NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)—Kenya's former president called her a mad woman. Seen as a threat to the rich and powerful, Wangari Maathai was beaten, arrested and vilified for the simple act of planting a tree, a natural wonder Maathai believed could reduce poverty and conflict.

WORKING FOR PEACE—In this Aug. 28, 2006 photo, Wangari Maathai, Noble Peace Laureate and conservation heroine, right, is seen with then-Sen. Barrack Obama in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Sayyid Abdul Azim, File)

(NNPA)—The daggers are starting to come out between the U.S. and China as the Asian giant displaces the U.S. as Africa’s number one trading partner.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at a recent forum on trade in Zambia, made slighting references to China’s growing African role.

“We are concerned that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance,” she said.  “(China) has not always utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business interests.”

“It is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave.  And, when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there,” Clinton continued.

by Frank Bajak

SAN LUIS DE CANETE, Peru (AP)—Elementary school students serenade Susana Baca in this former sugar cane-milling town where both she and Peru’s slave trade are rooted.

One girl recites a paean to Baca, and five other children tap a complex rhythm on boxes known as cajones, a legacy of Africans brought in chains to harvest sugar cane in this fertile river valley. The library of the humble school is being dedicated to the 67-year-old diva, herself living proof of Afro-Peruvians’ enduring struggle.

BAREFOOT DIVA—In this photo taken Sept. 11, Peru’s Culture Minister and singer Susana Baca dances barefoot during a benefit concert in Lima, Peru.

The gracious, elegant Baca is not just Peru’s best-known musician but also the Andean country’s first Black Cabinet minister.

She accepted the offer to join President Ollanta Humala’s government in July, and says she’s determined to end the discrimination that has long made second-class citizens not just of Blacks but also of Peru’s indigenous.

A week after announcing his 2012 campaign, Obama sent Black senior White House advisors into African-American communities across the U.S. to share stories about how the administration is working to enhance their quality of life.

TAKING A BREAK—President Barack Obama walks from the White House in Washington,  D.C., April 23, to his limo, for an afternoon of golf at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)