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| Zeituni Onyango |
Being the president of the United States — especially the first black one — has forced Barack Obama to handle certain things differently than he probably would’ve under different cirmcumstances. He’s had to throw some potentially strong allies under the bus because of their justiable views of this country. Reverends Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan spring to mind immediately.
Now, albeit for different reasons, he finds it necessary to keep his distance from his African aunt.
During the presidential campaign, Obama had to turn a blind eye to the plight of his late father’s half-sister, Kenya native Zeituni Onyango. She was in the news in November 2008, just days before the president was elected, because she was found to have been living in the country illegally. Onyango moved to the United States in 2000 and requested asylum, but was denied. She was ordered deported in 2004, but she didn’t leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston.
Although she was blood and was in poor health, Obama had to steer clear, more than likely due to the political fallout that would’ve ensued had he intervened in any way. His statement at the time was that he didn’t know his aunt was living here illegally and that he believed laws covering the situation should be followed.
Deport an ailing, elderly relative to a country consumed with political violence? There had to have been something Obama could’ve done on her behalf without breaking the law. But his hands were tied. And it’s not as if he didn’t know her. In his memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he affectionately referred to her as “Auntie Zeituni” and described meeting her during his 1988 trip to Kenya.
After a judge later agreed to reopen her case, and despite the lack of intervention from arguably the most powerful man in the land, a U.S. immigration court has now granted asylum to Onyango. She’s now allowed to stay in the country, her attorneys announced May 17. Her lawyer, Margaret Wong, said that Obama wasn’t at all involved in the new hearing. The White House also said it was not helping Onyango with legal fees.
The decision comes three months after she pleaded her case at a closed hearing in Boston, where she arrived in a wheelchair, due to an autoimmune disorder. The tipping point was probably that two doctors testified on her behalf.
The basis for her asylum has not been publicized. But people who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.
Onyango provided care for Obama’s half siblings while living with Obama Sr. in Kenya.
Does Obama’s position on such matters secretly rub you the wrong way and you dare not say it, or is his approach acceptable and par for the course? –gerald radford
