MyPraiseATL - Praise 102.5 Atlanta's Home for the Gospel Community » Kenya

First African Woman To Win Nobel Peace Prize Dies At 71

My Praise ATL — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:02:42 +0000

NAIROBI, Kenya– Wangari Maathai, the first African woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died after a long struggle with cancer, reports the Associated Press. She was 71.

Kenya’s most recognizable woman, Maathai won the Nobel in 2004 for combining environmentalism and social activism. She was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, where for over 30 years she mobilized poor women to plant 30 million trees across the continent

Miss France Throws Salt At New Miss Universe, Miss Angola

Obama Donates Nobel Peace Prize Money To Charities

The Day Obama Won The Nobel Peace Prize Compared To Today

4th Lawsuit Filed Against Bishop Eddie Long [UPDATE]

IAmGwoods — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:40:50 +0000

From the AJC.com:

A fourth young man alleges he had sexual relations with Bishop Eddie Long when he was a teenager.

Spencer LeGrande, named in a civil lawsuit filed Friday, claims he was 17 the first time the two had a sexual relationship while vacationing in Nairobi, Kenya.

LeGrande, of Charlotte, N.C., alleges that the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church pastor gave him an Ambien, a popular prescription sleep aid, followed by a “prolonged hug,” kissing and rubbing, according to the suit.

The suit claims the two shared a bed for the remainder of their trip.

“Long categorically deny the charges,” church spokesman Art Franklin said Friday. “We believe that it is unfortunate the young men have chosen to take this course of action. The defense team will review the complaints and respond accordingly at the appropriate time and in the appropriate forum.”

LeGrande, like the three other alleged victims, is represented by attorney B.J. Bernstein. The latest suits claims that Long “uses monetary funds from the accounts of Defendant New Birth and other corporate and non-profit corporate accounts, to entice the young men with cars, clothes, jewelry, and electronics.”

Spencer LeGrande was 15 when he met Long, the suit alleges. LeGrande and his mother were among the founding members of Long’s satellite church in Charlotte, N.C., Bernstein told the AJC.

Their first meeting was an emotional one, according to the suit. LeGrande, following one of Long’s sermons, told the pastor he found his message moving.

Long hugged LeGrande and the 15-year-old began to cry, at which point the bishop assured him, “I got you” … “I will be your dad,” the suit states. Long’s assistant then collected LeGrande’s contact information and soon after the two began talking regularly.

After a second trip to Kenya, Long encouraged LeGrande to move to Atlanta and attend Beulah Heights University, the suit states. Le Grande agreed, abandoning a potential college basketball career.

LeGrande was expected to “have no girlfriends” and in return his tuition and expenses at Beulah were paid for, the suit alleges.

LongFellows Youth Academy is not named in this suit as it was in the previous three.

Read the full article here.

President Obama’s Kenyan Aunt Allowed To Stay In U.S.

Rhodell Lewis — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:52:13 +0000

From the New York Times:

BOSTON — An immigration judge has granted asylum to President Obama’s aunt and will allow her to stay in the United States, her lawyers said Monday. She could become a citizen in about six years.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, who lives in public housing in Boston, is the half-sister of Mr. Obama’s late father and is from Kenya. She moved to the United States in 2000 on a valid visa and has been seeking asylum since 2002.

Judge Leonard Shapiro, an immigration judge in Boston, reached his decision in the long-running case on Friday. Her lawyers announced the decision Monday at their offices in Cleveland.

Ms. Onyango applied for asylum in 2002 and was rejected in 2004 and ordered to leave the country. She continued to fight the case and in April 2009, Judge Leonard Shapiro in Boston stayed her case until February, when hearings were held in the case.

Ms. Onyango had lived in relative anonymity in Boston until just before the 2008 presidential election, when The Times of London found her in what it described as “rundown public housing.”

At the time, Mr. Obama’s aides said that he did not know his aunt was in the United States illegally and that “any and all appropriate laws” covering her situation should be followed. The aides said he would not intervene in her case and that the two had had no contact.

It turned out that Ms. Onyango made small contributions to Mr. Obama’s campaign, amounting to $265, but the campaign returned them. She attended Mr. Obama’s inauguration in January in Washington but the two did not see each other.

The immigration courts have an extensive backlog, and her case was being watched closely to see if it might be expedited.

Mr. Obama wrote about his aunt in his 1995 memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” because she served as his guide in Kenya — and his guide to some painful family history — during his visit in 1988. She said that Mr. Obama’s father, who died in a car crash in 1982, took her in when her husband became abusive and she had no money.

In seeking asylum for Ms. Onyango, Ms. Wong has argued all along that if she were forced to return to Kenya, she would face undue attention and perhaps danger because her nephew was so famous; in order to be granted asylum, people must show that they would face persecution in their home countries.

Read the full story here.

Republican Says We Should “Send Obama Back To Kenya”

Rhodell Lewis — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:15:33 +0000

From CBS News:

The White House slammed former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado today for his recent remarks suggesting President Obama was not born in the United States.

“If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don’t we just send him back?” Tancredo said at a South Carolina Tea Party rally over the weekend, the Greenville News reports.

The so-called “birther movement,” questioning President Obama’s origins, began during his presidential campaign. It has steadily persisted through Mr. Obama’s presidency, in spite of overwhelming evidence he was born in the United States — including his 1961 birth announcement, printed in two Hawaii newspapers.

When asked today about Tancredo’s recent remarks, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he had no comment.

“I could probably fill the better part of my afternoons responding to the general lunacy of somebody like Tom Tancredo,” Gibbs said.

Click here to read more.

Judge To Decide Whether President Obama’s Aunt Can Remain In U.S.

Darlene McCoy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:30:17 +0000

VIA: CNN.com

A federal immigration judge will decide Thursday whether President Obama’s aunt, who has been in the United States illegally for years, will be allowed to stay.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, applied for political asylum in 2002, citing violence in her native Kenya. She is the half-sister of the president’s late father.

She was a legal resident of the United States at the time and had received a Social Security card a year earlier.

However, Onyango’s asylum request was turned down in 2004. She appealed and was ordered to leave. She has lived in the United States illegally since.

Her immigration status came to light in the final days of the 2008 presidential race.

On Thursday, Judge Leonard Shapiro will hear Onyango’s asylum request again in Boston, Massachusetts.

Obama has not weighed in on the case, with the White House saying “the president believes that the case should run its ordinary course.”