UN / STEVIE WONDER WRAP (3:59)

3 December 2009

UN / STEVIE WONDER WRAP (3:59)

Grammy-Award winning songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder is designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a special focus on persons with disabilities, who represent one in ten people in the world and 20 percent of the poor in developing countries. UNTV / FILE

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Full Script

STORY: UN / STEVIE WONDER WRAP
TRT: 3.59
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 3 DECEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

3 DECEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

2. Med shot, Stevie Wonder shaking hands with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 
3. Med shot, Wonder’s sons
4. Med shot, Ban pinning the UN Messenger of Peace pin on Wonder
5. Zoom in, from Wonder holding certificate to his hands reading the Braille version of the certificate
6. Med shot, Wonder’s family
8. Various shots, Wonder demonstrating a color-detecting gadget on Ban and US Ambassador Susan Rice    
9. Wide shot, press conference
10. Wide shot, Ban; Wonder; US Ambassador Susan Rice; and UN Under-Secretary-General for Public Information Kiyo Akasaka at podium
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“It’s my great pleasure to introduce you to Stevie Wonder, our new UN Messenger for Peace.” 
12. Cutaway, audience
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“Discrimination against people with disabilities is not just simply unjust, it hinders economic development, it limits democracy, and it corrodes societies.” 
14. Pan right, audience applauding for Stevie Wonder
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Stevie Wonder, Musician/songwriter and United Nations Messenger for Peace:
“As much as I’ve received this honor today, this honor gives me again another challenge, and this challenge is like writing another song. At the end of the day, if I’m challenged to write a song that’s a hit, it’s gonna be number one. So we’re gonna win on this one, too.”

FILE – MAY 1985, NEW YORK CITY

13. Med shot, Wonder being escorted to the piano in the General Assembly 
14. Various shots, Wonder performing “The Bell for Freedom”
15. Various shots, applause and Roberta Flack kissing Stevie Wonder

3 DECEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

16. Wide shot, Stevie Wonder preparing for interview in studio
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Stevie Wonder, Musician/songwriter and United Nations Messenger for Peace:
“Sometimes I might think it’s even more incredible when a person has everything, and yet they wanna use everything they have to help someone or ones who don’t. That’s impressive. It means that they have a kind of selfless place in them to be able to say, listen, I know what I can do, I know what I do have, but what about those persons that don’t have? That’s great to me.”
18. Med shot, Wonder seated in studio
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Stevie Wonder, Musician/songwriter and United Nations Messenger for Peace:
“I would drive a car! And go rrrrr… I don’t know, I mean I think I have a pretty vivid imagination, and so I think I would be like – I thought she looked like that, he looked like that, they looked like that – oh wow, really?”
20. Various shots, Wonder singing “I Just Called To Say I Love You” for a group of kids

STORYLINE:

United States singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder was officially designated today (3 December) as a UN Messenger of Peace to advocate for the Organization’s work, with the artist – blind since birth – to champion people with disabilities.

He will join ten other Messengers of Peace – individuals widely recognized for their talents in the arts, academia, literature, sports and entertainment – in helping to raise worldwide awareness of UN ideals and activities through their public appearances, contacts with the international media and humanitarian work.

Wonder said his priority would be to push for the world to become more accessible to people with disabilities, for example through technological innovation. He took the opportunity of his designation ceremony to demonstrate several devices, including one that helps blind people recognize the color of clothing.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon introduced the new UN Messenger for Peace to the press at a news conference later in the day, saying that Wonder was a “musical genius” whose songs have given “pleasure and hope” to people around the world, as well as a “great humanitarian” who had campaigned against apartheid, for children in need and for people with disabilities. He said the United Nations was lucky to have him join the fight for disability rights.

Ban pointed out that with one in four people around the world affected because they or a family member are disabled, this was not a minority issue.

US Ambassador Susan Rice noted that people with disabilities – some ten percent of the world’s population – struggle with access to education and employment and are disproportionately likely to be poor.

She said that “discrimination against people with disabilities is not just simply unjust, it hinders economic development, it limits democracy, and it corrodes societies.” The Ambassador added that she was proud of the fact that the United States signed the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities earlier this year.

Wonder told reporters at the press conference that the honor of being named UN Messenger of Peace presented him with a challenge akin to writing another song, and announced that “if I’m challenged to write a song that’s a hit, it’s gonna be number one. So we’re gonna win on this one, too.”

Wonder was previously honored at the UN in the 1980s for his work against apartheid. He then sang a song he composed for the occasion, "The Bell for Freedom".

Wonder’s career as a recording artist has reflected his concern with humanitarian issues. He has written, produced and/or performed songs relative to charities in support of disabilities, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hunger and homelessness, domestic abuse and many other causes on behalf of children and adults.

His appointment as UN Messenger for Peace recognizes his philanthropic efforts, including the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, Junior Blind of America and the creation of the Wonder Vision Awards Program. For over ten years, he has provided toys for children and families in need with his annual House Full of Toys benefit concert.

In an interview with UNifeed, Wonder said he did not see being UN Messenger for Peace as a ceremonial role, but planned to be a hands-on fighter for the rights of disabled people.

Asked about the importance of role models for people with disabilities, Wonder named Ray Charles and Hellen Keller among those from whom he himself has drawn inspiration. But he told UNifeed that what was sometimes most impressive was when “a person has everything” but says “listen, I know what I can do, I know what I do have, but what about those persons that don’t have?”

Throughout the day, Wonder stressed again and again that his mission was to make the 90 percent of people who are not themselves disabled, care about the ten percent with disabilities.

In response to a question on his own experience as a blind man, he said that he did sometimes wonder what it would be like to see. The first thing he would like do if his sight was restored would be to “drive a car!” and see what the people around him actually looked like.

Wonder, winner of 25 Grammy awards, was born in the US state of Michigan in 1950. He became blind shortly after birth.

The other UN Messengers of Peace and their areas of focus are: conductor Daniel Barenboim (peace and tolerance); actor George Clooney (peacekeeping); author Paulo Coelho (poverty and intercultural dialogue); actor Michael Douglas (disarmament); primatologist Jane Goodall (conservation and environmental issues); violinist Midori Goto (Millennium Development Goals and Youth); Princess Haya Bint al Hussein (Millennium Development Goals and hunger); cellist Yo-Yo Ma (youth); actor Charlize Theron (ending violence against women); and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel (human rights).

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