we have forgotten

For the first time since moving to New York, I visited the Statue of Liberty late last year, on the first week of September.  What began as a quick trip to check a box on a list of exploration, became a journey through another time, and hours later, I took the ferry back to Manhattan, watching her grow smaller and smaller in the distance, feeling utterly defeated.

The story of the Statue is, for those who aren’t familiar, or who don’t care to admit, rooted in that which is inherent to our American history - immigration.  A topic which is shrouded in uncertainty, hate, confusion and disagreement these days.  As I walked the halls of Ellis Island, consuming the ghosts and stories of our ancestors told through their photographs, their faces, possessions and the beds in which they slept during their first nights in this country, internal tears were wept at the drastic change the administration that runs our country has experienced, bringing us to this day.   A monument once erected in the honor of these brave people, that once represented our country, is now in blatant contradiction of our current policies.  The same immigrants that were once welcomed with open arms and open shores are now not only turned away, but arrested, torn apart, and caged at those very borders.  Where there once stood an island dedicated to welcoming and integrating refugees from war torn countries, imminent danger and poverty, now stand the unforgiving steel of the cages in which children are kept, separated from their parents. 

I walked these halls with a friend of mine - a model resident who filed her application, properly, nine years ago.  And who, nine years later, has still not received her citizenship.  So when I hear from people I know, people I’ve respected in the past, that these “illegal refugees” should simply file the correct paperwork in order to seek a future in our country, I hope one day they realize that most of these mothers, children, sons and fathers do not have the luxury of time.  They do not have nine years.  Many have died waiting for paperwork, and we do not bat an eyelash.  They are seeking refuge just as those who came before us - they ARE our ancestors and our grandparents, and they are in cages.   This land that we claim is ours, was worked and lived on by the same people we reject.  We are not the America that Lady Liberty raises her torch for.  We have forgotten her.

On September 11, 2001, we said “Never Forget”.  And every year since, we say it again and again.  But we already have.  We have grown afraid, reclusive, closing our doors to all those who would enter.  That’s not what we meant.  That’s not what we once stood for. 

At the opening ceremony of the Statue, President Grover said of her: 

“We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home. [Her] light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until liberty enlightens the world.”

But we have forgotten.