“The Statue of Liberty has been trying to hail a taxi for years!”

New York City’s Statue of Liberty has one arm raised that holds a torch. The original name for the statue is “Liberty Enlightening the World.”
 
But what if the statue had been simply trying to hail a taxi for all of these years? A New Yorker cartoon by Hugh Brown states:
 
“Welcome to New York. She’s (Statue of Liberty—ed.) been trying to hail a cab for decades.”
 
The joke has been made several times on Twitter.
 
 
Wikipedia: Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, was built by Gustave Eiffel and dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.
 
CartoonStock
‘Welcome to New York. She’s been trying to hail a cab for decades.’
Cartoonist: Brown, Hugh   Search ID: hbrn792   High-Res: 2550 x 2850 px
 
Google Groups: alt.newlywed
Snow as well as forecast rain in humid Sydney
Manda
12/6/01
(...)
a card depicting the Statue of Liberty trying to hail a taxi after shopping at Bloomingdales.
 
Twitter
Dice
‏@DiceProductions
The Statue of Liberty has been trying to hail a cab back to Manhattan unsuccessfully since its hen night in 1886 #factoflife
7:47 AM - 28 Apr 2009
 
Twitter
Kevin Townley
‏@KevinTownleyJr
To most the Statue of Liberty seems a welcoming beacon, but we know she’s just trying to hail a cab out of town.
10:29 PM - 27 Dec 2009
 
Twitter
Thomas Hutchings
‏@HutchingsThomas
All this time I thought the Statue of Liberty was holding up the Torch of Liberty, but it turns out she’s just trying to hail a cab. #wakeup
5:25 PM - 3 May 2012
 
Twitter
Sleazus Christ
‏@uptownlordevans
The Statue of Liberty been trying to hail a cab for 126 years #thatshitscray
2:36 PM - 11 May 2012
 
Twitter
Nover
‏@YoungNobler
The modern equivalent of the Statue of Liberty is a girl texting while trying to hail a cab.
11:15 PM - 17 May 2014
 
Twitter
Mark L
‏@FictionalGamer
What if the statue of liberty was just trying to hail a cab all this time..
2:17 PM - 17 Jan 2016