Wave Staff Report
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden presented 19 people with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during White House ceremonies Jan. 4.
Among the 19 were actor Denzel Washington, retired NBA star Magic Johnson and Fannie Lou Hamer, one of four who received the award posthumously.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.
President Biden said the 19 recipients are great leaders who have made America and the world a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.
Washington is an actor, director and producer who has won two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globes, and the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also served as national spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for over 25 years.
Johnson led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships and the Michigan State Spartans to the NCAA Championship in 1979. Off the court, he is a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist who supports underserved communities through his Magic Johnson Foundation.
Hamer helped transform the struggle for racial justice in America. As a founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, she challenged the exclusion of Black voices in the political system and laid the groundwork for the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Also receiving the Presidential medal of Freedom were: José Andrés, a renowned Spanish-American culinary innovator who popularized tapas in the United States; Bono, the frontman for legendary rock band U2 and a pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty; Ashton Baldwin Carter (posthumously) who served as the 25th Secretary of Defense after serving under 11 Secretaries of Defense in both Democratic and Republican administrations; and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who made history many times over decades in public service, including as the first former first lady to be elected to the U.S. Senate and the first woman nominated for president by a major political party.
Others honored included Michael J. Fox; an actor who has won five Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award who also is a world-renowned advocate for Parkinson’s disease research and development; Tim Gill, a visionary entrepreneur whose work has advanced LGBTQI rights and equality; Jane Goodall, a world-renowned ethologist and conservationist whose research transformed our understanding of primates and human evolution; and Robert Francis Kennedy (posthumously), who is remembered as an attorney general who fiercely combatted racial segregation, and as a U.S. senator who sought to address poverty and inequality in the country.
More honorees included: Ralph Lauren, a fashion designer who redefined the fashion industry with a lifestyle brand that embodies timeless elegance and American tradition; Lionel Messi, the most decorated player in the history of professional soccer who supports health care and education programs for children around the world through the Leo Messi Foundation and serves as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador; William Sanford Nye, who inspired and influenced generations of American students as “Bill Nye the Science Guy;” and George W. Romney (posthumously), a businessman who served as the chairman and president of American Motors Corporation and later served as both the 43rd governor of Michigan and the third Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Other award recipients were: David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, where he built one of the most successful global investment firms; George Soros, an investor, philanthropist and founder of the Open Society Foundations; George Stevens Jr., an award-winning writer, director, author and playwright who founded the American Film Institute and created the Kennedy Center Honors; and Anna Wintour, a renowned fashion icon who has led Vogue as editor-in-chief since 1988. A champion for philanthropic causes, she is also the leading architect behind the annual Met Gala fundraiser and chief content officer of Condé Nast.
