“Where is the Grand Canyon? I don’t know of it.” The question came from a Syrian woman who is taking our community based citizenship class. We were talking through famous geographic landmarks in the United States, and I was surprised to find that most women had done very, very little travel outside of Charlotte. Yet she was extremely interested and had many questions about famous landmarks in America.
There’s something about teaching a citizenship class that provides a grounding reminder of how amazing our country is. We had a conversation about voting in their home countries. Everyone had experienced the democractic process, except one women. She’s a member of the Kurdish minority in Syria. “We were never allowed to be citizens, never allowed to vote or speak our Kurdish language,” she said. I was grateful to be able to tell her that here, once she is a citizen, she will be able to vote. ALL minorities have the right to vote here.
I’ve started teasing my students that they can run for office once they become citizens for the requisite number of years. At first, there was disbelief and surprise. Now, I think they are starting to realize that so many vistas of possibility are ahead.
It’s a surprise to me that the Trump Administration has sought to slash funding for citizenship classes, while at the same time interest in these classes is surging. Class participants are engaged, interested, excited about learning what it means to be a citizen of the United States. What better priority for this administration then to help legal immigrants learn US history and civics, and get prepared for making their own contributions to this great country?
As President Regan famously said, “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”
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