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The U.S. Independence Day holiday motivated a new mural in France that shames America.
While France was once a key ally in the Revolutionary War against Britain, it is now shaming the U.S. with a massive mural of Lady Liberty covering her eyes with mortification. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France after the U.S. Civil War, recalled the National Parks Service.
The mural is titled "The Statue of Liberty's Silent Protest" and was created by Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw. In an interview, Leeuw revealed to Storyful that it is meant to reflect shame for the United States over President Donald Trump's immigration policies, a USA Today video said.
A bronze plaque inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," from the sonnet "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus.
"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," it continues.
Her poem was meant to help raise money to construct the pedestal for the statue. Lazarus was involved in helping bring Jewish refugees fleeing antisemitic pogroms from Eastern Europe to the U.S. at the time and she saw the Statue of Liberty as an inspiration for migrants fleeing to the welcoming arms of the United States.
In a post on Instagram, Leeuw explained that the Statue of Liberty was a "celebration of friendship, and given in the name of Independence Day — a day meant to honor the right to freedom for all."
"But today, that freedom feels out of reach. Not for everyone. Not for migrants. Not for those pushed to the margins, silenced, or unseen," she continued. "In Roubaix — a city with one of France’s largest migrant populations — I painted her covering her eyes, because the weight of the world has become too heavy to witness. What was once a shining symbol of liberty now carries the sorrow of lost meaning. The project was finished on July 4th — Independence Day. A quiet reminder of what freedom should be."
The mural took six days to complete and was unveiled the day before the United States' Independence Day. However, the artist called the unveiling on July 3, a "meaningful coincidence."
See the mural in the video from the artist below or at the link here.