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Bono preaches, pleads for aid to Africa
By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press
"My name is Bono, and I'm in fightin' form."
With that, Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, had the attention of tuxedo-and-cocktail-gown crowd of more than 2,000 who packed the Economic Club of Grand Rapids' annual dinner at DeVos Place.
As he took the podium, Bono referred to his only previous appearance in Grand Rapids, a U2 concert at Fountain Street Church in 1981. He joked he was hurt that only 100 people showed up (there really were about 1,100), so he hadn't come back until Thursday.
"I do remember telling the assembled young people in a disused church that I would not be preaching at them," Bono said, wearing a jacket, black shirt and amber sunglasses. "Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you no such assurances."
Preach he did.
In an hourlong speech peppered with pleas, preaching and occasional self deprecation, Bono implored the crowd to awaken to the AIDS and poverty crisis in Africa, which he likened to a preventable modern-day Holocaust.
"We are watching people being loaded onto the trains, and we know where they are going," said Bono, who turns 46 next week. "But the end of the story need not be the same. The people of Africa need not be condemned. We, you, I will not be complicit. ... We will not turn away as the trains roll past. We will go down to the tracks, and we will lie across them."
Bono's pleas were part of his quest to gain widespread public and government support for spending an additional 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid.
So far, the One Campaign, launched by an organization Bono helped co-found, has signed up 2 million Americans committed to the additional aid.
He expects to have 5 million campaign supporters by 2008, which he noted will make the organization bigger than the National Rifle Association.
To read the entire article, please go here.
Image from the Associated Press
U2.com has a 10-minute clip from the speech that can be accessed here.
By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press
"My name is Bono, and I'm in fightin' form."
With that, Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, had the attention of tuxedo-and-cocktail-gown crowd of more than 2,000 who packed the Economic Club of Grand Rapids' annual dinner at DeVos Place.
As he took the podium, Bono referred to his only previous appearance in Grand Rapids, a U2 concert at Fountain Street Church in 1981. He joked he was hurt that only 100 people showed up (there really were about 1,100), so he hadn't come back until Thursday.
"I do remember telling the assembled young people in a disused church that I would not be preaching at them," Bono said, wearing a jacket, black shirt and amber sunglasses. "Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you no such assurances."
Preach he did.
In an hourlong speech peppered with pleas, preaching and occasional self deprecation, Bono implored the crowd to awaken to the AIDS and poverty crisis in Africa, which he likened to a preventable modern-day Holocaust.
"We are watching people being loaded onto the trains, and we know where they are going," said Bono, who turns 46 next week. "But the end of the story need not be the same. The people of Africa need not be condemned. We, you, I will not be complicit. ... We will not turn away as the trains roll past. We will go down to the tracks, and we will lie across them."
Bono's pleas were part of his quest to gain widespread public and government support for spending an additional 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid.
So far, the One Campaign, launched by an organization Bono helped co-found, has signed up 2 million Americans committed to the additional aid.
He expects to have 5 million campaign supporters by 2008, which he noted will make the organization bigger than the National Rifle Association.
To read the entire article, please go here.
Image from the Associated Press
U2.com has a 10-minute clip from the speech that can be accessed here.
Last edited by a moderator:
). Bono's not pleading for aid, in fact, he said "this is not about charity, this is about justice". The POINT of his speech was that Africa does not need more aid/charity, it needs economic investment and relief from old debts. But yeah, that Chris Knape journalist guy, he was wierd and needs to get a clue.
