This is a pewter spoon from the Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York.
At the base of the monument, inscribed on a bronze plaque, are the last few lines of a poem written by Emma Lazarus.
Emma was the fourth of seven children in a large Sephardic-Ashkenazi Jewish family. She became an advocate on behalf of Jewish refugees who were detained by immigration in New York after escaping anti-Semitic violence in Russia.
The last few lines of Emma’s poem, “The New Colossus”, are as follows:
“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!”
If you are so inclined, please make a donation to the ACLU. We will ALL need their help very soon.