France bestows further honor on former United Nations ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young

Civil Rights icon Andrew Young speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, May 18, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

France wants the world to know it has not forgotten about Andrew Young.

The former mayor of Atlanta, ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter and onetime confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. was further honored by France on Thursday, with Young being promoted to the rank of officer in the country’s Legion of Honor.

Laurent Bili, the French ambassador to the United States, on Thursday bestowed the 91-year-old Young with the new rank, crediting his work to end racial segregation “and paving the way for a fairer America.” Bili also noted Young’s advocacy for human rights and efforts to settle a war in what is now Zimbabwe, ending white minority rule there.