Rights Rite : Celebrities, Immigrants Celebrate Landmark of Freedom

With speech, song, and pledges of loyalty and love for the United States, hundreds of Los Angeles civic leaders and immigrants came together Thursday to celebrate the 200th anniversary of this nation’s Bill of Rights.

The ceremonies began at City Hall and culminated at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where 100 immigrants from around the world gathered in a theater and took an oath to become citizens of the United States.

“Thanks to the Bill of Rights, wrongs are still being righted, people are still being protected and hope is still being ignited for millions upon millions who know that America is still their best chance at freedom,” said actor Ed Asner, one of several celebrities to take part in the festivities. America is not yet perfect, Asner added, but “there are advantages to living in the freest country on Earth.”

The Bill of Rights, which established such fundamental liberties as the right to free speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion, became part of the U.S. Constitution on Dec. 15, 1791.

Civic leaders noted Thursday that the Bill of Rights takes on special meaning in a city that has become the point of entry for thousands of immigrants, and home to a potpourri of cultures.

“Millions of individuals pour in from every direction,” said Harry L. Usher, president of the Los Angeles-based Constitutional Rights Foundation, which organized Thursday’s celebration. “If the Bill of Rights can make it here, it can make it anywhere (and) the Bill of Rights will always come through for the people of Los Angeles.”

The City Hall ceremony was awash in patriotism as red, white, and blue balloons stretched across the building’s steps and the USC Marching Band played such standards as “America the Beautiful.” But it was not forgotten that there have been periods when freedoms espoused by the Bill of Rights were denied or stripped away because of the color of a person’s skin.

Actor Pat Morita emotionally recounted how he and his family were forced to enter a detention facility for Japanese-Americans during World War II. “Our Bill of Rights could not provide protection during those dark times,” said Morita. “As we remember two anniversaries, Pearl Harbor and (that of) the Bill of Rights, let us dedicate ourselves to never, ever letting something like this happen again to anyone, anywhere.”

The City Hall ceremony ended with the placing of various items in a time capsule that will be buried in the City Hall lawn, and reopened Dec. 15, 2091. A ballot and a copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech were among the memorabilia.

Shortly after the festivities, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion theater was transformed into a federal courtroom as Chief Judge Manuel L. Real of the U.S. District Court administered the citizenship oath to immigrants who had come from countries as distant and diverse as Afghanistan and Yugoslavia.

During the swearing-in ceremony, cameras were not allowed because the theater had temporarily become a federal courtroom--and, according to the court clerk, photography was also against theater rules. After the ceremony, cameras were permitted.

Cameras or not, the day was unforgettable for immigrants like Nicolae Talaba, 31, who was finally realizing his dream. He had been imprisoned twice for trying to flee his native Romania and get to the United States.

Asked why he had tried so hard to get here, he answered with a single word: “Freedom.” And he went to pick up his certificate of citizenship.