New Haven Independent

Lewis-Thomas was one of some 51 newly minted American citizens to whom Judge Mark Kravitz administered the oath of allegiance to the United States in a moving ceremony Friday at the U.S. District Court Building across from the Green.

Like any new citizen, she has a long to-do list: take her citizenship certificate to social security, attend to credit cards, hit the DMV info. The most important item on Lewis-Thomas’ mind: voting.

Lewis-Thomas is a nurse by training and someone who, through her church, is dedicated to working with the elderly and with kids. “Now when I go to a Congress person, for example, to say this is not right in this nursing home, for example, I go not just as a resident but as a citizen,” she said. “That makes a big difference to me.”

And as a voting citizen.

The road to this day, which put all smiles on her face, has been, as with many immigrants, a long one. Lewis-Thomas arrived some 15 years ago in New Haven, with relatives and friends only up in Hartford, which has a Jamaican community larger and more established than New Haven’s. (It numbers, by anecdotal estimates, about 4,000.)

She worked in nursing, both in institutions and with private clients, and achieved permanent residency some five years ago. She applied for citizenship in April (“It cost $400 then, but now it’s up to $700”), took the citizenship test up in Hartford several months ago (“Who said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death?’”). And here she was, a year later, eagerly deciding whom she was going to vote for in November.

John McCain is not her candidate. So, would it be Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?

As she contemplated a reporter’s question, she proudly held her new citizenship certificate in her lap and watched as Judge Kravitz congratulated each new citizen individually. They hailed from a wide range of countries including England, Sudan, Ghana Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Trinidad.

What prompted Lewis-Thomas to apply for citizenship? “Well of course there are certain benefits, and you can apply for federal jobs and so on, but, honestly, it is to vote. I see so many people around me, young people, and I ask them, ‘Do you vote?’ And so many say no. How you going to change things unless you vote?”

Thomas is a strong but compassionate woman. (Full disclosure: I met her when she did a magnificent job caring for my father-in-law in the last year of his life.) She said her two sons and four grandkids and friends call her the “sergeant-major.” But the friendly epithet conceals a deep attachment to people, and great sentiment.

She had just finished working an 11-to-7 shift taking care of an Alzheimer’s patient, and she wanted to look her best, even though she was exhausted, for the oath ceremony at 8:30 a.m.. “So I went home and gave myself a wonderful facial. I wanted to look fresh and young before I became a citizen of the United States.”

“This is so much more than a piece of paper to me,” she said. “I feel genuinely different. Now that I’m a citizen, if I’m in any country and in trouble, all I have to do is find an embassy, and call, and they come get me out!!”

As she celebrated with her good friend Gerald Barnett, whose son Kishon is Lewis-Thomas’s godchild, she said she was thinking about where above her mantle or her sofa she was going to hang the citizenship certificate. She hadn’t yet decided. She was also going to buy some figurines of eagles to display near the certificate. “I love them,” she said, “and even before I learned they were the symbol of America. They see everywhere.”

Even more important than that, Lewis-Thomas said she was going to 200 Orange St. Monday to register to vote. And her choice? “Oh, Hillary. Yes, because she’s a woman, but a woman also who cares so much for kids and for the issues that matter to me.”

Judge Kravitz reminded the new citizens that the Constitution makes no distinction between those born here and those naturalized. He mentioned a long line of people who had preceded them, including Albert Einstein, Zubin Mehta, and Sammy Sosa. Then he said, “May all your dreams come true.”

Lewis-Thomas’s morning ceremony was one of three scheduled for this day at the U.S. District Court. According to the court clerk this is an unusually large number. What with Homeland Security, she said, and the FBI doing more elaborate background checks, the number of oath ceremonies had dwindled at 141 Church Street to one a month, but it’s recently begun to climb back.

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