• About
  • Photo Contest: AAPI Heritage Month
  • Community Calendar
  • Advertise
  • Subscriptions
  • Contact
  • Seattle Chinese Post

Northwest Asian Weekly


  • Community
    • Names in the News
    • Local
    • Business
    • Pictorials
    • Obituaries
  • Nation
  • World
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Columns
    • On the Shelf
    • At the Movies
    • A-POP!
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • The Layup Drill
    • Travel
    • Wayne’s Worlds
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentary
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Astrology
  • Classifieds
  • Community Calendar
You are here: Home / Columns / Publisher Ng's blog / Blog: America, a great civic teacher

Blog: America, a great civic teacher

July 8, 2010 By Northwest Asian Weekly

Military personnel from Marshall Islands, Bosnia, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Philippines, and Indonesia are sworn in as American citizens with more than 500 other people.

More than 500 new citizens attended the July 4 swearing-in ceremony at Seattle Center. But how many of them will actually stay in America?

You must think that’s an odd question.

But there are many immigrants who leave the country after getting their priceless U.S. passports. I hate to admit it, but some of my friends and relatives have done this. My family was huge when we immigrated to this country more than a decade ago. Now, nine have returned to Hong Kong and only one remains.

When China reclaimed Hong Kong, my relatives were concerned that they might have to relive what their parents had experienced during the Communist purge in the 1950s and 1960s. America was their escape.

Now that China has emerged as a world power, they no longer see it as a threat, so they have gone back.

Another reason they like their U.S. citizenship is that this country provides better access and opportunities in education than their native lands. After their children acquire the best education in America, including degrees from Ivy League schools, they leave the United States for very good jobs back home.

The most important reason many people cannot stick around has to do with their failure to fully assimilate in this country. They miss not only their friends and community back home, but the food and culture as well. With their U.S. passports, they go home feeling secure as America is their safe haven if the Communist government drastically changes Hong Kong.

At first, I was a little disappointed with my relatives for leaving America. It seemed that they got all the benefits from America and left without saying thank you.

Then I realized America has changed my relatives for the better. They have taken local elections more seriously in Hong Kong. And they even voted for President Obama in 2008. That’s my consolation.

Civic participation is a learned process, and for that, I credit America. ♦

Check out more photos on our Flickr!

Share:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Publisher Ng's blog Tagged With: 2008, 2010, Blog America, China, Hong Kong, Ivy League, President Obama, Publisher Ng's blog, Seattle Center, United States, Vol 29 No 28 | July 10 - July 16, culture

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find us on Issuu!

Subscribe to our e-news

© 2022 NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
412 MAYNARD AVE. S., SEATTLE, WA 98104
206-223-5559 | INFO@NWASIANWEEKLY.COM