Changemaker and Crooked Hillary — these are two titles that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been called in the past decade of partisan politics.
Last week, President Joe Biden added one more, charging through these same partisan politics to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Clinton, along with other establishment notables including Democratic National Committee donor George Soros and DNC organizer Fannie Lou Hamer.
Although the choices of Biden were not all partisan, he definitely made his mark on the award by nominating established notables to the lengthy list awardees. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the country’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the United States, world peace or other significant societal endeavors.
Previous award winners have included many politicians, including Joe Biden himself, Colin Powell and Ellsworth Bunker, who both won the award twice, and long-time Supreme Court Justice Atonin Scalia.
It has also included many popular artists, athletes and film and television producers, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Lorne Michaels.
The award can be given out any time during a president’s stay in the White House, and Biden chose last week for his final time to hand out the award — an unmistakable final message from the president who will be out of office next week.
Biden’s selections featured awardees of similar caliber to previous lists, including iconic popular artists and athletes such as soccer player Lionel Messi and U2 muscian Bono. In fact, one might call Biden’s selection more of a list of the most popular social icons than winners of one of the most prestigious awards in the country.
However, it is the political candidates that Biden selected that make a statement about change and the future of this country.
Specifically, as the U.S. plunges into another dark time of political conservatives, with the inauguration of Donald Trump, it was Biden’s selection of freedom fighters and changemakers that make this list of Presidential Medal of Freedom awardees stand out.
-Instead of dwelling in the dark times, Biden offers hope that these award winners will be sources of light during a future that might feel dark for so many.
Selecting people like Robert F. Kennedy and Fanny Lou Hammer, both civil rights activists, highlight heroes that resisted oppression in the Jim Crow era, suggesting that even in some of the most challenging moments of our history there will be heroes among us.
Meanwhile, the celebration of contemporary heroes, such as Soros and Clinton, remind us of the great political leaders still alive who continue to advocate for social change.
While these award winners might be chalked up to just some political partisanship by some, I believe these awards construct a powerful narrative of both our past, present and future moments.
This contemporary moment is plagued by a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and fires that have displaced thousands. Meanwhile, we are set to have a president that has been sentenced with felonies and has embraced his social capital to use racist and sexist vitriol.
However, it is important to feel optimistic and envision a better future than dwell on the negativity of this moment. The Presidential Medal of Freedom list is a stark juxtaposition to the evils of this world.
And if anything, this list is a testament of an important message: we must know that we will have heroes among us that we will be able to look to for hope and inspiration. Keep the faith and have hope for the future.
