Statue of Liberty not built for immigrants

In an oblique attempt to caricature Trump and his policies, a letter writer demonstrated ignorance about the Statue of Liberty and Emma Lazarus’ poem.

Barry Moreno, National Park Service statue historian, stated, “... it was never built for immigrants.” But rather to “pay tribute to the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, American democracy and democracy throughout the world.”

History shows that the content of the poem conflicts with events. Lazarus never used the word “liberty” in her poem, let alone use the name given by Bartholdi, “The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.” Rather, Lazarus gives it a new name and a new meaning: “Mother of Exiles.”

Whereas the torch represents the truths of the Enlightenment, particularly the political writings which led to the American and French revolutions, Lazarus delegitimizes it into a lamp lighting the path of exiles. Bad poetry makes for bad policy. Immigrants were the ambitious and adventurous for the most part. “Huddled masses” describes those who got left behind rather than those who got up and left. The letter writer mistakenly idealizes the past while obfuscating the present.

In 1882, while the Statue of Liberty was being built, the first federal immigration law was enacted, which prohibited a specific ethnic group from entering and becoming citizens: The Chinese Exclusion Act. The 1924 Johnson-Reed Act severely restricted African immigration and outright banned Arab and Asian immigration.

Incidentally, Valentine S. McClatchy, founder of The McClatchy Company which now owns the Bradenton Herald, was instrumental in support of that act, which continued unabated and with little congressional opposition until 1965. As a result, by 1970, foreign-born citizens made up less than 5 percent of the population — one-third the number at the turn of the 20th century.

The facts don’t square with romanticism of the past.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Statue of Liberty not built for immigrants."