I desire to live in, learn in and pledge allegiance too. Light you lantern America, the world is watching and praying to see the light of hope shining bright.