Fifty new citizens took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. last week during a naturalization ceremony held at a founding father’s home 250 years to the day that Virginia adopted his seminal prelude to the Declaration of Independence.
As part of two days of “Declaration Day” festivities, citizens from 17 different countries on Friday (June 12) raised their right hands and promised to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States” on the grounds of Gunston Hall, once owned by George Mason, who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
In the document — adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776 — Mason wrote “that all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights” and “that all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.”
“If that sounds familiar, it’s because George Mason’s long-time friend and fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, used the Virginia Declaration of Rights as a model for what he would like in the Declaration of Independence weeks later,” Christopher Eck, executive director of Gunston Hall, told attendees gathered under a tent at the Lorton estate.
“As you prepare to join the millions of others before you who have sought to become part of this great nation of citizens,” Eck added, “I would ask you to remember George Mason of Gunston Hall … a great voice for freedom and for the protection of our inherent and unalienable rights.”
“In this 250th commemorative year, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to George. I’m sure that he would be proud of you, and join me in shouting ‘huzzah!’ as we celebrate your naturalization,” Eck said, to cheers.
After new citizens were presented with their naturalization certificates, Jorge Zamanillo, executive director of the National Museum of the American Latino, gave the keynote address.
“The story of citizenship is not only about the past. It is about the future that each generation helps to build, and that story again is very personal to me,” Zamanillo told the new citizens.
Zamanillo said his parents were immigrants who arrived in the U.S. through “freedom flights” from Cuba in 1966. They arrived with “very little except with determination, faith, and the belief that America offered the possibility of freedom and a future for their children.”
“Because of their courage, I grew up understanding that America is not simply a place,” he added. “It’s an idea — an ongoing promise that people from every corner of the world can come together to build a future rooted in opportunity and democratic values.”
For Shukhrat Kuziev and Tatyana Nurova, a married couple originally from Uzbekistan, the promise of that day was decades in the making. Kuziev had studied in the U.S. before going back to Uzbekistan and marrying Nurova. Thanks to his job at the World Bank, they were able to spend the next 22 years in the U.S., where they raised three children.
“We worked really hard, we contributed so much to the economy with our work, our taxes,” Kuziev said, as Nurova added, “This is the logical conclusion of a journey.”
Gainesville resident Wendy Castro, a native of El Salvador, said she spent 10 years working to obtain her citizenship so she could be near her family.
“My family is important to me,” Castro said while holding a miniature American flag in her hand. “My daughter is in the United States.”
And there was one more reason, she said: “I love this country.”
