Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, Gabby Giffords and Denzel Washington among Medal of Freedom awardees
Source: CNN
(CNN)President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- to 17 recipients next week, with his first slate of honorees since taking office featuring Olympians, an Academy Award winner, the first American to receive the Covid-19 vaccine outside of trials, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and civil rights advocates. Biden will bestow the medal to several posthumous honorees, including Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
The list includes Olympic athletes Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe, the fifth and sixth female athletes to be honored for the award. Rapinoe will be the first female soccer player to receive the medal. According to a statement from US Soccer, Rapinoe, the US Women's National Team forward and an advocate for equal pay, found out last week when Biden called her between practice sessions in Denver. When she saw "The White House" pop up on her phone screen, she thought she was either getting a robocall or being pranked by her teammates.
"In that moment I spoke to the President, I was, and still am, totally overwhelmed," Rapinoe said in a statement, adding that she is thinking of "all the people who I feel deserve a part of this medal." "I am humbled and truly honored to be chosen for this award by President Biden and feel as inspired and motivated as ever to continue this long history of fighting for the freedoms of all people. To quote Emma Lazarus, 'Until we are all free, we are none of us free,'" she added.
Biden's list of awardees also includes religious clergy and social justice advocates, including: Sister Simone Campbell, who previously led the Catholic social justice organization NETWORK; Father Alexander Karloutsos, a priest who has provided counsel to several US presidents; Fred Gray, one of the first Black members of the Alabama State legislature since Reconstruction; Diane Nash, a civil rights organizer; and Ral Yzaguirre, a civil rights advocate and former US ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington will also receive the award. There are former lawmakers on the list as well, including former Wyoming Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/01/politics/biden-medal-of-freedom-biles-rapinoe-mccain-giffords-washington/index.html
Congrats!!!
Edit to add - here is the full list (and reasons) - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/01/president-biden-announces-recipients-of-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Steve Jobs will also receive posthumous recognition in the form of one of the highest civilian honors.
July 1, 2022 8:48am
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Washington is a double Oscar-winning actor, director and producer. He also has a Tony award, two Golden Globes and the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a longtime spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
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https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/denzel-washington-simone-biles-presidential-medals-freedom-1235174868/
E.g., - https://www.bgca.org/about-us/alumni-hall-of-fame/denzel-washington
- https://bgcgw.org/visit-with-denzel-washington/
When I taught film back in the day, covering war genre, I used two of his films, A Soldier's Story (1984)about WWII (which put him on Hollywood's A list); then Courage Under Fire (1996) about Desert Storm. (Students were already familiar with the box office hits, Glory and Malcolm X.) The war film pairing was to examine (along with the usual about the war genre & film making) how Denzel's character roles tended toward more nuanced Black history across his career. Of course, he did other action, detective films, etc.
His filmography, imo, is among the best of all time.
but I remember him in "St. Elsewhere" - before his movies. 
St. Elsewhere, Hill St. Blues, Cheers, A-Team, Remington Steele and on and on...
(ETA - "Knight Rider" since William Daniels was the voice of K.I.T.T. and was also appearing in St. Elsewhere)
Then came Spike Lee's Malcolm X. Whew!
I'd like think his son knows. 
Hand salute from the ole sarge for her sponsoring the Women in Military Service to America Memorial.
ma'am.
... but I'm not sure Steve Jobs made the world a better place.
I think U.S. America is too forgiving of its billionaire tyrants.
If I was Emperor of Earth I'd tax all the billionaires out of existence. It would be impossible to have more than sixteen times the income or wealth of one's lowliest employee.
On the scale of billionaires I hate, Jobs lies somewhere between Bill Gates and Elon Musk, Gates being on the less hated side.
And please, dear God, never ever again let me suffer a story by Larry Ellison up on a stage about some spiritual experience he shared with Steve Jobs.
