Jonathan D. Blundell

Rock star Bono urges Americans to improve Brand USA

Jonathan Blundell
Staff writer

DALLAS – In front of a mixed crowd wearing T-shirts, flip flops and business suits, U2’s lead singer, Bono, captivated a Dallas crowd Friday night at the Music Hall at Fair Park – without the help of his legendary rock band.

The event was a fund raiser for Dallas’ World Affairs Council, with tickets going from $25 to $500.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced Bono and said she first met the Nobel Peace Prize Nominee at the National Prayer Breakfast, held this past February in Washington.

“He gave a spellbinding address,” Hutchison said. “He is an extraordinary man not easily forgotten. For sure he is a great singer, a true rock star and a man with heart and deeds to match his words.”

Bono, one third of Time Magazines 2006 Person of the year, was then welcomed to the stage with a thunderous standing ovation.

He assured the “loud ones in the crowd” that the rest of his band would not be joining him for the night.

“If you were expecting the band, I’m sorry to disappoint, I don’t even tell them that I do these things,” Bono said as he loosened his canary yellow tie.

Donning a dark grey business suit, his trademark sunglasses and flashing the UT “Hookem,” Bono told the crowd of 4,000 that he wasn’t accustomed to wearing a tie and joked that he didn’t wear ties for politicians — but only for the people of Texas.

Bono then recounted his journey to becoming “a rock star with a cause” and said he had been humbled in Dallas before.

“The first time I was in Dallas was April 1981 and U2 was double billed with a wet T-shirt contest,” the Irish rock musician said. “The tickets were only $1 and only 30 people showed up. The DJ then introduced us as one of the most promising bands from England.”

Bono said that as a teenager growing up in Dublin, he was impacted by punk rock bands like the Clash.

“The Clash was like a public service announcement with a guitar,” Bono said. “I took it at face value. But then I discovered they wore the boots, but they wouldn’t march. They’d break bottles over there head but they wouldn’t do the painful thing like attending a town hall meeting.”

In 1985, Bono became involved with Africa and politics at Live Aid, a multi-country concert and fund-raiser to raise awareness for problems in Africa.

“Shortly after Live Aid, Ali (Bono’s wife) and I went and lived in Ethiopia for a month,” Bono said. “The children there called me the girl with a beard. Ethiopia blew my mind. On the last day there a man handed his baby to me and said ‘please take him with you.’ We had to turn him down and it’s a feeling that hasn’t left me. It was then that I became the worst thing of all – a rock star with a cause.”

But Bono said Africa is more than just a cause – it is an emergency.

“6.5 thousand Africans are dying everyday,” Bono said. “There are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone. When the tsunami hit Indonesia, it killed 150,000 people. In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. That’s one tsunami every month.”

Bono applauded American charity but said there was more to Africa that a need for charity.

“This is not about charity, it’s about justice,” Bono said. “And that’s too bad because we’re good at charity. But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our justice. We would never let it happen anywhere else. Where you live should not determine whether you live.”

With recent debt cancellation by western countries, Bono said that Uganda has used its money towards tripling the number of children in school. Polio, which was once a plague is now almost extinct. Bono also predicted that with continued funding and help, Malaria would be eradicated within five years.

Bono, the consummate politician, sang the praises of President George Bush, who has worked to triple American aid to Africa in the last few years, but said he was saddened by measures in the House this week to cut foreign aid by 10 percent, or nearly $2.4 billion.

Earlier this week, DATA Executive Director Jamie Drummand said, “This is more than a blow to the White House. This is a blow to the Republicans’ global compassion agenda. For House Republicans to shortchange the President’s foreign policy goals will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the world’s poorest countries. The Senate must step up and the President must fight for his initiatives. They can still save these lives.”

DATA is an awareness organization founded by Bono in 2002 to reduce debt, AIDS and improve trade in Africa.

“The global war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty. Collin Powell said that. And when an American military man says the American military is not enough, we need to take notice,” Bono said. “Poverty breeds despair and despair breeds violence. Isn’t it cheaper to make friends of potential enemies than to defend against them later.”

Bono pleaded with the audience to encourage their lawmakers to improve “Brand USA.”

“USA is a truly great brand,” Bono said. “But in some parts of the world, brand USA is not at its shiniest. Never before have we in the West seen our values and credibility under such attack. I want people to know what America stands for. I’m a fan. I’m an annoying fan who reads the liner notes and asks the tough questions. Only I’m reading the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and saying, ‘Doesn’t it say this here?’ These anti-viral drugs are the best advertisement for brand America. I told the president to paint them red, white and blue. Just get them out there. Isn’t compassion one of the best ways to communicate your values?”

Bono added that he had not gone soft and he still preferred army boots over Birkenstocks.

“For the believers in the room, I say that I’m not a very good example,” Bono said. “But we should see this as obedience. A pastor once told me to stop doing things and hoping God blesses them. Find out what God is doing because it’s already been blessed. I’m deeply convicted that this is what God is doing. God has a special place for the poorest of the poor. I believe God is in the slums and God is in the cardboard boxes.”

And Bono compared American foreign aid to church tithing.

“It’s always amazed me how much of Americans tithe 10 percent,” Bono said. “But how does that compare to the federal budget. How much do you tithe as an American family? The number is less than one percent.”
Bono said he realized that while one percent was an extraordinary amount of money, it would make a world of difference in Africa.

“The last time I was in Washington I asked Congress, ‘Is giving one percent more really such a crazy idea?’ It’s got to be a good idea. One percent is a girl in Africa who gets to go to school. One percent is not redecorating a palace, its digging water holes to provide clean water. I know you’ve been through a lot with Katrina and Rita and the War in Iraq. But every generation has its defining moral struggle. This is our Omaha Beach. This is our moon shot. Our one true grab at greatness.”

Bono ended his address with a story about Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Fransico.

Lantos grew up in Hungry and was sent to a concentration camp during World War II.

Bono recalled that the thing Lantos couldn’t get out of his head were the faces of those who watched in silence as people were being boarded onto the trains.

“He said that people just stood by and watched in silence,” Bono said. “The holocaust is not an analogy anyone can use lightly. So I asked if he felt the same thing was going on in Africa.”

Bono said the congressman told him, the only difference was, “we know where the trains are going.”

“We will not stand in silence,” Bono charged the crowd. “We will go and lay down on the tracks and stop them.”

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For more information visit:
www.data.org
www.one.org