Two associate professors and two students from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville were among 46 people who took part in a United States Naturalization Ceremony on Friday at Central Junior High School in Belleville.
“It’s something to be said about not having all the rights of a citizen,” said Dr. Aminata Cairo, associate professor in Anthropology. “It is an important thing to have the full rights and responsibilities of a citizen.”
Cairo was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to parents who were immigrants from Surinamese in South America. Cairo left Amsterdam after high school and came to the U.S. in 1984 to attend Berea College in Kentucky. Cairo never left the U.S. and earned two masters and a doctorate degree in the states. She came to SIUE in 2009. Cairo and her three sons live in Edwardsville. The youngest, Nasim, automatically became a U.S. citizen at Cairo’s naturalization process and will participate in a separate children’s swearing-in ceremony scheduled for a later time.
Also taking an oath to the U.S. on Friday morning was Dr. Yun Lu, associate professor of Chemistry at SIUE. “I have been working here some years, and I started to love this country, the land and the people. I love teaching here in the U.S.
“I love the students and the love they have for learning. They are also accepting of me and my teaching style,” said Lu, who received one of SIUE’s 2010 Teaching Distinction Awards. Lu and his wife and two sons live in the Metro East area.
SIUE students who pledged their allegiance to America in a gymnasium full of approximately 500 students, family and friends, were Ghado Aljawawdeh, originally from Jordan and Diane Seck, originally from Togo Lome in West Africa. Aljawawdeh is an elementary education graduate student. Seck is working on her bachelor’s in administration. Both women expect to graduate in May 2014.
Achieving educational and life goals can be hard, but it is possible in America, said the keynote speaker, Amany Ragab Hacking, assistant professor and supervisor of the Externship Program at the Saint Louis University School of Law. Hacking, at the age of seven, came to the U.S. in 1979 with her mother, two siblings and one packed bag to join her father in Chicago.
“We are more alike than we are different. That is what America is all about,” Hacking told the crowd in general and the 46 naturalization candidates in particular. “But don’t forget where you came from. Make America part of your life, and make your old life and culture part of America.”
Earlier, U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton greeted the 46 candidates for citizenship, citing that the oldest was a 77-year-old man from Mexico and the youngest was a 19-year-old from India. “We welcome every one of all religions and cultures – Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Islamic. We at the U.S. Justice Department take protecting your civil rights as seriously as everyone else’s.”
“I’m excited about this ceremony,” said Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Williams of the Southern District of Illinois at the beginning of the ceremonies, “because it tells me that we continue to do something right that immigrants still want to come here. These are challenging times in our country, but we will always have challenging times. You bring something to the table, and our nation will be stronger with you as citizens.”
Photo Information:
Dr. Aminata Cairo, associate professor in Anthropology, after receiving her American certification papers, is congratulated by Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Williams of the Southern District of Illinois and U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton.
Dr. Yun Lu, associate professor of Chemistry, takes the Naturalization Oath on Friday.
Diane Seck, originally from Togo Lome in West Africa and SIUE graduate student, talks about her desires to become a U.S. citizen.