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USA Today
March 13, 2007
by Roscoe Nance
Warriors' Foyle becomes citizen of USA
Golden State Warriors center Adonal Foyle was among 1,200 people from 94 countries Tuesday who took the oath of U.S. citizenship in San Francisco.
Foyle, a 10-year veteran and a native of the island of Canouan, located in the Caribbean, came to the USA when he was 15. He began the citizenship process 10 years ago.
"I hired a lawyer to do all the paperwork and to get my green card," said Foyle, 32. "I had my green card for five years. After five years, you can apply for citizenship. Then they give you a list of questions. Then there are fingerprints, lots and lots of fingerprints. Then you do blood tests and a whole battery of medical tests. At the end, they give you about a hundred questions to study. After that, they set a time for a meeting. They throw questions at you, and you answer back."
Foyle has career averages of 4.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in the NBA.
He turned pro after his junior year at Colgate University but returned to the school to graduate magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in history and says the citizenship test "questions weren't very difficult if you study."
"When was the Declaration of Independence signed? Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner? Who said 'Give me liberty or give me death?' What year was the constitution ratified? What are the 13 original colonies?
"I think I got them all right," Foyle says. "They didn't fail me."
Foyle in 2001 founded Democracy Matters, a non-partisan nationwide organization that encourages college students to focus on issues of campaign finance reform. "It's a great thing for the kids involved," he says. "I've been encouraging them to be more politically active. Then they turn around and ask me 'Are you able to vote?' I have to say no, not yet. I have never cast a ballot because when I left the Caribbean I was not of age to vote. Since I came to the United States I was waiting to become legal. Now I can tell them, 'I did my homework. I am going to the polls.'"
Copyright © 2007, USA Today
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