https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/grid_builder/ner/crop16_9/89721987-1DD8-B71B-0BE77EEAE39E0520.jpg?width=950&quality=90&mode=crop

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from people of France in recognition of our national friendship, but also as a symbol of the world's admiration of American ideals of freedom, justice and equality. “Lady Liberty” has become a global symbol for freedom, holding a torch to light the way through ignorance and having the broken chains of oppression laying at her feet. 

Original funding for building the copper structure came from the people of France, donators ranging from large conglomerates down to small school children. Her design came from French scupter Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and was built by the same man who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Gustave Eiffel. She was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886.

For over a century, she has stood as they symbol of opportunity and freedom to those seeking a better life. She has stood, patiently and stalwartly through wars, political upheavals and terrorristic attacks, as if to say “This too shall pass. and freedom, honor and righteousness shall again prevail.”

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/National_Park_Service_9-11_Statue_of_Liberty_and_WTC_fire.jpg/290px-National_Park_Service_9-11_Statue_of_Liberty_and_WTC_fire.jpg

[Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty)

Although not part of the original dedication, a poem, **“The New Colossus”** by  Emma Lazarus, has long been associated with the statue and is embronzed on a plaque at the base. It reads:

*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!"_

But now, we have failed Lady Liberty, her ideals and spirit. We no longer deserve to hold and keep her.

We should give her back.

(Top image source: National Park Service)