Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions
Statue of Liberty
By Terence Erbele
January 31, 2017
Tuesday AM
Ellis Island is one of our national treasures. It is a place to reflect on the history of our country and to capture a sense of what many of our ancestors experienced upon entering this country. It was not a warm welcome. On several walls are old posters, dating back to the 1800's, demanding that we keep immigrants out. Certain countries are named. Yet most of the detested immigrants and their descendants became integral to every part of our society.
On the next island stands the Stature of Liberty. At the base is an engraved poem by Emma Lazarus calling her the Mother of Exiles. "From her beacon-hand glows a world-wide welcome." The poem goes on: "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."
If we want to make America great again it is not by a fortress mentality with walls and bans on refugees. Rather we must be an example to the world of providing hope and basic human rights. It begins by each of us daily striving for such with those in our community.
Terence Erbele
Ketchikan, Alaska
Received January 30, 2017
- Published January 31, 2017
About: "Pastor, United Methodist Church"
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