Red with Impact

Yesterday was World AIDS Day and a host of athletes and international companies joined forces to bring attention to the global crisis that has ravaged sub-saharan Africa and more locally the American black and white communities. According to the international AIDS charity AVERT, at the end of 2007, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 468,578 people were living with AIDS in America, around 20,000 more than 2006. Of those 468,578, 44.1% were African American while 35.3% were white.

But rather than spout off statistics, noteworthy piece is that when you’re talking about AIDS you’re instantly talking about something global, a fight that enlists the help of all not the least of whom are professional athletes. It’s an obligation not an opportunity for the highest profiled icons of sports to show a pronounced interest in a disease that is so directly linked to behavioral norms within a culture. Didier Drogba the renowned soccer superstar has been a central figure in Nike’s campaign as has Kobe Bryant.

If yesterday is a harbinger of anything it’s that the voice of a professional athlete is magnified both when audible and when silent. Whether it’s AIDS, hunger or  improving graduation rates of impoverished athletic scholarship recipients the influence of guys and girls who get paid to play is explosive.