Here, two decades later, I reflect still on what could have been and yet still remain optimistic even in the face of greater turmoil, widespread authoritarianism, a global climate crisis exacerbated by war, and then too of war itself as evidenced by the illegal incursion into the sovereignty of Ukraine. The events of that day would later define my career and set me on a path of being far more cynical than I was previously as I viewed a changed world. The next 16 hours are still a vignette of sounds, smells, and sights from that day that have never left me. I witnessed the utter disbelief on the faces of every one of my colleagues as we were clustered around a television set watching the events unfolding in New York City at the World Trade Center and then suddenly it was our turn as the entire building shook as Flight 77 crashed into the southwestern face of the Pentagon. This reporter was in the Pentagon that fateful morning, having agreed to substitute for a sick colleague. The ‘War on Terror’ as it was known spanned 20 years, saw the expenditure of $6 trillion, 900,000 lives lost around the globe and at least 38 million people who have been displaced.ĩ:37:46 AM, The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.: American Airlines Flight 77, which had taken off from Dulles International Airport, struck the southwest side of the building killing 184 people. The number of American service members who died fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had passed 7,000 at the end of 2021. Kathi Wolfe, a writer and a poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade. Talking about poetry is fab! But, politicos, stop tweaking poems to justify your unjust policies. She wrote it to “argue that aiding the poor and oppressed of all lands was the mission of all Americans, the mission of America itself,” Esther Schor, author of “Emma Lazarus,” wrote in a recent oped in The New York Times. Lazarus decided to write it when, “her friend Constance Cary Harrison said…’Emma, think of these refugees you are helping,’” Annie Polland, executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, told NPR, “Think of how they’ll see the statue in the harbor.”īut, Lazarus didn’t write “The New Colossus” to only welcome European immigrants to this country. She was asked to write a poem to raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus became an advocate for Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Lazarus, who died in 1887 at age 37, from cancer, was a poet, writer and fifth generation American Jew. Yet, Cuccinelli’s Orwellian riff on “The New Colossus,” which Lazarus wrote in 1883, is disturbing. “They certainly are: ‘Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge,’” Cuccinelli said.Ĭuccinelli’s rewriting of Lazarus’ words had no rhyme or rhythm. “Would you also agree that Emma Lazarus’s words etched on the Statue of Liberty…are also a part of the American ethos?” NPR’s Rachel Martin asked him. “All immigrants who can stand on their own two feet, self-sufficient, pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” would be welcome to come to the U.S., he added. He said that people who were a public charge (who use benefits such as Medicaid) were a “burden on the government.” Citizenship and Immigration Services spoke to NPR’s “Morning Edition,” about the Trump administration’s revision of the Public Charge rule. 13, Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. It’s hard to think what would happen if they arrived today. While working in the fields and in cigar factories, they built a life for themselves and their children. I think of my great-grandparents who came to the United States to escape the pogroms of Eastern Europe. This will hurt everyone from people of color to queer folks to disabled people – anyone who wouldn’t be able to say they’d have a job or an independent source of income if they came to this country. 15, will deny green cards and visas to legal immigrants who use or who would likely use benefits such as Food Stamps or Medicaid. I’m no lawyer, and I won’t pretend to understand the legalese involved. It began after the Trump Administration announced its revisions to he “public charge” rule on immigration. Unless you’ve been on Mars, you know the most famous of Lazarus’ words: “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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