He had this idea…It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why - He said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”
Ceci en référence à la fusillade déclenchée au domicile de Bob Marley le 3 décembre 1976 à Kingston par des partisans de l’extrême droite américaine. Il recevra 7 balles, Rita, sa femme et Don Taylor, son manager américain seront touchés gravement mais s’en sortiront. Il participera au concert Smile Jamaica deux jours plus tard malgré ses blessures d’ou l’allocution reprise plus haut par l’acteur Will Smith dans le film I am Legend. C’est d’ailleurs l’acteur qui choisira d’introduire le fil conducteur “Bob Marley” dans le film : “I love Bob Marley. It’s funny because the script was done and we’d already begun shooting, and I was looking for things for my character, and that Bob Marley Legend album actually is my favourite album so it just connected with me. That idea just exploded in my mind about two weeks into production - it just fit perfectly.”
