Home of the Brave?

Engraved on a bronze plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty is the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. 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!"

Perhaps that door that was once open allowing my ancestors entrance to the land of opportunity is now shut. Perhaps it is only open to those who are white, or have some talent which grants them entrance. If that is the case, then perhaps we should close ol' Lady Liberty down. Either we are what she says we are, or we are not.