Celebrating America’s Promise.
“‘Give me your tired, your poor,
“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
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!”
When I was in school, learning the Pledge of Allegiance was accompanied by lessons on what the American Flag stood for. I vividly recall images of the Statue of Liberty as a tribute to the earliest Americans who immigrated to the shores of North America to escape persecution and create a better life for themselves and their families. These settlers were vital in establishing the land of the free and the brave. The Statue of Liberty also symbolized a living America that still beckoned immigrants to fake breitling cockpit a4935011/f523-366a movement contribute its strengths based on diversity, democracy, and prosperity.
People and nations often fail to live up to their noblest ideals, however. So it is important to know that accepting refugees is not merely an act of charity to reflect American values but one that increases American prosperity. Refugees create new businesses, establish communities that drive out crime and gang activity from previously abandoned neighborhoods, and grow the economy and population in the areas where they settled. The value of refugees is recognized from mayors across the country who have continually, from Obama to Biden, petitioned the federal government to provide more refugees. Hopefully, more Americans will become aware of the contributions of refugees and the need to prioritize their resettlement to meet the demand of cities that are ready to embrace them.
To learn more, please read my article for The Washington Post’s The Monkey Cage. Why do some U.S. mayors want more refugees?