Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
What do actor and Democrat Ben Affleck and Republican Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, have in common?
Sounds like the opening line of a bad joke, but for the people of the impoverished Democratic Republic of the Congo, the answer could provide a lifeline for a country that desperately needs one.
Affleck and McCain joined forces today to raise awareness about the suffering in the African nation and ask members of Congress' House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights to help coordinate a humanitarian response.
Affleck, who founded a multimillion-dollar nonprofit organization, the Eastern Congo Initiative, that has helped build schools and a radio station, also adds his name to other rich influential white folks helping poor and desperate people of color.
McCain joined the cause when she joined Affleck on a trip to the nation last month after he called asking for her help. Affleck first visited the region five years ago.
What Affleck said he found when he got there was a nation blessed by great natural resources but labored by the world's lowest per capita gross domestic product and widespread violence, disease and poverty.
More than five million people have died in the Congo since 1998.
But why did Affleck pick McCain to help him?
He told an interviewer that after his first trip there, he knew he wanted to do more and kept hearing that McCain shared an interest in helping the region.
For her part, McCain said she knows many worthwhile organizations working in Congo but found few groups who understand the issues the way Affleck does.
I'm not sure what makes rich actors and singers adopt countries the way actor Sean Penn has pulled Haiti to his breast or actor George Clooney and former President Jimmy Carter has toiled in the Sudan.
But whatever it is, I would like to sprinkle it over all the guests walking the red carpets at Hollywood award shows, so the spirit of generosity could spread.
And I can't ignore one final observation.
Is it me, or does it seem like rich white folks care more about Africa and the Caribbean than rich black folks? Is the news media ignoring the international acts of kindness of black stars? Or do they not exist?
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