Celebrating 4th of July with Newly Minted American Citizens, JFK on the 4th of July and OAS Listener tells his life story in 4th of July

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Potential savings will vary. This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories. And today, all show long, we're celebrating Independence Day. All show long, we're celebrating this great country, and we can't think of any better way to celebrate America than to report from the great celebrations that meant new American citizens. Our crew attended a naturalization ceremony in Memphis, which is about an hour north of us. And 70 people from over 30 different countries became American citizens. We were blessed to talk to many of them.

Here's our own Monty Montgomery with his story. Each year, on average, 860,000 people across the country become full-fledged U.S. citizens. And they come from all corners of the globe, enticed by the promise of America. One of those people was Wilson Eko, a man escaping political turmoil in Nigeria, who actually had his first job right after arriving here. I came here 2006, September 15th, actually. Then the next day, that was on Wednesday, the next day, I was already, I had my first job with Rufin, the building. He's one of our church members, he, actually, I was so happy, you know, I walked out there every day, he gave me $100, he took us to dinner, you know, he bought me some pants and shoes, you know.

I was like, wow, $100? Yeah, he was so thrilled by the things I did that day, you know, I put shingles on my head, carried up to the stairs, you know, to the roof. He said, can I do that again?

I put it on my head again, climbed without holding it, you know, so came back down, then put a bucket of nails on my head without touching it, climbed up to the roof again, came down. He said, wow, do you know that you can make money doing this just alone? And Wilson's experience with churches giving him a helping hand isn't unique to him. Across America, every year, churches house, feed, and get immigrants to our country on their feet.

And that's made an impression on Wilson. I have met great people at the church, you know, school and workplaces, you know, you can meet some bad people, but I would say that I have had a great and continue to have great people around me. We next spoke to two Indian immigrants, Rabi and her daughter Malika, who was the one being naturalized that day.

For Rabi, bringing her family to America was a no-brainer, given their circumstances. The place I come from is Kashmir. There's a little bit of a civil war going on there. It's kind of scary. We were scared to raise kids there. The situation in Kashmir being a little scary is a little bit of an understatement, to say the least. Kashmir is a disputed area among three countries, India, Pakistan, and China, with India and Pakistan going to war with each other several times over it.

50,000 to 100,000 people have died in this conflict, but the exact number is unknown because so many have gone missing. We next spoke to Malika about what her aspirations in America were. I want to serve in the military. I really love this country, and I feel like it's done a lot for me, and I want to give back in, like, whatever way I can. And I know that sounds a little silly, but I also, like, growing up, my dad every day was basically like, Malika, you have to love this country because, like, this country has so much potential.

But how does being naturalized feel for Malika? I kind of started crying the other night because I was like, wow, it's a big day. Because, like, I've always felt like I belong because I came here when I was three, and I've never really felt like I wasn't American.

But, like, to have it on paper, to be able to vote, I'm so excited to be able to do that. We next spoke to a man named Isaac James, who immigrated from Kenya at a young age. Isaac actually partook in the formal part of naturalization that day, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in front of everyone there. Something he was happy to do.

I'm very excited. It's an exciting day, so the Pledge of Allegiance is something very significant to the United States. And I feel as if to say it means that I'm officially a part of the United States, and so I'm very excited to say it. So I was actually born in a refugee camp in Kenya.

My family is from Sudan, and due to the civil war in Sudan, we had to seek refuge in Kenya. And so we came over in 2001. I was four. I don't remember much of it. I have pictures in the back of my head about just sort of the atmosphere of it. I remember the huts and everything. And as a kid, I remember walking around naked and just playing around, you know, just doing kids things and just playing soccer and hanging out with all the refugee children from different countries. So that's all I knew.

That's all I knew that the world was. And so coming to the United States, I mean, the United States has way more than what refugee camp in Kenya has. And so it was a culture shock. It was a society change.

It was just something different and something new, something exhilarating that I never really experienced. We moved through the United Nations. We were relocated in Memphis. And then we got involved with Catholic Charities. And they really became our foundation for the first three to six months. They were the ones that took my mom and our family to our health appointments. So they took us to the doctors. They got us to our appointments with immigration. And so they're the ones that really set our foundation here on the United States. They continued to check up on us after that just to make sure that we were becoming accustomed to the American way.

And we were developing in our English and doing well in our schools. Then I'm going down to Rollins College to get my bachelor's. I'm a business major. And so I really hope to go back and impact the area with what I've learned in the business field and really just take back the skills that I have and develop that third world economy. And at the end of the day, if I could get a position with the United Nations, then they have like an economic development department. And I would love to be a part of that and really just give my life to serving those that are in refugee camps because I've been there.

They need hope and they need to be given hope. And if I can be a part of that, that's OK with me to give my life to that. How am I celebrating today?

I have work at four o'clock. And you've been listening to voices from all over the world talking about taking that oath of allegiance. Actually, if you've ever seen it done, it's a spectacular thing. The immigrants have to study the country, study the founding documents, and in the end, they declare their independence. We're going to continue with our Independence Day special celebrating the Declaration of Independence all show long and the way it manifests itself still today in the lives of everyone who comes here. This is Our American Story. Lee Habib here, the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories from our big cities and small towns.

But we truly can't do the show without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to OurAmericanStories.com and click the donate button.

Give a little, give a lot. Go to OurAmericanStories.com and give. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

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Simply go to Geico.com or contact your local agent today. And we return to our American stories in our special 4th of July edition. Right now, we're celebrating America through the stories of newly minted Americans at a naturalization ceremony in Memphis, Tennessee. Again, just an hour north of where we broadcast this show in beautiful Oxford, Mississippi. Let's continue with the story. Although as you've heard, immigrants come to the US from all corners of the globe, a very sizable majority of them come from Mexico.

About 25% to be exact. We spoke with a brother and sister duo from there where their dad was a farmer. And we asked them why they came here. Here, you know, you got an opportunity to grow and try to beat somebody. And over there, you're stuck with it. If you're going to farm, you can make enough to just live day by day. But you have no future. And then if you ever have family, it's going to be the same process. And like over there, I feel like it's just so hard to go anywhere, you know, staying at a farm because whenever you do have a good crop, they don't pay you good for it.

And when the crop is high, you don't have enough crop to sell, you know. So I think it's just, it's just so hard to make a living over there. It turned out that their family didn't get to come here all at once. Their dad actually came first.

So we asked them what that experience was like. My dad had come here way before we did, so he would just go back and forth. So we didn't see him all the time. He basically, all he did was work. That's all he did when he was here by himself. Because he would go to work from pretty much from sunrise to sunset and then go home or go, like they would go to Walmart once a week, get the lunch. It was just a bunch of guys living together.

They're pretty much the same thing. It was them here and their families over there. I think with him, the hardest thing was leaving us. You know, he would go back three months, come back six, make enough money to go back another three months because, you know, he was supporting a family and then thinking about going back three months without, you know, you would farm, but only make enough to go live.

But, you know, you always be thinking about what if one of the guys in the family gets sick or something. You know, he has to have enough money to cover that, the expenses and all this. So it was hard for him leaving us. I think it was hard for my mom, you know, staying over there and taking care of us while he was here. But she would be sending money back, you know, once a week, a certain amount of his paper check.

You know, he would send it back home and try to save the other one forever. Whenever he did go, you know, just making that trip every year gets expensive. This traveling expenses, thanks to his sacrifice, we're here. So we're like, you know, we need to take advantage of it because you know how many people would would die for having an opportunity to come to this to the place, you know, because it's a great place to be now that we're all here. We all we've been sticking like a family pretty good. So we've all worked better to, you know, if one of us gets a little money, we try to help all the rest of them.

So that's how we've been. But yeah, we always thank them for, you know, the sacrifice he did because it was a big one. We next spoke to a man named Mohammed, who was a physician from Pakistan. And he said he came here for more opportunity. But what opportunity do we provide that Pakistan doesn't? I'm a physician by profession. And yes, Pakistan do have excellent physicians over there. But yes, there are the training opportunities are limited over there.

So for me, it was an excellent chance to come and pursue that and to be more, you know, helpful in terms of serving humanity, getting better trained. But we also offer something else besides opportunity that Mohammed thinks the world of. There are several things that you cannot say openly. Like, you know, when it comes to expressing your views about anything made with religion made to be people, you have to be very cautious about what you're saying because you know, because of the poor law and order situation over there, you can't take risk your life. But here, as long as you're not, you're obeying the laws, you can express yourself.

So that's what I like about it here. And it's not that I was afraid of anything, but it's just that, you know, we need to be more diverse in terms of respecting other religions. Also, sometimes they don't get that kind of respect over there, like other religions, especially.

So that is interesting to see over here that you know, people can be from any religion and they're being, you know, encouraged to practice the way they want as long as they are not harming anyone else. We next spoke to another Kenyan immigrant and we asked him what he was thinking about and how he felt about the day. Just thinking about how far we have come, you know, from the struggle of going out and finding food to where you can have a better job opportunities to work and the food is right around the corner so you have stores everywhere. Where I'm from, stores are miles away and no transportation. You literally have to walk 20, 30 miles depending on where you live at, you know. I'm really excited, you know, becoming a citizen.

Sometimes it gets emotional that I'm here, you know. Last we spoke with a woman from Mexico and for her, Naturalization Day was a family affair. Although she had been naturalized previously, her mother had not.

My name is Adriana Roman and her name is Graciela Carca. She's 80. She donated last November. She loves the country and she's really happy here. So she don't want to have trouble back and forth because she, we have more family in Mexico and she like it back and forth so in this way she don't have to have more issues about limited of time. It was a good experience for the full family because everybody participate. Even my grandbabies participate. Everybody help her to learn about the questions about everything, you know.

So everybody's really excited about today's days. The first time when she went to do the test, she passed the question, the civic question and we was everybody surprised because we were expecting she failed. But she knew every question. She actually failed in the personal questions.

So we say, how's possible? But she was so nervous, you know. But the second time was really nice and easy and she passed. So she's here. She don't have words to describe because she's still thinking this is like a dream. I don't think this happened to me, you know, but it is happening.

So it's really nice and I think it's not just my mom. All these people is here. They go through the same experience, it is a lot of work to put into to become a citizen.

And she's right. While the stories of those who partake in naturalization ceremonies may all be different, the ceremony itself is the same everywhere. They all take the same quiz. They all sing our national anthem together and they all say the same oath of allegiance.

Here it is, in case you're wondering. I've heretofore been a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law. That I will perform non-combatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law. That I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law. That I take this obligation freely without mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

So help me God. Congratulations, my fellow Americans. And great work on that storytelling by Alex and by Monty on the production of that piece. And my goodness, it makes you cry. And if you've had family members or anybody in your family witness this, I promise you go to one of these naturalization ceremonies and let your kids hear it and let your kids talk to these people who've come from other places. Because gratitude, well, it's attitude, it's everything.

Their words, not ours. As always here on Our American Stories, we continue with our Independence Day special. More after these messages. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners, too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

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And almost a year after this speech, President Kennedy found out that the Soviet Union began secretly installing missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on the United States. The times were tense and in the middle of all of this, President Kennedy gave a speech at Independence Hall on this day in history on July 4, 1962. Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Philadelphia, it is a high honor for any citizen of the great republic to speak at this Hall of Independence on this day of independence. To speak as President of the United States to the chief executives of our 50 states is both an opportunity and an obligation. The necessity for comedy between the national government and the several states and the several states is an indelible lesson of our long history. Because our system is designed to encourage both differences and dissent, because its checks and balances are designed to preserve the rights of the individual and the locality against preeminent central authority, you and I, governors, both recognize how dependent we both are, one upon another, for the successful operation of our unique and happy form of government. Our system and our freedom permits the legislative to be pitted against the executive, the state, against the federal government, the city, against the countryside, the party against party, interest against interest, all in competition or in contention, one with another. Our task is to weave from all these tangled threads a fabric of law, and progress.

Others may confine themselves to debate, discussion, and that ultimate luxury free advice. Our responsibility is one of decision for the governors to choose. Thus, in a very real sense, you and I are the executives of the testament, the executives of the testament, handed down by those who gathered in this historic hall 186 years ago today, for they gathered to affix their names to a document which was, above all else, a document not of rhetoric, but a bold decision. It was, it is true, a document of protest, but protests had been made before.

It set forth their grievances with eloquence, but such eloquence had been heard before. But what distinguished this paper from all the others was the final irrevocable decision that it took to assert the independence of free states in place of colonies, and to commit to that goal their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Today, 186 years later, that declaration is still a revolutionary document. To read it today is to hear a trumpet call for that declaration unleashed, not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications, and George Washington declared that liberty and self-government were, in his words, finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

This prophecy has been borne out for 186 years. This doctrine of national independence has shaken the globe, and it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. There are those struggling to eke out a bare existence in a barren land, who have never heard of free enterprise, but who cherish the idea of independence. If there is a single issue in the world which divides the world, it is independence, the independence of Berlin, or Laos, or Vietnam.

The longing for independence behind the Iron Curtain, the peaceful transition to independence in those newly emerging areas of the world, in those newly emerging areas whose troubles some hope to exploit. The theory of independence is as old as man himself, and it was not invented in this hall. But it was in this hall that the theory became a practice, that the word went out to all in Thomas Jefferson's phrase that the God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. And today, this nation, conceived in a revolution, nurtured in liberty, maturing in independence, has no intention of advocating its leadership in that worldwide movement for independence to any nation or society committed to systematic human oppression. On Washington's birthday in 1861, standing right there, President-elect Abraham Lincoln spoke at this hall on his way to the nation's capital, and he paid a brief but eloquent tribute to the men who wrote, who fought for, and who died for the Declaration of Independence. Its essence, he said, was its promise not only of liberty to the people of this country, but hope to the world, hope that in due time the weight should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. On this fourth day of July, 1962, we who are gathered at this same hall, entrusted with the fate and future of our states and nation, declare now our vow to do our part to lift the weights from the shoulders of all, to join other men and nations in preserving both peace and freedom, and to regard any threat to the peace or freedom of one as a threat to the peace and freedom of all, and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. And a great job on that by Joey, a remarkable speech by President Kennedy, indeed one of the finest orators of the 20th century, no doubt, but it wasn't just the manner in which he spoke, it's the words, and they're inspiring, they're accurate, they describe properly the context of the Declaration of Independence and what it unleashed on the world, what it unleashed on the world.

JFK's July 4th speech in 1962, we're celebrating independence, all shown in the United States, all show long, here on July 4th, this is our American Stories. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious, and there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done. I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try all free clear mega packs. All free clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All free clear mega packs are also 100% free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs, which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes, just know that all free clear mega packs, they have your back.

Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. And we return to our American stories in our 4th of July special. All show long, we're celebrating the things that make America the special country that it is. Up next, a story from Dennis Peterson. Dennis is a writer from South Carolina, and today he shares with us the stories of memorable experiences he's had throughout his life on Independence Day.

Take it away, Dennis. John Adams, our nation's first vice president, wrote to his wife Abigail after passage of the Declaration of Independence. He described how he thought the day should be celebrated by future generations. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.

It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore. Apparently my father had never heard about that quotation because when I was a kid growing up in East Tennessee, our celebrations of July 4th were decidedly low-key. We never had any fireworks, not even a solitary firecracker. Daddy thought fireworks were too dangerous for us. You'll blow off your fingers or put out an eye, he direly prophesied.

I don't work hard just so you can blow up my money, he declared. So July 4th celebrations were quiet, reduced to a cookout and maybe a few games of badminton in the backyard, and we kids came through every July 4th with all fingers and eyes intact. Fireworks were illegal in Knox County. One had to go to the fireworks stand just across the county line in neighboring Union County to buy fireworks. Regardless of their illegality in Knox County, fireworks were ubiquitous all over the county on July 4th.

The police simply looked the other way, unless someone complained about unruly revelers. A few times our family would drive into the state fairgrounds in Knoxville to watch the officially sanctioned fireworks display held there every fourth. But usually we had to be content to watch them at home from a great distance. We lived outside the city limits miles from the fairgrounds, but if it was a clear night we could see some of the highest rockets and mortar shells burst on the horizon beyond the ridges and we could hear the delayed booms of the explosions. We saw the color burst several seconds before we heard the report.

In fact, the colors often had fallen from view by the time the sound of the boom reached us. After I was married and was living in a row home in southeastern Pennsylvania, the volunteer fire department of the little town sponsored and conducted an impressive fireworks display at the nearby community park. We didn't have to leave home to enjoy 90% of the performance. Other townhouses blocked our view of ground displays, but the aerial displays were just as if we had been on the launching pad. People from outside our community crowded into our development hours before dark, staking claim to any empty parking spaces.

As darkness fell, the residents gathered their lawn chairs and their tiny postage stamp patches of lawns or aligned them along the sidewalks to ensure a good view. And the firemen never disappointed us in the quality of the fireworks they chose to feature. They always announced the start of the performance by launching a huge mortar shell that exploded high, high in the air, showering multicolored sparks across the entire sky and rattling windows all over the community. They left no one doubting when the fireworks would begin. Then they proceeded to launch their featured fireworks for the next 20 or 30 minutes. Everyone oohed and awwed at the beautiful display of colors.

Kids screamed with each ear-splitting, chest-pounding explosion. Everyone voiced a running commentary of how great the preceding display had been until the next one interrupted their opinion, and that one produced an even more laudatory commentary. They applauded and cheered loudly when the grand finale was fired, and it was always the loudest, longest, highest and most colorful display of the night. But no matter how long the performance lasted, every spectator was left wanting more, and the firemen seemed to oblige by providing bigger and better and longer-lasting performances with each succeeding year.

But then, one year, it all came to an ignominious end. The echoes from the shot that announced the start of the show had barely died away. The firemen had chosen to begin with several ground displays, so those of us who lived several blocks from the park couldn't see what was happening. But we could hear their reports and the whirring of the spinning displays and see their glow above the rooftops. But then the sound of explosions became a rolling and rumbling roar, and the glow above the rooftops suddenly became much brighter. And then, that sound was replaced by an eerie silence.

We saw only a dark sky above us. Then we heard sirens and knew that something was wrong. Then, word spread like wildfire as an eyewitness ran back from the park with the horrifying news. A mortar had fallen over when one of the ground displays was lit, and it had shot along the ground right into the cache of combustibles, igniting them and scattering explosives all over the park. The next day, a curious youngster was exploring the burnt grounds of the park and found one of the few fireworks that had not been ignited by the conflagration. It exploded as he held it, severing his thumb. After that tragedy, the volunteer fire department refused to sponsor another fireworks display. The risk was too great.

The risk was too great. That was years ago. Our kids were so young that I doubt if any of them remembers that event. But after they were married, had kids of their own, and returned to visit on other 4ths of July, I wanted to give the grandkids a celebration to remember. A few people in our small subdivision sometimes shot off a few fireworks every year, but big or small, everyone enjoyed the private fireworks displays. One year, I decided to join the performers, rather than remain a mere spectator, so I bought a supply of assorted fireworks and laid out an area of the backyard to be my launching pad.

It rained the afternoon of the 4th, and the humidity remained high as darkness approached. Brief periods of sprinkles continued off and on, but rain or no rain, the show would go on. I lit the fuse on the first mortar round, designed to be heard more than seen, and ran.

I slipped on the wet grass and nearly fell. The mortar did its job, announcing to the whole neighborhood the beginning of our performance. As we fired more and more of the pyrotechnics, the smoke got thicker.

It got so thick that I could hardly see the fuses as I tried to light them in the rays of my weak flashlight. Coughing and sputtering and slipping on the wet grass, I kept the performance going. With neighbors also shooting their own fireworks, our community sounded as though it were waging a small civil war. One year, my niece Charity and her husband Brandon visited over the 4th with their newly adopted baby daughter, Brynn. While Brandon and I lit the fireworks, Charity and my wife Connie watched. Toward the end of the display, we lit one rocket and ran. The force of the launch turned over the pad, rocketing the projectile toward the house right where the ladies were sitting.

Thankfully, they were alert and jumped aside just in time to avoid catastrophe. I could just hear Daddy's warning from beyond the grave, you'll lose a finger or an eye with fireworks. But over the years, my appreciation for the 4th has grown. I've realized increasingly what it is that we're celebrating on the 4th.

It's not about loud booms and bright multicolored sparks. We are celebrating our independence from government tyranny. We are celebrating our freedom. That freedom did not come cheaply.

It was bought at a great price. With each crackle of firecrackers, with each boom of a mortar shell, with every spray of color and sparkle against the night sky, we should be heeding the advice of John Adams by offering our thanks for the freedom we enjoy in this nation whose birthday we're celebrating. And we should do so safely. And a special thanks to Dennis Peterson for that submission and thank you to Monty for the production. And again, if you have your 4th of July stories, your Independence Day stories, send them to OurAmericanStories.com. Our Independence Day celebration all show long here on Our American Stories.