Note: BlackCommentator.com welcomes Sharon Kyle, JD, to the Editorial Board. Her column The Invisible Woman will appear on a regular basis.

This month Sarah Palin, her family, and entourage took a road trip around the country - dubbed the “One Nation” bus tour. The trip appears to be part family vacation and part political tour but Palin insists it is not part of a political campaign.

As expected, the media has had a front row seat - all along the way, following Palin and serving up Sarah's pearls of wisdom on cable and nightly news. There seems to be a camera and a microphone at the ready, every time the bus door opens and Palin opens her mouth.

There also seems to be no end to her willingness to put her lack of knowledge on display. But apparently there is a market for all things "Sarah" - which explains the media's behavior. They cover her, the public eats it up, they make money, she makes money. No harm, no foul.

Well, not quite.

One of Palin's gaffes, made while she was touring Paul Revere's home in Boston, has gotten a lot of attention. Another, made while she was at Bedloe's Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, didn't get as much. This attention disparity is the point of this article. But before I get to that point, let's talk a little about the two flubs.

If you missed the Boston gaffe, speaking of Paul Revere's famed midnight ride, Palin said:

The media's been abuzz ever since these words tumbled out of her mouth. Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, and gadflies picked up on her comments and got a lot of laughs. Deservedly so. It was easy to get mileage out of this inaccurate, barely coherent, word salad. Anyone with a sixth grade education could immediately identify the problem(s) with her statement.

But what about the other gaffe - the one Palin made in explaining the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty. Why didn't that one grab the attention of Maher and company or the rest of the media? Could it be that the flaw in that flub wasn't as easily recognizable? I don't know. Perhaps you can be the judge. Let's take a look at what Palin said and compare her statement to documented history.

When asked about the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, Palin said,

Okay, so Palin is saying that France gave us the statue to warn us not to make the mistakes they made. But contrary to Sarah Palin's characterization, historians say the Statue of Liberty was meant to serve an entirely different purpose.

It was given to us to serve as a reminder of the importance of liberty, particularly with respect to slavery.

In other words, the creator of the Statue of Liberty intended the opposite of what Palin claims. The symbolism was intended to celebrate freedom and to also acknowledge a mistake the United States made and corrected - slavery.

It is well documented that Frederic Bartholdi, the French sculptor who designed the Statue, came upon the idea of the statue in 1865 after having a conversation with a friend, noted Frenchmen Edouard de Laboulaye, who was an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War.

Due to the political climate in France at the time and a lack of funding, it took several years to raise enough funds to get the project off the ground. Bartholdi's original rendering had Lady Liberty holding broken chains in her left hand, with more broken chains at her feet both to symbolize the end of slavery in the United States. Slavery was abolished in France many years before the slaves were emancipated in the United States.

Noted author and lecturer, Dr. Joy DeGruy, frequently addresses the chains in the original renderings of the Statue of Liberty in her speaking tours and interviews. DeGruy says that when the renderings were disclosed to the American decision makers of the day, the French designer was rebuffed. The Americans insisted that he remove the chains. Bartholdi was adamant that the chains remain although he eventually was forced to compromise - removing the chains from Lady Liberty's hand but leaving the chains at her feet along with broken shackles, where they remain today.

Interviewed on the cable show "Like It Is", DeGruy explained where the chains are and how they can be seen today. It is no longer surprising to hear that Sarah Palin doesn't have the facts but what is more unfortunate is that this story isn't told as often as the story of Paul Revere's midnight ride. The shameful history and legacy of slavery, to this day, is not given the attention it deserves else Maher, Colbert, and company could have had a field day with this.

If only DeGruy could get one tenth the media coverage Palin gets. In the video below, she addresses the chains on the Statue of Liberty at 40 seconds into the recording. She's a great storyteller and author. Here is a link to her website. Enjoy the video (below) and please pass this along to your friends and family.

 

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member and Columnist Sharon Kyle, JD, is the Co-Founder and Publisher of the LA Progressive an online social justice magazine. With her husband Dick, she publishes several other print and online newsletters on political and social justice issues. In addition to her work with the LA Progressive, Ms. Kyle holds a Juris Doctorate, is an adjunct professor at Peoples College of Law in Los Angeles, and sits on the board of the ACLU Pasadena/Foothills Chapter and the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. Click here to contact the LA Progressive and Ms. Kyle.