Happy Fourth - Standing Up for the Immigrant, The Refugee & The "Tempest Tossed..."

This week in the US we'll celebrate the Fourth of July.

Traditionally, it's a day set aside to remember who we are called to be as a country. Even as we face our failings head on.

According to the PBS website, the Fourth has some interesting historical roots:

"'Taxation without representation!" was the battle cry in America’s 13 Colonies, which were forced to pay taxes to England's King George III despite having no representation in the British Parliament. As dissatisfaction grew, British troops were sent in to quell the early movement toward rebellion. Repeated attempts by the Colonists to resolve the crisis without military conflict proved fruitless.

On June 11, 1776, the Colonies' Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and formed a committee whose express purpose was drafting a document that would formally sever their ties with Great Britain. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, who was considered the strongest and most eloquent writer, crafted the original draft document. A total of 86 changes were made to his draft and the Continental Congress officially adopted the final version on July 4, 1776."

Note that the flashpoint for American Revolution wasn't "no taxes!" nor "smaller government!" But simply the right to have a say in how those tax dollars were spent.

The spirit behind the Declaration of Independence would not approve of gerrymandering, or of efforts to keep people of color from voting.

The PBS website goes on to note that:

In June of 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D.C. to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote. In it, Jefferson says of the document: 

“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ...For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

- Thomas Jefferson
June 24, 1826 Monticello

Most of us (hopefully) can recall the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, "When in the course of human events..."

But did you know that the same document details a list of complaints as to why the colonies were formally declaring their independence from England?

Among them is this complaint against King George:

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these [United] States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."

In other words, the colonists were saying that King George's government was obstructing immigration to the New World and making it difficult for immigrants to procure a home.

Does this sound at all familiar?

Could the 2,500 or more children currently being separated from their families for crossing the Mexican border make the same complaint? How about their parents who are being charged with a crime for fleeing violence in their own countries?

At what point did caring for your family become illegal?

It's good to remember, to call to mind our collective history as a nation. Like it or not, the fact is, we are a nation of immigrants and refugees. 

We are not a melting pot. We have grown to become increasingly diverse. And there is great strength in that. 

This Fourth of July, let's remember who we are called to be. Yes, we too often fall short, but the goal remains. 

The poet Emma Lazarus wrote these words, which were inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty:
"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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'"