I don’t remember much about the day I became a United States citizen. Most likely, I was preoccupied with other things, like the concept of light, for example. My parents made a big deal of it, though. There was a little announcement published in the newspaper a few days later.
It was probably the same deal with most of you. Most of us became U.S. citizens at the moment we drew our first breath by virtue of the “happy accident” of being born in the U.S., as Mississippi State University President Dr. Mark Keenum observed Friday.
So while the vast majority of Americans never have to do anything at all to become citizens of our country, for others the process of “being an American” can be long, expensive and, no doubt, frustrating.
Friday, the U.S. welcomed 102 new citizens to its ranks during a one-hour official court proceeding/celebration in the ballroom of The Mill at MSU. At 11:58 a.m., David Crews, in his role as Clerk of the Northern District of the U.S. District Court, led those 102 people in taking the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. and Judge Sharion Aycock officially welcomed them as citizens.
They came from all over the world – from Algeria to Mexico to Yemen. There were young women in their 20s and old men in the 60s and 70s. There were people of many faiths, many cultures – Muslim and Jew, Hindu and Buddhist and Sikh, and probably a few other faiths.
Friday’s naturalization proceedings was a new experience for District Judge Debra Brown of Greenville, one of four district judges to attend the event.
She watched as the new citizens, all assigned to seats on the first three rows, sat with hands folded in their laps, waiting for their names to be called. They each stood when their name was called and, as requested, announced their countries of origin.
For Brown, a district judge since 2013, it was a powerful scene.
“We are becoming a more diverse state,” she said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
During his keynote address, Keenum urged the new citizens to play active roles in their community. He encouraged them to register to vote, to speak their minds and become fully engaged in our political process.
While all of the new citizens currently live in north Mississippi, some will undoubtedly move, following jobs and opportunities that, at the present, do no exist in Mississippi.
For those who stay, however, and the hundreds of new citizens that continue to move here (these ceremonies are held two to three times per year), their presence brings diversity to a state that has historically struggled with that idea.
As these new citizens were taking the oath, the Legislature had passed legislation that critics say will allow people to discriminate against others on the basis of their “religious beliefs” or “moral convictions.” It was also the first day of “Confederate Heritage Month,” an affront to the black community for whom the Confederacy was never something worthy of celebration.
If our state does value diversity — as all those who rose to speak during Friday’s ceremony affirmed — we must pursue a course that respects that diversity through the laws we pass, laws that respect the legitimacy of varied cultures and faiths and does not give one faith, one culture favored status over others.
That day seems far, far away at the present.
But hope remains.
You could see it in the faces of all those new citizens.
Their influence may ultimately be greater than they realize.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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