WASHINGTON aEUR: President Joe Biden will present 17 individuals the nation’s highest civilian honor the Presidential Medal of Freedom. These include actor Denzel Washington and Simone Biles, as well as John McCain, an Arizona Republican, who served with Biden in the U.S. Senate.
Biden will also honor Sandra Lindsay, a New York City nurse who, in December 2020, stepped up to the plate on live TV in order to receive the first COVID-19 vaccination dose injected into an American arm, the White House announced Friday.
The White House first shared Biden’s honors lists with The Associated Press. It includes both living honorees and those who have died from the worldss of Hollywood, politics, sports, journalism, civil rights, and social justice advocacy.
Next week, the Democratic president will present the medals to the White House.
Biden is also a medal winner. Biden was a long-serving senator from the United States and vice president. President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2017. This was just a week before their departure.
Biden will award medals to the honorees, who “have overcome significant barriers to achieve impressive achievements in the arts and sciences. They have dedicated their lives to advocating the most vulnerable among us and acted with courage to drive change in communities and around the world. This will leave a trail for generations to follow,” the White House stated.
The White House stated that this honor is for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the security, prosperity, or security of the United States or world peace.
Biles, who has won 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, is the most decorated U.S. Gymnast. Biles is a vocal advocate for issues that are important to her, such as athletes’ mental health and children in foster care.
After receiving her first COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., Lindsay became a champion for the COVID-19 vaccines.
McCain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018, died in 2018. He spent over five years in Vietnam captivity while serving in the U.S. Navy. Later, he represented Arizona in both Houses of Congress and was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008. Biden called McCain a “dear friend” as well as a “hero”.
Washington is an actor, director, and producer who has been nominated for two Oscars. He has won a Tony award and two Golden Globes, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. He has been a spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for many years.
The following 13 recipients of the medals are:
aEUR” Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell is a Sister of Social Service member and a former director of NETWORK (a Catholic social justice organisation). She advocates for economic justice and reforming the U.S. health care system.
Julieta Garcia, aEUR. Garcia, a former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville was the first Latina president of a college, according to the White House. Time magazine named her one of the top college presidents in America.
aEUR” Gabrielle Giffords. Former U.S. House Member from Arizona, Giffords was founded by the Democrat, who is dedicated to ending gun violence. In January 2011, she was fatally injured when she was hit in the head during a Tucson constituent event.
Fred Gray. Gray was the first Black member of the Alabama Legislature following Reconstruction. Gray was a well-known civil rights lawyer who represented Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
aEUR” Steve Jobs. Jobs was Apple Inc’s co-founder, chief executive officer and chair. He died in 2011.
Father Alexander Karloutsos is the assistant to Archbishop Demetrios of America. Karloutsos serves as Archbishop Demetrios in America’s assistant. According to the White House, Karloutsos advised several U.S. presidents.
aEUR” Khizr Khan. Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan was the father of an Army officer who was killed in Iraq. Khan rose to national prominence after his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
aEUR” Diane Nash. Nash was a founding member of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He organized many of the most significant civil rights campaigns of the 20th century and worked closely with King.
aEUR” Megan Rapinoe. The Olympic gold medalist, two-time Women’s World Cup soccer champ, captains the OL Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League. She has been a prominent advocate of gender equality, racial justice, and LGBTQI+ rights.
aEUR” Alan Simpson. Retired U.S. senator from Wyoming, he was a prominent advocate of campaign finance reform and responsible governance as well as marriage equality.
aEUR” Richard Trumka. Trumka was president of the 12.5million-member AFL-CIO for over a decade when he died in August 2021. He was the past president of United Mine Workers.
aEUR Wilma Vaught. Vaught, a brigadier general in the Armed Forces, is among the most decorated women in U.S. Military history. She broke down gender barriers as she rose through the ranks. Vaught was one of seven female generals in Armed Forces when she retired in 1985.
RaAol Yzaguirre. Yzaguirre, a civil rights advocate, was the president and CEO of National Council of La Raza over 30 years. Under Obama, he was the U.S. ambassador in Dominican Republic.
