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USA Today Salutes Hollywood’s Magic
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In a town full of do-gooders, it must be have been difficult for USA Today to choose this year’s Hollywood Hero. Nicole Kidman is the Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM. Reese Witherspoon is fighting breast cancer. And let’s not forget Paris, who’s been modeling for MS.
Then there are the world travelers. Madonna in Malawi. George Clooney in Darfur. Bono in Africa. Shakira in South America.
and Angelina Jolie picking up the slack pretty much everywhere else.
So it’s a bit of a shock the see that this year’s award winner is someone whose profile isn’t writ quite as large as the above contenders. At least not in recent history.
While everyone else’s good deeds have been splashed across the front page (or more likely home page), Earvin “Magic” Johnson has been quietly revitalizing urban communities across the U.S. Eradicating urban blight, bringing businesses into underserved areas, creating jobs, fighting illiteracy.
Not to mention his work in the struggle against AIDS. He recently teamed up with drug maker Abbot in “I Stand With Magic: Campaign to End Black HIV/AIDS.” The collaborative effort is aimed at minority communities where new HIV infections are prevalent.
Last week, Johnson spoke to a group in Washington, D.C. where 81% of new HIV cases in 2006 were African-American, the highest rate in the United States. Free, rapid HIV tests were also given out during the program. Johnson urged people to overcome their fear of the disease.
"If we did know, in terms of educating ourselves about HIV, then we would know we can still high-five that person, we can still play basketball against them," Johnson said.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. He’s not bad at hoops either.
