Last fall, on election night, Rik said that if Barack Obama won, Rik would become a US citizen. At 8:01 PM the polls on the west coast closed and the TV news declared Obama the next president of the United States of America. Rik immediately went to the computer and printed out the citizenship application. He mailed it in the next day with all the paperwork and the fee.
Rik thought it would take many months to complete but in reality, the process moved very quickly. They cashed the check, asked for more information on trips out of the US while he was a resident alien (i.e., had a "green card"), and set up the interview for April 13.
Rik studied hard for the test and was prepared to answer any question. he had to write the sentence: The President lives in the White House. He had to speak a sentence out loud. His interviewer asked him five questions:
Q: What was the movement of the 1960s?
A: The civil rights movement
Q: What is the supreme law of the land?
A: The Constitution
Q: The governor of our state is?
A: Christine Gregoire
Q: Why do some states have more representatives than others?
A: Because they have greater population
Q: Name two national holidays we celebrate in the USA?
A: Flag Day (Rik's birthday) and Independence Day
(The interviewer told Rik he never asks questions he doesn't know the answer to.)
And then it was on to the swearing-in ceremony!
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Don't suppose Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present" was required reading for the citizenship class.
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