Fighting HIV/AIDS In The African American Community: Its Everyone's Responsibility

February 7th is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS continues to have a disproportionate impact on African Americans. On this day, we remember all the friends we’ve lost, all the friends fighting to stop this epidemic, and all our friends who are fighting for their lives.

We all know the numbers. They are unsettling and wrong. They’re not incorrect, but they feel wrong because, for an equal opportunity disease, AIDS sure does seem to discriminate. Black gay men and black women shoulder the major burden of the US epidemic and that is wrong.

I may not be Black and I may not completely understand the cultural experience of the African Americans, but I stand in total support and will fight shoulder to shoulder until we find a cure and stop this epidemic from ravaging not just African Americans and communities of color, but all communities. To misappropriate a quote from Dr. King, “HIV/AIDS anywhere is a threat to our health and well being everywhere”.

In honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I want to tell you the story of my friend Craig Harris. Craig was one of the fiercest queens I knew. He was black, gay, proud, and living with AIDS. The history of the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) will always start with Craig Harris’s act of defiance.

NMAC was founded in the trailer park of the Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas. Yes the trailer park. We couldn’t even afford a conference room in the main hotel. We were brought together by Dr. Juan Ramos from the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) throughout 1986 to discuss the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on communities of color. Yes, we were talking about this as far back as 1986.

In Las Vegas, at American Public Health Association’s (APHA) annual meeting, we had our final gathering. It was an ugly meeting, as passionate advocates will occasionally have. Tempers flared, life seemed short, and people were dying. Out of this meeting came the core leadership that would later form NMAC: Carl Bean, Don Edwards (our first executive director), Gil Gerard, Craig Harris, Rashidah Hassan, Paul Kawata, Calu Lester, Sandra McDonald, Norm Nickens, Tim Offutt, Marie St.-Cyr and Suki Ports.

We were at APHA because they were having a plenary on HIV/AIDS, it was their first. This was historic! If we could convince these health professionals that HIV/AIDS was a critical issue, maybe they would help our sick and dying.

As we arrived at the plenary, we discovered that no people of color were invited to speak. At the beginning of the session our board member, Craig Harris rushed the stage, shouting “I WILL BE HEARD!” He took the microphone away from Dr. Merv Silverman, who was then San Francisco Health Commissioner and announced the formation of NMAC and the need to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS within communities of color.

I love that NMAC’s history started with an act of protest. Many HIV/AIDS organizations have similar stories, our movement started as an act of protest and defiance against the status quo. If they wouldn’t take care of us, we will take care of ourselves.

It seems like history is repeating itself. Once again, we need you to stand up and be heard. Maybe not like Craig, but certainly in his spirit. To honor National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day stand up for more funding for HIV/AIDS, stand up to fix the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), stand up for full implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). Do it for yourself, do it for your clients, do it for Craig!