I recently posted a video on my facebook page. It briefly tells the story of a modern day internment camp--in Texas. I thought it would inspire some action and it did. I got the following response from a person--it shocked me. Before you read the response, please take a second to view the video:
"...Why should I give a *&#@ about the &*%$! who get caught coming into our country illegally?! If life is so bad down south, what makes them think it'll be any better here?! If you want my sympathy, Try coming into the country legally and get rejected. Then I'll care."
Does the response seem typical of American sentiments? What role should our government play? How should we treat people with an unresolved immigration status? How does past immigration policies inform our present policy? How is the current immigration trend different from that of the early 1900s? Please consider the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty---it gives away my position.
The New Colossus
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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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