Stevie Wonder kneels in protest as he leads anti-poverty concert
NEW YORK: Stevie Wonder knelt before a packed New York festival on Saturday in a protest for peace as he led stars and politicians in pressing for sustained aid to eliminate the world’s worst poverty.
Thousands converged on Central Park for the live-broadcast Global Citizen Festival which hands out free tickets to fans who take actions such as petitioning their governments to support development assistance.
With President Donald Trump proposing sweeping aid cuts, the concert had set a goal of building political momentum in the world’s largest donor nation.
Wonder took the stage and knelt, emulating a gesture popularised by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick during the national anthem to denounce racial injustice. Trump on Friday angrily denounced such protests, using profanity to demand that teams fire the athletes.
“Tonight, I’m taking a knee for America,” the blind soul legend said as his son Kwame Morris clutched his arm.
Wonder also voiced worry over the increasingly personal venom between Trump and North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un.
“We could lose the ultimate video game of life, losing sight that weapons are real and rhetoric is dangerous, whether it be from a superpower in North America or a superpower in North Korea,” Wonder said. AFP