July 7, 2025
Leeuw mentioned revealing the work on the 4th of July was additionally intentional because the Statue of Liberty was a birthday reward from France to the USA on July 4, 1884.
As America celebrated Independence Day, France revealed a daring depiction of the Statue of Liberty to precise its disdain for what is occurring within the land of the free and residential of the courageous, BuzzFeed experiences.
The mural, titled “The Statue of Liberty’s Silent Protest,” was created by Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw on a constructing within the metropolis of Roubaix. Seen by greater than 16 million folks, the aim of the viral mural is as an instance the “disgrace” of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration insurance policies, with Girl Liberty masking her face together with her arms and her torch mendacity on her chest.
With the mural’s location being intentional, Leeuw selected Roubaix because of its “massive migrant inhabitants” who reside each day with tough circumstances. “The values that the statue as soon as stood for — freedom, hope, the correct to be your self — have been misplaced for a lot of,” the artist mentioned.
Leeuw mentioned that revealing the work on the 4th of July was additionally intentional, because the Statue of Liberty was a birthday reward from France to the USA on July 4, 1884, as a approach to have fun the nation’s independence and democracy. Nevertheless, given the flip of occasions over the past six months of President Donald Trump’s second time period, emotions have modified.
The timing of the mural got here hours after Trump signed the “Huge, Lovely Invoice” — a GOP-supported laws that’s getting huge backlash for its cuts to Medicaid, further funding for border safety, and tax advantages for the nation’s rich one %. American voters appeared to help the paintings, laughing at how America has turn out to be a global joke.
“I really feel this proper to my core,” one social media consumer wrote.
One other social media consumer determined to provide America each a historical past and math lesson. The Trump administration and others had been pinpointing Independence Day 2025 as America’s 250th birthday. Nevertheless, the mathematics isn’t mathing.
”It’s July 4th, and this sums up how I really feel. Not solely disgrace, but additionally concern of being seen. Will we even be capable of make it to our 250th anniversary on July 4th, 2026… God assist us all,” one other consumer mentioned.
In fact, a number of folks used the chance to spout racist rhetoric towards the French nation, dragging problems with homelessness and anti-Muslim views into it.
This isn’t the primary time different nations have mocked the USA for its radical ideologies. In response to The Guardian, artist and British immigrant Izaac Zevalking showcased a mural of the Statue of Liberty, handcuffed and slammed on the hood of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) police automobile in downtown Las Vegas in 2019.
The paintings got here days after then-Citizenship and Immigration Providers Director Ken Cuccinelli recommended making an modification to the sonnet inscribed on the statue to learn: “Give me your drained and your poor who can stand on their very own two ft and who is not going to turn out to be a public cost.”
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