This paper will discuss the truth behind the biggest symbol of American freedom. The Statue of Liberty has become an emblem of the rights and freedoms all Americans receive when the come from their countries. In Lauret Savoy’s novel, Trace, she discusses multiple areas where the culture of the people who were originally living there were suppressed and forgotten. In Trace, she also discusses the racism that has been in America for centuries and that is still currently happening in America. The Declaration of Independence says that “all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” When it was stated “all men,” this did not include all races, nationalities, and religions. In 1885 the Statue of Liberty was given to America …show more content…
When visiting the Statue, the workers talk about the immigrants traveling so far to get to the incredible country of America to be free and live the American dream. They never share the stories of how the immigrants got to America. How there were hundreds of people stuffed in the lowest level of a boat who were sick or dying. Families being separated. Children having to face a new country on their own. Many immigrants left their countries because it was no longer safe to stay where they were. They came to America to find safety for their families. The hardest part for immigrants was getting to America, or so they …show more content…
Once immigrants got to America they had to go through screenings and interviews to see if they were acceptable to come into the country. Many immigrants were sent back to their place of origin if the doctors and government inspectors thought they were criminals or carriers of diseases. If they did make it through the inspections they were moved into immigrant housing which were overcrowded and unsanitary (EyeWitness 1). The immigrants had to deal with the physical struggles of being in underbudget facilities, but they also had to deal with the racist and demeaning remarks from those against immigration. Raul Yzaguirre wrote The Two Faces of American Immigration, in book Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches, he talked about a radio advertisement offering to smuggle Mexicans into America and sell them to be slaves. He said, “Whatever the intent, we know from past history that the first step in oppressing a people is to dehumanize the and/or to demonize them.” (Yzaguirre 2). Immigrants came to this country to get away from the violence that was in their countries, but when they got here they were met with discrimination and