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www.themaroontiger.com
September 29 - October S, 2010
WORLD & LOCAL 3
Bishop Eddie Long Accused of Sexual Abuse
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Addison DeMoss
Contributing Writer
addisondemoss@yahoo.com
B ishop Eddie L. Long, a nationally ad
mired pastor at New Birth Missionary
Baptist Church in nearby Lithonia, recently
had a lawsuit tiled against him by two of his
former congregation members. The plaintiffs
claim Bishop Long engaged in sexual activi
ties with them while they were teenagers and
still active members of his church.
The 20-year-old Maurice Robinson and
21-year-old Anthony Flagg were 17 and 18
when they were allegedly coerced into hav
ing sex with Long, their attorney, Bernice Joy
(B J.) Bernstein, said at a Sept. 21 news con
ference.
Robinson and Flagg claim Long used his
status as a spiritual counselor and pastor to
provide them trips out of state, and then per
form sexual acts with them. Later last week,
two other plaintiffs. Spencer LeGrande and Ja
mal Parris, filed similar lawsuits against Long.
Bernstein, a well-established Atlanta at
torney who represents Robinson and Flagg,
released cell phone pictures of Long on
ing the elderly and local college students,
look to Long for inspiration when they are
at difficult points in their lives. His church
population exceeds well over 30,000 mem
bers, providing many people the opportunity
to hear him preach every Sunday.
“For Bishop Long to be accused of these
wrongdoings and possibly be found guilty is
truly disheartening,” said Dannieka Wiggins,
a sophomore English major at Spelman Col
lege. “A lot of people’s spiritual faith is going
to be shaken and many people in the Atlanta
community might start to question religious
leaders’ integrity and respect for their mem
bers and themselves.”
Having received an honorary doctorate
from the Morehouse School of Religion and
also being a member of the Morehouse Col
lege Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preach
ers, some students question whether or not
the accusations will defame the Morehouse
image.
“Even if Bishop Long is to be cleared of all
charges, these accusations don’t make him
self nor Morehouse look good at all,” Wig
gins said.
Wednesday wearing revealing, form-fitting
clothes. Bernstein accused Long of sending
the pictures to boys enrolled at Long Fellows
Youth Academy, but did not make it clear if
the boys actually received them.
Parris claimed that Long gave Parris his
phone number two weeks after the two had
become acquainted with each other and
strongly encouraged Parris to call him “dad
dy” because Parris’ father was not actively
present in his life.
Parris alleged that the sexual relations be
tween him and Bishop Long occurred back in
2001 when he first became a member. Parris
claimed that he was asked by Long to stay
in his office during his private hours as his
personal assistant, and in Parris’ accounts
that’s w'hen they had sexual relations. When
Parris decided to leave New Birth, he says he
learned other young male church
members had also en
gaged in sexual
activity with
Long.
Since the first two lawsuits were released
to the public last Tuesday, Bernstein says her
office has received many calls and that there
could be more victims. Although Long has
many charges against him, Robinson created
a possible loophole by breaking into Long’s
office and stealing personal valuables.
In Robinson’s defense, Bernstein said at the
news conference, “As bad as it is, if it weren’t
for that act, I don’t know if we would have
known about this because this young man
exploded and realized that when he talked to
his friends, he wasn't the only one ... Bishop
Long had other spiritual sons who had other
relationships with him. It made him angry
and confused and it combusted, and lashing
out at the bishop in the only way possible.”
Long’s representatives have been quick to
defend him by insisting that the sexual alle
gations made toward Long are
untrue.
Many peo
ple, in-
clud-
/
The Sick
and Ditched
Recover: New
Changes in
Health Care
\ UN Pursues
• 8 Millennium
< Development
m Goals to Cure
r Poverty
Whitney Barr
Contributing Writer
wbarr@ scmai 1 .spelman .edu
T he United Nations 2010 Summit hosted 150 state
and government officials who met in New York
City from Sept. 20-22 to discuss the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
In 2005, the UN reported eight goals (listed below). The UN is implementing ad
vancements that have been made to enhance progress in each of the MDGs.
Poverty: The UN hopes to decrease the number of people living on less than one dol
lar a day. Currently, one in four children in developing countries remain malnourished.
Education: The goal is to establish universal primal education. According to a UN
fact sheet, “About 69 million school-age children are not in school.” Through the UN’s
Basic Education in Africa Programme, students will be allowed at least six uninter
rupted years of schooling.
Gender equality: UN initiatives include increased wages for women and propor
tionate representation of women in the workforce and the political arena. Data about
progress toward this goal remains vaguely reported.
Child Health: 1 he targeted goal for optimal children’s health is to reduce the mortal
ity of children under the age of 5 by 66 percent by 2015. The rate has been lowered but
progress is still dwindling, according to the UN.
Maternal Health: About 66 percent of women in rural regions do not receive recom
mended maternal care. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of Economic and
Social Affairs, affirms that “contraceptive use is four times higher amongst women
with a secondary education than among those with no education.” The usage of con
traceptives has increased internationally from 400,000 to 4 trillion, however the costs
of essential prenatal medicines are continuing to remain unaffordable.
HIV/AIDS prevention: By 2010, world leaders expected to offer necessary medi
cal attention and treatment to all and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDs and other major
diseases such as malaria. Efforts such as bed nets (18 million in 2007) are working to
alleviate this worldly issue.
Environmental Stability: These targets are to stabilize biodiversity, decrease defor
estation and to decrease the 50 percent of the world without sanitation and water by 50
percent. UN reports the world has missed the 2010 target for biodiversity conserva
tion. Based on current trends, the loss of species will continue throughout this century.”
Global Partnership: Only five of the 39 donor countries have received the full
amount of aid to alleviate global debt. At this midpoint conference, leaders stated that
their goal of gathering $300 billion in official development assistance can be met if
they receive $35 billion in aid annually over the next five years. This aid would come
from the world’s main industrialized countries known as the G8 (Canada, France, Ger
many, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
Dannieka Wiggins
Associate World & Local Editor
dwiggin 1 @scmail .spelman .edu
D espite the drastic increase in health care expenses be
tween 2008 and 2009, Sept. 23 marked the official enforce
ment of health care for the future. Obama’s health care reform has now
activated six key elements of the package.
According to the new plan, young people can remain on their parents' insurance until
age 26 and children are not penalized for having pre-existing medical conditions. Also,
those insured cannot be dropped after getting sick, limits to lifetime insurance and most
annual insurance have been removed, preventive care is included, as well as a system
to appeal health care decisions.
The revisions in health care are constituted in the Affordable Care Act. which was
active six months prior to the health care revisions finalized last Thursday. Changes
were made in reaction to the 6.5 million people who were dropped from health care
last year. The new plan has sufficiently provided hope for both uninsured Ameri
cans and health officials.
“The big resolutions will come in 2014 when you will start to see tens of millions of
people getting coverage,” says Avram Goldstein, communication director for Health
Care for America Now, a liberal grass roots health advocacy organization.
Goldstein’s organization supports the new health care advancements through the
U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services’ website, healthcare.gov, which clearly
highlights and analyzes the purpose of each element in the new health care plan.
Currently, the new health care stipulations are only immediately active for citizens
planning to purchase new insurance plans. However, preexisting health care custom
ers will receive these benefits during open enrollment with their employers or at the
renewal of their current policy.
“This is gonna have a positive impact because its gonna cause more students to be
aware of their health.. .and allow students to focus on school versus their medical con
ditions,” says Regae Reynolds, a finance major at Morehouse College.
Health care reform is getting people excited and eager to learn about their health
benefits and rights. Shortly after the official revisions to health care, were confirmed an
educational panel discussion was held in Birmingham, Ala., at the Family Life Center.
Doctors and health care reform beneficiaries held an informative panel discussion for
the public, further explaining how to take advantage of the health care plan.