Bono capped his whirlwind day here in Philadelphia with a short but powerful speech at the National Constitution Center, accepting (along with his poverty-fighting DATA) the Liberty Medal and the $100,000 prize, which he's donating to his One Campaign. What gave his speech so much force was that he didn't come to simply bash America, but to praise us -- and then upbraid us for not doing better.
"America is my country," he declared, to loud applause. And the Irish rocker, wearing a medal that had just been placed around his neck by ex-President George H.W. Bush, who chairs the Constitution Center, indeed had quite a few good things to say about this nation that he's adopted, at least philosophically. He said some of money he's successfully lobbied for here, both from Washington and from big business, is making a difference in fighting AIDS and malaria in Africa and in sending kids to school.
"Your America gave the world the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, JFK, MLK, the Special Olympics, Bill and Melinda Gates, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Bard and the Boss," in a long, almost jazz-like riff that also included Philadelphian Will Smith, Mary J, Blige, Allen Ginsberg, Edward R. Murrow and others.
BUT...
But his strongest words of the night were this warning:
Today I read in the Economist an article reporting that over 38 percent of Americans support some type of torture in exceptional circumstances. My country? No. Your country? Tell me no. Today, when I receive this great honor, I ask you, I implore you as an Irishman who has seen some of these things close up, I ask you to remember, you do not have to become a monster to defeat a monster. Your America’s better than that.
more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/28/03443/9527
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