David Rovics
Turning away refugees is unfortunately a long tradition in the US. But the propaganda represented by the Statue of Liberty is really lovely stuff. If only it were much more real.
David Rovics makes lots of good material available online, including a blog of his travels, 200+ songs for free (over a million downloads), pirate songs for kids and a chronicle of activist history. And he’s on Facebook and Twitter.
Lyrics:
Statue in the Harbor
Give us your huddled masses yearning to be free
That’s what it says on the Statue of Liberty
And here they come, from the other side
Across the southern border, across the great divide
And now they’re told that they should go away
But the statue in the harbor says “stay”
Give us your cold and hungry, let them come by land or sea
Let them all find solace in this land of refugees
Escaping persecution, just trying to survive
And they worked as hard as Guatemalans as soon as their ships arrived
Give us your persecuted, but only if they’re white
It doesn’t say that on the statue that holds aloft the light
What did you think would happen in the lands you overthrew
Where should all the children go after the coup
Kit Mace-LaCroix believes the engraved poem that appears on the Statue of Liberty is still yearning to ring true. Found on NBC Latino.