The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the U.S.A. by France to commemorate the coming centennial of American Independence (1876) and to celebrate the friendly relations between France and the United States of America.
What many do not realize is that the Statue of Liberty was also meant to celebrate the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War (1865).
Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi designed the immense statue to include, at its base, a very important symbol of freedom — a broken shackle and chains. This symbolizes the abolition of slavery in the United States of America.
The French Revolution (1789-1799) was characterized by a relentless pursuit of liberty, equality, and fraternity. France saw the post Civil War U.S.as a brother nation that would pursue those same ideals.
The Inscription on the bronze plaque installed at the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903 is a hopeful, inspired poem meant to serve as the voice of Lady Liberty. It is a statement against the militaristic power plays of European nations that would soon give rise to WWI and WWII. It is a message of encouragement and welcome. The purpose of the Statue of Liberty and the poem at the base is to declare, for all to see, the idealistic vision of America’s role in the world.
The New Colossus (1883) – Emma Lazarus
“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!’”
From the assassination of Lincoln, the failures of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynching, assassinations of civil rights leaders, segregation, voter suppression, and the long history of systemic racism… the United States of America has failed its pursuit of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
NOW WE HAVE ICE! Mass deportations of many people that are legally in the U.S. and have done nothing wrong other than walk the streets with brown skin. These people are being abused and sent to harsh prisons in other countries in violation of the rule of law and human decency. NOW WE HAVE a new empowered movement of white supremacy. NOW WE HAVE blatant corruption at the highest levels of government, starting with the President. NOW WE HAVE a roll back of regulations and laws meant to protect the people and lands of the United States of America. NOW WE HAVE the rights of women being thrown back a hundred years. NOW WE HAVE a threat to our system of elections and a dismantling and corrupting of our institutions, including the federal courts.
Perhaps, the United States of America never had a chance. Perhaps the hard fought progress made toward creating a nation “with liberty and justice for all” was doomed to fail. Too many white people took it for granted that the nation was heading in the right direction. While too many others refused to give up their twisted dreams of creating a white “Christian” patriarchal nation.
Right now, wealthy white men feel their identity and power threatened by the notion of “equality” and justice for all. My hope is that Trumpism is the last hurrah of a dying, ugly, cancerous ideology. My hope is that American’s will acknowledge the ugliness of the nation’s history: land theft, genocide of several million indigenous humans, the enslavement of some 12 million human beings stolen from their home in Africa, the violence against women and the suppression of their rights, never ending wars to protect the interests of the wealthiest among us … The nation needs to understand its history and heal from the traumas of the past. OR LIBERTY WILL BE LOST. THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE LOST.
READ REAL HISTORY! It is is okay to feel uncomfortable about the truth of U.S. history, that just means you still have a soul and a conscience!
The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal
A scholarly study of the Reconstruction, everyday psychopathology in the Jim Crow South, segregation and discrimination in the North, critical race theory, epigenetics, the Calvinist contribution to racism and classism, Euro-American fascism, and how the effects of all of these factors are coming to a head at this political moment.” —EDGE Media Network
Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy (published October 2025) will help you understand what the heck is happening to the USA and how you can help turn the tide toward creating a nation that serves all of its citizens.
This is a book that is inspirational in tone with practical advice on actions YOU can take to create the America we all deserve.
This book is essential reading. BUY IT NOW.”
