Look to the future on immigration

An 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus became inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. It read “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Perhaps we believe in a statute of limitations on Lady Liberty as well as the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Perhaps we believe we are better than immigrants and rebellious colonists from Europe.

We Americans, are no better than our predecessors or contemporaries. We must try to understand our immigrant population as people that “yearn to breathe free,” and this diversity only adds to the American experience through shared experiences of the struggle for recognition and acceptance.

We all believe in the power of democracy based on our common identity. We all want to succeed, we all want a better life in the future, we all want the protections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are better together, even if our differences can seem insurmountable at times.

Don’t let fragmentation get the best of us. Vote and be OK that other people will vote differently. Whether Green, Democrat or Republican, let’s put the future in front of us, instead of the past.

Willis Lambertson

Lake Barrington