The land of opportunitiy, the land of the free? What does that phrase mean? How free are we? How free are we from oppression, from the oppressors? No one is free while others are not. I think. They call this place America, the land of opportunity. Where you can go to achieve The American Dream. But how free are we? And what does that quote on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty "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." mean? It's a phrase I think of everytime I am riding the train going my way during rush hour as I look around at everyone packed in the subway car like sardines in a can exhausted from work. It's a phrase I think of everytime I see persons in jail with no comforter and only the oppressor at his side. It's a phrase I think of every time I walk down the street and see the homeless and the poor while the rich pass them by. It's a phrase I think of everytime I see immigrants unable to travel anywhere at anytime without a visa or a passport. And it's a phrase I think of countless other times that I cannot remember at this time. Is this the land of opportunity? What does that phrase mean? And could this be a question for
Amnesty International.