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Obama Honors New Citizen Service Members at White House

By:  Lisa Daniel

Source:  American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, DC – Twenty-five U.S. service members filed through the White House East Room today in dress uniforms, proudly displaying their service and sacrifices to America, and took their citizenship oath before their commander-in-chief.  They were among more than 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who became U.S. citizens during Independence Day ceremonies also held at U.S. military installations in Kandahar, Afghanistan; Seoul, South Korea; Las Vegas; Miami; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and San Diego.

President Barack Obama listens as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano administers the Oath of Allegiance during a military naturalization ceremony for active duty service members in the East Room of the White House, July 4, 2012. White House Photo by Pete Souza

Obama said it brought him “great joy and inspiration” to conduct the ceremony on America’s 236th birthday. “It reminds us that we are a country that is bound together not simply by ethnicity or blood lines, but by fidelity to a set of ideas,” he said.  “As members of our military, you raised your hand and took an oath of service,” he continued. “It is an honor for me to serve as your commander-in-chief. Today, you raised your hand and have taken an oath of citizenship. And I could not be prouder to be among the first to greet you as ‘my fellow Americans.”

Obama addressed the service members and their families in a late morning ceremony as White House staff prepared for an evening barbecue for military members and their families that will include viewing the annual Fourth of July fireworks over the Washington Monument.  The president noted various evolution’s throughout the nation’s history, and pointed out that what began as “a ragtag army of militias and regulars” has become “the finest military that the world has ever known.”

The service members arrived in America in different ways some as children, and some as adults, Obama noted. “All of you did something profound,” he said. “You chose to serve. You put on the uniform of a country that was not yet fully your own.  In a time of war some of you deployed into harm’s way. You displayed the values that we celebrate every Fourth of July: duty, responsibility and patriotism.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas presided over the White House ceremony, and noted that he was a refugee who became a naturalized U.S. citizen. “These 25 exceptional individuals took an oath to support and defend the Constitution before sharing fully in the rights and opportunities it provides,” he said. “We are all inspired by their commitment to freedom and service to preserve our great nation.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered the Oath of Allegiance. “Today, you have earned all the rights and responsibilities that come with being a citizen of the United States,” she said. “America is now your country. You have worked so hard to get here. You should be just as proud of this achievement as I am to call you my fellow citizen.”

More than 80,000 U.S. service members have become American citizens since 2001, Napolitano said. “Our nation thanks you for your service,” she told the new citizens. “We owe the freedoms we all enjoy to the sacrifices of men and women like you.”

The Homeland Security Department is working with the Defense Department to expand a process that began in 2009 to offer non-citizen enlistees the opportunity to become naturalized citizens before completing basic training “so that they can graduate as naturalized citizens,” Napolitano said.  “We will continue to do all that we can to expedite the naturalization process for those like you who have sacrificed so much,” she added.

Army Spc. Oluwatosin Akinduro immigrated to Houston from Lagos, Nigeria, with his parents when he was 6. He said he is the first in his family to become a U.S. citizen and that he hopes to lead by example, both in the military and in his personal life.  “My family is very proud of me today,” he said. “I’m a little nervous, speechless. This is something I’m doing for myself and my family.”

After graduating from high school, Akinduro played football for Rutgers University in New Jersey and hoped to play professionally. When that goal wasn’t realized, he said, he joined the Army and plans to make it his career.  “I have my head up, my chest out, and I’m just so proud of what I’m doing,” he said. I come from a very proud background. I don’t believe in fear too much. With my background, I always believed I could do anything I put my mind to.”

Alpha Phi Alpha Members Honored with the Congressional Gold Medal

Source:  BlackNews.Com

Baltimore, MD — Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity‘s 26th General President Dr. Ozell Sutton and former Executive Secretary Brother James Huger along with the remaining living members of the Montford Point Marines were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, June 27, 2012 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.  Both Brother Sutton and Brother Huger were given the Congressional Gold Medal presented by President Barack Obama, saluting them for being among the first blacks to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, the last branch of the U.S. military to allow blacks to serve.

The Montford Point Marines were relegated to the worst part of Camp Lejuene. Their barrel metal barracks were a conduit for the Southern heat and was infested with snakes and mosquitoes. They were not allowed to venture into the “white” part of the camp. When they went to war most of them were assigned guard duties at supply depots in the South Pacific. On several occasions these depots were attacked by the enemy; including a bomb launched into their campsite.

They went to war, fought and worked for their country, but returned only to be treated like second-class citizens. Like the Tuskegee Airmen, many of them took up the civil rights movement as a new way to fight for their country and fight for their people. They were among the first to join the sit-ins at lunch counters and helped to organize voter registration and protests across the South.

Brothers Sutton and Huger join a long list of Alpha Brothers in being the “first” to open the doors of opportunity from which many have walked through and benefited. Other Brothers include former Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.), Justice Thurgood Marshall, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY), and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to name a few.  Alpha is proud to have several Brothers currently serving in the 112th Congress and Senate: Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO), Charles B. Rangel (NY), Danny K. Davis (IL), Chaka Fattah (PA), Al Green (TX), Gregory Meeks (NY), David Scott (GA) and Robert C. Scott (VA).

Founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has continued to supply voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world. The fraternity serves the community through its nearly a thousand college and alumni chapters in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.

Related articles

• Fourth of July Naturalization Ceremony at White House for U.S. Service Members (themoderatevoice.com)
• Obama Honors New Citizen Service Members at White House (defense.gov)