My Birth Certificate

Long ago, when I lived in California, I often used the bus to travel from one city to another. Invariably the bus would be stopped by the Border Patrol. The officer came on board and asked every passenger their place of birth. My answer, "Panama." Yes, that's right, "Panama." I am a Panamanian by birth. My parents, both U.S. citizens (mother born in Minnesota and father in Mississippi) had the temerity to give birth to me in a foreign country.

Most of the time the place of birth gave me little difficulty other than I could not brag about being a Texan or some other chauvanistic locale. All I could say, when people bragged about their home states, "I have none." I think that made me a boy or man of the world.

"Oh, sure," I can hear you say, "you were born in the Canal Zone; isn't that a U.S. territory?"

My response is, "No, my birth did not take place in the Canal Zone but in the Panaman city of Cristobal."

That means that I often have to show both my birth certificate and a certificate of a child born abroad.

Nobody asked John McCain if he were born in the U.S. nor did they accuse him of being a secret illegal alien, but if I understand things, he may not have been eligible to run for President. The Panama Canal Zone never became a U.S. territory like Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, other Pacific Islands; the strip between the Atlantic and the Pacific had the title of "zone."

No where on my birth certificate, which is in English, is their a reference to race or religion. The only distinction, other than my gender, is that my parents were U.S. citizens. Because of that the U.S. Consul in Cristobal issued a certificate of a child born abroad. This fact alone, clearly, disqualified me from seeking the office of the President of the United States.

In light of the current controversy over our president's birth place and his citizenship I recommend that everyone should be prepared to display their birth certificates on demand, especially if approached by a "Birther" or the Tea Party. You never know, maybe somebody like me will get into the country and serve in its armed forces, or build a better mouse trap, or even become a U.S. Senator. You never know.