NEW YORK — Scores of people waved tiny flags after taking the oath of citizenship at the foot of the Statue of Liberty on Friday, 125 years after the iconic American symbol welcoming visitors and immigrants was dedicated.
“We are a nation of diverse people,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said during the naturalization ceremony on Liberty Island. “And that diversity strengthens our nation.”
The 125 new Americans — from 46 countries — pledged to renounce foreign power, then posed for photos with their citizenship certificates.
The birthday party concluded later Friday with a fireworks display choreographed to patriotic music.
“I feel like if you live in a place, you should have a say in the politics,” said Paul Currie, who moved to the U.S. from South Africa eight years ago. “Otherwise, you’re an outsider.”
Silvia Hodges, who came to the U.S. from Germany in 1999, said the ceremony made her feel “like I belong here — and I really want to vote.”
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was conceived to symbolize the friendship between the two countries and a shared love of liberty. President Glover Cleveland dedicated the statue Oct. 28, 1886.
Cleveland’s grandson George, a dead-ringer for the former president, was on hand for the event Friday.
The 59-year-old executive director of a senior center in North Conway, N.H., said his grandfather was prescient when he said: “A stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression, until liberty enlightens the world.”
“We are still a work in progress,” George Cleveland added.
Actress Sigourney Weaver recited Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” and gestured to the statue behind her at the words “a mighty woman with a torch.”
Vacationers Benoit and Veronique Poullain of Rouen, France, were happy to see the statue on her anniversary. Veronique Poullain said it was “like New York — big!”
She said the French are “very happy to have contributed this symbol.”
Beginning today, the statue’s interior will be closed for renovations for about a year, although Liberty Island will remain open.
