Black Mobilization
By Anna Macias
DALLAS -- Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the country’s most prominent African-American pastors, opened his mouth wide to give a saliva sample as part of a simple HIV/AIDS screening test in celebration of World AIDS Day. Members of The Potter’s House ministerial staff also took AIDS test on site. During a World AIDS Day program, Jakes announced that the Potter House Counseling Center would launch “It’s Time to Step Up!” a comprehensive national and international awareness campaign directed at faith communities, women and minorities. Jakes is founder and senior pastor of The Potter's House of Dallas, a multi-racial, nondenominational church, which lists HIV/AIDS prevention as one of its 50 outreach ministries. A best-selling author, Jakes was named "America's Best Preacher" by Time Magazine. Jakes said wanted to show that no one should be afraid of a simple test that can protect people from a disease that kills African-Americans disproportionately. “More has to be done to halt the spread of this preventable and treatable disease and to address these frightening circumstances in the lives of all our brothers, sisters and children, wherever they may live,” said Jakes, as members of his congregation and ministerial staff watched. Jakes’ public exam, which was followed by a Gospel concert and an impassioned sermon, was but one of many observances of the 19th Annual International World AIDS Day. In Philadelphia, there were outdoor concerts and a prayer vigil and in Los Angeles, Magic Johnson sponsored a raffle of big-ticket items. Virtually all of the events held from coast-to-coast featured free testing and counseling sessions. Other events, like the photo and quilt exhibit at Collin County Community College, just north of Dallas, simply commemorated the lives of those who have died or still live with AIDS. Among those survivors is Phill Wilson, founder and executive director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. He also addressed the Potter’s House Congregation in Dallas on Saturday, Dec. 2, urging some 1,500 men and women to get tested. “You want to know what AIDS in America looks like today? Look at each other!” Wilson said, as he reminded the audience that AIDS is a “black disease.” “Testing can save your life,” Wilson said. “It’s free. It’s easy. It’s quick.” If you do test positive for HIV or AIDS, Wilson said, even that information is not to be feared. “HIV is no longer the death sentence that it once was,” Wilson said. “Treatment can save your life. We can not afford to lose one more soul to this epidemic.” Wilson said that when the AIDS virus was first discovered among five men in 1981, no one imagined that it would become such a pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control, blacks Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, but they account for approximately half of those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. It is the leading cause of death for black women between the ages of 25 and 34. Overall, Black people are seven times more likely to die from AIDS than other at-risk groups. Each year, about 40,000 people are infected with the disease in the United States -- an estimate of about 4.5 new cases every hour. Wilson and Jakes emphasized that arming people with information about the disease -- including knowledge of their status as potential carriers of the virus -- will go a long way toward eradicating HIV/AIDS. “The day will come when this epidemic will be over,” Wilson said. “When it does, it will be said that some of us dared to care in spite of it.” Also, on Saturday Bishop Jakes urged the government and medical institution to expand testing for HIV/AIDS. “A screening test should be part of everyone’s annual medical exam,” he said. “The other thing I’m encouraging is research funding to find out why African-Americans are disproportionately affected. Even when African-Americans’ lives are similar to Caucasians, they are disproportionately affected.”