King's widow honours rocker Bono
U2 frontman Bono has been honoured by an organisation dedicated to further the work of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
As a teenager in Ireland during the Troubles, the campaigning rocker longed for the voice of reason from somebody such as King.
Those thoughts and understanding of King’s teachings and life led him to write a song about the murdered legend, a 1984 hit called Pride (In the Name of Love).
“We despaired for the lack of vision of the kind Dr King gave to people in the south,” Bono said last night, before accepting one of the highest honours from The King Centre, an organisation in Atlanta, Georgia, founded by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King.
“I wrote that song with our band of that feeling.”
“We are fortunate this year to … honour Bono for exemplifying many of the qualities that my husband, Martin, indicated were imperative to moving our society into the beloved community of which he so often spoke,” Coretta Scott King said.
Bono was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work to relieve Third World debt and promote Aids awareness. Earlier yesterday, he met “activists” who were already were planning a protest at the G-8 summit, in June at the exclusive Sea Island resort off the coast of Georgia.
“These were noisy and energetic people with something to say,” Bono said. “Some things are so important we cannot afford to posture. We need corporate American, we need church America, we need student America, if we are going to see a significant change in how we treat the poorest of the poor.
“When Dr King spoke about having a dream, he wasn’t just talking about an American dream. It can be an African dream, an Irish dream. That’s why I’m excited to be here.”
Bono is the founder of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, which works with religious groups concerned with global disease and hunger issues. Last September, he discussed global Aids funding with President George Bush in Washington, four months after Bush signed the Global Aids Act that authorised $3bn (€2.4bn) for programmes for 2004.
That was not the first Bono involvement with the Bush administration on Aids policy. He travelled to South Africa in May 2002 with then-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill to see first hand the situation in that country.
He also has met French president Jacques Chirac to push for increased spending on Aids.
“Aids is not a cause, it’s an emergency,” Bono said. ”Seven thousand Africans die every day. This is an entire country bursting into flames.”
He has found help from the music industry for his activism in the United States, receiving calls from artists such as Jay Z, P Diddy and Beyonce Knowles.
“I’m looking forward to the moment they tell me, ‘Bono, you’re Irish. Go home. We’ve got it handled’,” he said.
