Once a month, a Naturalization Ceremony is held in Grand Rapids for immigrants in Michigan. In April, over 200 people from around the world took the Oath of Citizenship. Bellaire resident Ping He-Pridemore was among them.
Ping never imagined that she would become an American citizen. She left China when she was 23 years old to get her master’s degree from the University of Michigan.
One day, Ping was at the bar, and she ran into Andrew Pridemore. She didn’t know it at the time, but this would change her life forever.
Andrew saw Ping with her friends and decided to approach them by flexing his arms.
“I used to lift a lot back then,” he said. “So all of them were grabbing my tricep, right? And then Ping comes around, and she gets her turn, and I saw those eyes light up like the Fourth of July.”
Ping remembered it differently. She said it wasn’t the triceps that changed her life; it was the fact that Andrew speaks many languages and has traveled the world, including to China.
At first, Ping assumed Andrew was “one of those tourists who’s been to Shanghai for a week.” But when Andrew told Ping where he’d been, including Chongqing and Zhangjiajie, she was very impressed.
“Oh my god, you were in like, China, China,” Ping replied.
Eventually, Ping and Andrew got married. Ping had her green card, but they found it inconvenient to travel internationally together, so she decided to apply for American citizenship.
“I’m still the same person,” Ping said. “Nothing changes. I’m just going to get my paperwork done.”
After years of interviews and an exam, she was finally invited to her Naturalization Ceremony. In April, Ping, Andrew and a group of family and friends traveled to the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center in Grand Rapids for the event.
People from all over the world, many of them dressed in their traditional garb, waited in line to turn in their final documents and enter the auditorium where the ceremony would take place.
The pinnacle moment of the day came when U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker administered the Oath of Citizenship.
“New citizens, do you hereby declare, on oath or affirmation, that you will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic … and that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help you God.”
After a resounding, “I do,” the judge welcomed them to citizenship and the crowd cheered. Two hundred sixteen people were transformed into American citizens.
For Ping, she wasn’t swept up in the emotions of the ceremony. She said she didn’t feel different now that she was American.
“I’m happy, though,” she said.
As the crowd exited the auditorium, a party erupted. There was excitement, laughter, and even some tears. Ping's family and friends were there to congratulate her on becoming an American.
Ping will have to give up her Chinese citizenship, making it more difficult to travel to China to see her family. But it will be easier to live in the place she now calls home.
Reflecting on the process, Ping pointed out that before she became a citizen she was constantly having to “go through security, checking my IDs, check my paperwork this, paperwork that.” But the ceremony was different.
“Today was just like, ‘Welcome, congratulations,’" said Ping. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been treated like I’m an American, so that feels pretty nice.”