• Magos_Galactose@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    There is a statue of a mighty woman located within the harbor of one of the cities of the West. At the time of its construction, it was described as “The New Colossus”, and a sonnet of the same name was inscribed at its base.

    Its message was long forgotten as the ruling nobilities of the New World reforge its message to placate the populace, where indentured servitudes were substitute for liberty.

    The statue is a figure of a mighty woman holding a torch, whose flame was imprisoned lightning, and her name, ‘Mother of Exiles’.

    From her beacon hand once glowed a worldwide welcome, whose silent lips once cried ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free!’

    Yet, an ocean away from where the statue stood, flames of imprisoned lightning burned not in a single torch, but across an entire nation.

    A nation that for decades has provided hope and solution for the poor, the tired, the huddled masses of the world, looking for a way to break from the tyranny of the New World.

    To all those yearning to breathe free, the People’s Republic of China is seen as a Mother of Exiles.

    The West sees something different.

    They see, and fear, a New Colossus.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I actually had the username Emma_Lazarus on the old hellsite! Back when I was a lib, I thought reminding Americans of their ideals would make them stop being bourgeoisified settler-colonial pieces of shit. The sonnet:

      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!