‘He has been a forceful presence in my life going back to 1979, when U2 made our first anti-apartheid effort’

Bono writes that he could charm the birds off the trees.  As Bono remembered Mandela in such a way that friends and family often remember love ones that pass on. The deepest respect and love which extends beyond the work his done.

Bono has a deep respect for Mandela’s fight to bring freedom to South Africa’s people of color.  Bono responded during a time when apartheid spoke loudest in a country that offered no hope or future for African people of color.

In 1985, U2 along with other bands responded to Steve Van Zandt’s call to lend a voice to speak up against apartheid. Sun City was born.  Artists in years past performed at the casino earning massive paydays, before the awakening of the people to the issues within South Africa. Most bands stopped performing in South Africa others donated their pay to causes to fight apartheid.

Bono continues to be out spoken on human right issues some might say that a rocker has no place in such matters.  Mandela like Bono believes in the human spirit that lives within each of us.

Mandela’s work lives on in each of us. Bono will continue to speak out against those issues that keep the human spirit down. This is not a time of sadness, we shall rejoice that within our life time we have seen that one man can make a difference and maybe that difference can inspire us to achieve that what seems impossible.