Audrey Griffin "Reborn in the USA"

Reborn in the USA

Summary: This article gives a peek into what an American naturalization ceremony looks like. It describes the contrast between the importance of the event in many of people's lives and the seeming mundanity of the experience. Many take place in drab civic buildings like the specific one detailed in the article, which is located in Newark, New Jersey. The immigrants work long and hard to become American citizens and the article tells the individual stories of several of them, giving a sense of familiarity to the topic. What really stuck out to me was the ending of the article:

"Fobert, the ceremony's supervisor, asked the crowd again how many countries they were all from.

"Thirty-seven," several voices called out.

Wrong, he said. Just one."

Analysis: Articles like these give me hope for America's future. With all the anti-immigration rhetoric being thrown around recently, it can get kind of scary. This country was formed by immigrants and our diversity and acceptance of different walks of life are what make us great. Everyone who says that immigrants are ruining our country need to talk to an actual immigrant, or read and article like this, to get to know what their lives are actually like. This can be synthesized to the influx of immigrants in the 19th century, from places like Ireland, Poland, Asia, and more.

Reborn in the USA