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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

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Cross Radio
July 4, 2022 3:00 am

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

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

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July 4, 2022 3:00 am

On this episode of Our American Stories, we’re celebrating the 4th of July. The Our American Stories team attended a naturalization ceremony in Memphis, Tennessee and got to hear the personal stories of new U.S. citizens. The famous 4th of July speech at Independence Hall by John F. Kennedy in 1962 when the it was discovered that the Soviet Union planned to instal missiles in Cuba to attack the United States. We hear from long time listener, Dennis Peterson, about his experiences and memories of Independence Day. 

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

 

Time Codes:

00:00 - Celebrating 4th of July with Newly Minted American Citizens

25:00 - JFK on the 4th of July

35:00 - OAS Listener tells his life story in 4th of July

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Our American Stories
Lee Habeeb
Our American Stories
Lee Habeeb

Switching save with progressive save over $700 on average and the savings to imagine what you could buy the savings from switching to progressive 30 years ago to buy tickets to the championship game between the two teams that didn't exist 30 years ago yellow big Alaska palm trees which is a team out in the future so switch to progressive and save big because so savings can add up in the national annual average in terms of this is Lee Habib and this is our Americans today all show long were celebrating Independence Day all show long were celebrating this great country we can't think of any better way to celebrate America and to report from the great celebrations that meant new American citizen. 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 as our own Monty Montgomery with the store each year on average 860,000 people across the country become full-fledged US citizens, and they come from all corners of the globe, enticed by the promise of America, one of those people was Wilson echo a man escaping political turmoil in Nigeria who actually had his first job right after arriving here. I can hear 2006, September 15 and then the next day I was on Wednesday the next day.

I was already foster is one of such member.

He actually I was so happy that very day. Give me hundred dollars cost of being I know he bought me something sentence using a light while hundred dollars. He will so I decided that I put my hand carried out the notes of the roof again.

I put it on my head again without coordinating so my headache but you know how to make money just a little. Wilson's experience of churches giving them a helping hand is unique to him across America every year churches house speed and get immigrants to our country on their feet, and that's made an impression on Wilson. I school places you can say that I have. We next spoke to two Indian immigrants, Robbie and her daughter Malika who was the one being naturalized that day. Robbie bring her family to America was a no-brainer given their circumstances going on that scary scattering the situation in Kashmir being a little scary is a little bit of an understatement to say the lease 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 50 200,000 people have died in this conflict. The exact number is unknown because so many have gone missing. We next spoke to Malika about what her aspirations in America were lined to extend a lot for me and I want to get back whatever we may also like going out my dad to let this country.

But how does being naturalized Malika three. We next spoke to a man named Isaac. James immigrated from Kenya and 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 some very significant United States not to say it means that I'm officially part of the United States are very excited save so I was actually born in a refugee camp in Kenya. My family is from Sudan and the Civil War and Sudan.

We had to seek refuge in Kenya so we came over 2001 hours for I remember much of it back to pitch in the back of my head about some of the atmosphere of it. Remember the Hudson everything and as a kid on remembering the log around. They didn't just doing things and just play soccer and hanging out with all the refugee children from different countries.

That's all I knew You That the Word Was Some Come to United States and the Nazis Is Way More Than What You Kenya so It Was a Culture Shock.

It Was a Society Change into Something Definite, Something New, Something Exhilarated.

I Never Really Experience, so the United Nations We Were Relocated in Memphis and We Got Involved with Catholic Charities and They Really Became Our Foundation for the First 3 to 6 Months.

There Was a Was It Took My Mom and Our Family to Our Health Appointment so That Took Us the Doctors They Got Us to Our Appointments with Immigration so That Was a Really Set Our Foundation Here United States Team Take on Checked up on This and That. Just Make Sure That We Have Become Accustomed to the American Way Developing in Our English and Doing Well in Our Schools That I'm Going down to Rollins College to Get My Bachelors Business Major and so I Really Hope to Go Back to Impact the Area with What I've Learned in the Business Field and Really Just Take Back the Skills That I Have No Local Economy and at the End of Day.

If Position with the United Nations and They Have a Development Department and I Would like to Be a Part of That and Really Just Give My Life to Serving Those That Been That They Need Help They Need to Be Given. If I Can Be a Part of That. That's That's Okay with Me to Give My Life, Something Today.

I Have Worked and Forgot and You Been Listening to Voices from All over the World Talking about Taking That Oath of Allegiance.

Actually, If You've Ever Seen It Done Spectacular Thing Immigrants Have To Study the Country Study the Founding Documents in the End They Declare Their Independence. We Continue with Our Independence Day Special Celebrating the Declaration Of Independence All Show Long in the Way It Manifests Itself Still Today in the Lives of Everyone Comes. This Is Our Americans. We Habib Here. The Hosts of Our American Stories Every Day on the Show Were Bringing Inspiring Stories from across This Great Country, Very Smart, Big Cities and Small Towns, but We Truly Can't Do the Show without Our Stories Are Free to Listen to What They're Not Free to Me If You Love What You Hear Go to L American Stories.com and Click the Donate Button Give a Little Give A Lot to L American Stories.com and Give Everything about Running a Coffee Shop for Small Business Insurance. I Need My State Farm Agent and Company Business Owners to Help the past. State Farm Is in Your Corner and on Neighbor Call Your Local State Farm Agent for Quote Today Doing Household Chores Can Artie Be Time-Consuming and Tedious. There's Nothing More Daunting Than Facing Piles and Piles of Laundry That Need to Be Done Can Be Overwhelming for Anyone. If You Want to Get Those Larger Laundry Loads Downright and Get Back to Your Life.

Try All Three Clear Maggot Packs All Three Clear Mega Packs Are Bigger Packs Two Times the Cleaning Ingredients Compared to a Regular Pack so That You Can Tackle Any Laundry Load without the Worry All Three Clear Maggot Packs Are Also 100% Free of Perfumes and Dyes and Timestamp Which Is Great for Any Family Sensitive Skin Needs My Family. We Definitely Have Sentence Again 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 Because This Big Pile of Dirty Clothes. All Three Clear Maggot Packs Purchase All Three Clear Maggot Packs Today and Conquer Any Laundry Load for All Fabric Types. Geico Asks How Would You Love a Chance to Save Some Money on Insurance. Of Course You Would When It Comes to Great Rates on Insurance.

GEICO Can Help like with Insurance for Your Car, Truck, Motorcycle, Boat and RV Even Help with Homeowners or Renters Coverage Class at an Easy to Use Mobile App Available 24 Hour Roadside Assistance and More. And GEICO Is an Easy Choice Switch Today and See All the Ways You Can Save It's Easy. Simply Go to Geico.com or Contact Your Local Agent Today and We Returned to L American Stories and or Special Fourth Of July Edition Right Now Were Celebrating American Stories of Newly Minted Americans Naturalization Ceremony in Memphis to See in Just an Hour North of Where We Broadcast the Show in Beautiful Oxford Mississippi. Let's Continue with the Story. Although, As You've Heard Come to the US from All Corners of a Very Sizable Majority of Them Come from Mexico about 25% to Be Exact. We Spoke with the Brother and Sister Duo from Them.

Their Dad Was a Farmer. We Asked Them Why They Came Here and I Can Make This Live Day by Day, You Have No Family. The Same Process like over There off the Light Is so Hard to Go Anywhere Whenever You Have a Good Crop for the Crop Is Silly. So Is This so Hard and Make It Turned out That the Family Didn't Get to Come Here All at Once. They Had Actually Came First, We Asked Them What That Experience Was like Back and Forth. I like Once a Week. There You Go Back Three Months. Come Back. Six. Make Enough Money to Go Back Three Months You Support a Family Thing about Going Back Three Months without Uniform but Only Make Enough to Go Live with Me Thinking about What One of the Guys on the Family Gets Sick or Something You Have Enough Money to Cover That Expense in All Was Hard for Him Leaving out Something and It Was Far from a Molino Staying over There and Take Care Of a Seer Which You Would Be Sending Money Back.

You Know Once a Week. You Know You Send It Back Home and Try to Save Will Forever Make That Trip This Traveling Thing to Sacrifice Her Here so I Know When You Take Advantage of You Know How Many People Would Die for Having Updated Come to the Place.

It's a Great Place Were All Here. We All like a Family Will Work Better. All the Rest of You Is 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 Physician My Profession and Yes Box Tend to Have Excellent Physicians and Yes There Training Opportunities and so for Me It Was up Next Chance to Come and Pursue That and More so in Terms of Serving Humanity Getting Better Trained but We Also Offer Something Else besides Opportunity That Mohammed Thinks the World Are Several Things That You Cannot Say Openly Comes to Expressing Your Views about Anything. Religion Made to Be Able to Be Very Cautious about What You're Saying Because You Know the Foregoing Order Situation Where There Is.

I Hear You Not Obeying the Laws You Can Express Yourself so That's What I like and Day That I Was Afraid of Anything, but It's Just That We Need to Be More Diverse in Terms of Respecting Religions Also Sometimes They Don't Get That Kind of Respect over There like Other Religions, Especially so That Is Interesting to See a Way Here That You Know People Can Be from Any of Being Encouraged to Practice One Is Not Harming Anyone.

We Next Spoke to Another Kenyan Immigrant and We Asked Him What He Was Thinking about How We Felt about the Day Just Thinking about How Finding Where and When Well from Scores of Modeling Facing Last We Spoke with a Woman from Mexico and from Her Naturalization Day Was a Family Affair. Although She Had Been Naturalized Previously. Her Mother Had Not so Cheap and She Is Seen in and She's Right. What the Stories of Those Who Partake in Naturalization Ceremonies May All Be Different Ceremony Itself Is the Same Everywhere. They All Think the Same Quiz. They All Sing Our National Anthem Together and They All Say the Same Oath of Allegiance Irritants. In Case You're Wondering Right, I Hereby Declare That I Absolutely and Entirely Renounce Your All to Any Foreign Principal State Which Is Support and Defend the Constitution and the Laws of the United States Of America against All That I Will Bear True Faith Leads to the Same. I Will Bear Arms Is When Required by Law, in Service in the Armed Forces of the United States Required by Law. Work of National Importance and Direction When Required by Law, That I Take This Obligation Freely without Reservation and Graduation. Great Work on That Storytelling by Alex and by Monte on the Production of That Piece in My Goodness It Makes You Cry and If You Have Family Members or Anybody in Your Family.

Witness This.

I Promise You Go to One of These Naturalization Ceremonies and Let Your Kids Here and Let Your Kids Talk to These People Come from Other Places Because Gratitude for Its Attitude.

It's Everything There Words Not Ours Is Always Your Own L American Stories. We Continue with Our Independence Day Special More. I Know Everything about Running a Coffee Shop for Small Business Insurance. I Need My State Farm Agent and Company Business Owners to Help You Pass. State Farm Is in Your Corner and on Their Call Your Local State Farm Agent for Quote Today Doing Household Chores Can Artie Be Time-Consuming and Tedious. There's Nothing More Daunting Than Facing Piles and Piles of Laundry That Need to Be Done Can Be Overwhelming for Anyone. If You Want to Get Those Larger Laundry Loads down Right and Get Back to Your Life. Try All Three Clear Maggot Packs All Three Clear Mega Packs Are Bigger Packs Two Times the Cleaning Ingredients Compared to a Regular Pack so That You Can Tackle Any Laundry Load without the Worry All Three Clear Maggot Packs Are Also 100% Free of Perfumes and Dyes and Gentle Skin Which Is Great for Any Family Sensitive Skin Needs My Family.

We Definitely Have Sentence Again 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 Because This Big Pile of Dirty Clothes.

All Three Clear Maggot Packs Purchase All Three Clear Maggot Packs Today and Conquer Any Laundry Load for All Fabric Types L American Stories and We Returned to Our Fourth Of July Special Next Speech Given John on July 4, 1962 Year Earlier.

The US Failed to Invade Cuba.

The Bay Of Pigs Operation Shortly after the Soviet Union Built the Berlin Wall and Almost a Year after the Speech, Kennedy Found out so Union Began Secretly Installing Missile Cuba Launch Attacks on the United States. Times Were Tense in the Middle of All This Pres. Kennedy Speech Independence Hall on This Day in History July 4, 1962 Speak to the Chief City between Several Lesson History Is Designed Doing the Checks and Balances Designed the Individual and against You Recognized the Successful System Just like the State against the City against the Countryside. One. We Please Make Discussion Responsibility in a Very Real Sense You Testament and Now This Is One Document Document Grievances with Such a Decision Is 186 Is Still a Revolutionary.Read All Finally State the Hands of the American People See This Dr. Remain Today, but I Don't Cherish the Idea As a Single Issue in the World Is Independent Transition. He Became Liberty at the Same Time See This on Any Man and God Said Promise This Country Have on This 1960 We Say the Nation's and Said What the Protection We Mutually Want to Find Orders of the 20th Century Wasn't Just the Manner in Which Their Inspiring Describe Properly the Context of the Declaration Of Independence and What It Unleashed on the World When It Unleashed on the World's July 4 Speech to Celebrating Independence Shown. This Is How Americans I Know Everything about Running a Coffee Shop for Small Business Insurance. I Need My State Farm Agent and Company Business Owners to Help You Pass. State Farm Is in Your Corner and on like Call Your Local State Farm Agent for Quote Today Doing Household Chores Can Artie Be Time-Consuming and Tedious. There's Nothing More Daunting Than Facing Piles and Piles of Laundry That Need to Be Done Can Be Overwhelming for Anyone. If You Want to Get Those Larger Laundry Loads down Right and Get Back to Your Life. Try All Three Clear Maggot Packs All Three Clear Maggot Packs Are Bigger Packs Two Times the Cleaning Ingredients Compared to a Regular Pack so That You Can Tackle Any Laundry Load without the Worry All Three Clear Maggot Packs Are Also 100% Free of Perfumes and Dyes and Gentle Skin Which Is Great for Any Family Sensitive Skin Needs My Family. We Definitely Have Sentence Again the Next Time the Whole Family Gets Home from Long Vacation or You Get the Kids Back from Summer Camp or Whatever the Situation As That's Because This Big Pile of Dirty Clothes. All Three Clear Maggot Packs Purchase All Three Clear Maggot Packs Today and Conquer Any Laundry Load for All Fabric Types. We Returned to L American Stories in Our Fourth Of July.

Also along with Celebrating the Things That Make America Special Country Is Next Story from Dennis Peterson. Dennis Is a Writer from South Carolina. Today He Shares with Us the Stories of Memorable Experiences He Had throughout His Life on Independence Day 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 to Be Commemorated As the Date of Delivery. Solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It Ought to Be Solemnized (Show Games on Send Illuminations from One End of This Continent to the Other. From This Time.

For Forevermore. Apparently My Father Had Never Heard about That Quotation Because When I Was a Kid Growing up in East Tennessee Are Celebrations of July 4. Decidedly Low-Key. We Never Had Any Fireworks. Not Even a Solitary Firecracker That He Thought Fireworks Were Too Dangerous for Us Will Blow off Your Fingers Put out Garlic Prophesied I Don't Work Hard.

Just so You Can Blow up My Money Clear so July 4 Celebrations Were Quiet Reduced to a Cookout and Maybe A Few Games of Badminton in the Backyard and We Kids Came through Every July 4 with All Fingers and Syntax Fireworks Were Illegal in Knox County, One Had to Go to the Fireworks Stand Just across the County Line in Neighboring Union County about Fireworks Regardless of Their Illegality in Knox County Fireworks Were Ubiquitous All over the County on July 4. The Police Simply Look 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 for.

Usually We Had to Be Content to Watch Them at Home from a Great Distance.

We Lived outside the City Limits Miles from Fairgrounds. If It Was a Clear Night, We Could See Some of the Highest Rockets and Mortar Shells First on the Horizon beyond the Riches and We Could Hear the Delay 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 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 Block Their View of Ground Displaced the Aerial Displays Were Just As If We Had Been on the Launching 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 Lawns along the Sidewalks to Ensure a Good View in the Farm and Never Disappointed Us in the Quality of the Fireworks. They Chose to Feature They Always Announce the Start of the Performance by Launching a Huge Mortar Shell That Exploded 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 Began and They Proceeded to Launch Their Featured Fireworks for the Next 20 or 30 Minutes. Everyone in the Beautiful Display of Colors. Kids Screamed with Each Earsplitting Chest Pounding Explosion.

Everyone Voiced a Running Commentary of How Great the Preceding Display until the Next One Interrupted Their Opinion and That One for Houston 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 No Matter How Long the Performance Lasted Every Spectator Was Left Wanting More and the Firemen Seem 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 and the Echoes from the Shop That Announce the Start of the Show Had Barely Got Away. The Firemen Had Chosen to Begin with Several Ground Displaced so Those of Us Who Lived Several Blocks from the Park Couldn't See What Was Happening but We Could Hear the Reports in the Pouring of the Spinning Displaced 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 Said 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 Is an Eyewitness Ran Back from the Park with the Horrifying News Mortar Had Fallen over When One of the Ground Displaced Was Lit and It Had Shot along the Ground Rod into the Cache of Combustibles, Nodding Them Scattering Explosives All over the Park. The Next Day, a Curious Youngster Was Exploring the 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. 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 Fourth Of July. I Wanted to Give the Grandkids a Celebration to Remember A Few People in Our Small Subdivision Sometimes Shut off A Few Fireworks Every Year. But Big or Small.

Everyone Enjoyed the Prophet 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. It Rained the Afternoon of the Fourth and the Humidity Remained High, As Darkness Approached Brief Periods of Sprinkles Continued Often on Rain or No Rain Show Will Go on a Lit the Fuse on the First Mortar Round Designed to Be Heard More Than Saying and Ran.

I Slipped on the Wet Grass, and Merely Fail. 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 Sick That I Could Hardly See the Fuses As I Tried to Lock Them in the Race of My Week Flashlight Coughing and Sputtering and Slipping on the Wet Grass Kept the Performance Going with Neighbors Also Shooting Their Own Fire Works Community Sounded As Though We Were Waging a Small Civil War. One Year My Niece Charity and Her Husband Brandon Visited over the Fourth with Her Newly Adopted Baby Daughter Maria While Brandon and I Lit the Fireworks Charity and My Wife Connie Watched the End of the Display We Let 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 Jump beside Just in Time to Avoid Catastrophe. I Could Just Hear Daddies Warning from beyond the Grave As a Finger or with Fireworks, but over the Years My Appreciation for the Fourth Has Grown, I've Realized Increasingly What It Is That Were Celebrating on the Four 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 the Mortar Shell with Every Spray of Color and Sparkle against the Night Sky.

We Should Be Heeding the Advice of John Adams Offering Our Thanks for the Freedom We Enjoy in This Nation's Birthday Were Celebrating and We Should Do so Safely. And a Special Thanks to Dennis Peterson for That Submission.

And Thank You Monte for the Production Again. If You Have Your Fourth Of July Stories or Independence Day Stories, Bent Them to Our American Stories.com or Independence Day Celebration All Show Long Here on Our Americans