The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has presented Earvin "Magic" Johnson with its inaugural World AIDS Day Magic Award. The basketball legend and hugely successful businessman received the award for his work on raising awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Johnson was diagnosed HIV positive 20 years ago, when AIDS was seen as a death sentence. The former L.A. Laker spoke openly about the disease and founded the Magic Johnson Foundation to promote prevention and awareness about the disease, particularly in African-American communities. Billy Witz of Fox Sports reported that Johson said, "Who would ever have thought that somebody would admire you and it's not about basketball?"
"I haven't played in 15 to 20 years, and now when people come up to me, it's never about basketball. I guess I've turned the page on another chapter in my life," he added. The Magic Johnson Foundation has worked to promote more testing and give minority communities better access to treatment. Johnson has lent his name to five clinics that AHF has opened around the country in mostly African-American communities. At a time when HIV/AIDS is hitting African-American communities hard, the work that the Magic Johnson Foundation is doing is more important than ever. The article reports that Johnson said, "We will continue to fight. We still get discriminated against, especially if you're black and brown. But we're in it until the end. Hopefully one day there will be a cure and we don't have to worry." Amen to that.
Read more at Fox Sports.