(AP) PHILADELPHIA - Irish rocker and activist Bono, accepting the Liberty Medal on Thursday night for his humanitarian work in Africa, exhorted Americans to keep working to solve the world's problems and spoke of those who are without freedom.
"When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free," said Bono, wearing his trademark sunglasses even at night as he stood just steps away from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
"When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free," he said.
Bono and the organization he co-founded -- Debt AIDS Trade Africa received the award from former Liberty Medal recipient Pres. George H.W. Bush at the National Constitution Center.
The award comes with a $100,000 prize, which Bono said will be donated to the organization.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister of Nigeria who sits on the group's policy advisory board, accepted the award for the Washington-based group.