Emma Lazarus’s poem is sure getting a workout these days by so-called “progressives”.
For those who are unfamiliar with her background, Emma Lazarus was a woman of German Jewish and Sephardic descent who was an activist for the immigration of Russian Jews in the late 19th century.
Lazarus was both a Socialist and a Zionist. That her poem is so popular with our local leftists, many of whom sympathize not with Israel but with the Palestinians, seems a fitting irony.
By the way, Emma Lazarus wrote the poem in 1883. She died before the 19th amendment was passed in 1920, giving American women the right to vote. Another irony that this woman who is beloved for her compassion toward others and love of country couldn’t even vote or hold office.