“Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a mentor, a friend, and a moral compass for me and so many others,” Obama tweeted on Dec. 26. “A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere.
“He never lost his impish sense of humor and willingness to find humanity in his adversaries, and Michelle and I will miss him dearly.”
In 1984, Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in protesting against apartheid. South Africa was banned from the Olympics from 1964 to 1988, and the country banned the African National Congress political party, and its leaders were imprisoned, including Mandela.
