On July 4th, 51 new U.S. citizens were sworn in on the steps of the Northampton courthouse.  What does it mean to be a citizen of the U.S.?  There are some clips from the joyous celebration, including comments from Vira Douangmany Cage, who is running for State Rep to replace the retiring Ellen Story in the Amherst area.

Nao Sakurai, long-time resident of the US but citizen of Japan, talks about her hesitancies to become a US citizen, and desires to be a global citizen.

A friend who was staying at our house, Pablo, explains how he is a US and French citizen tho he was born in Mexico and lives in Germany, and feels like a citizen of the western world.  Annie Doran, my housemate, shares about feeling US privilege for the first time on a high school trip to Brazil.   More recently she lived in Lewiston, Maine, and witnessed incredible generosity and forgiveness in the refugee community she was involved with there.