Let's Have a Big Converstation

Last week we all commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. It is a very interesting time in our nation's history. Fifty years after Dr. King shared his dream with the world, no one can deny that we have made much, much progress. But as Bill Russell said during the 50th-anniversary commemoration, progress can be measured by both how far we have come and by how far we have left to go. As I pointed out last week in this column, in a world of stop and frisk, Travon Martin, Oscar Grant, Jordan Davis, stand your ground, voter suppression, and opposition to even the concept that 30 million Americans might have access to healthcare--need I go on?--no one can claim that we've achieved Dr. King's dream

You may have noticed that we have begun covering issues that may not at first glance seem to be about HIV/AIDS. As a person living with AIDS and an AIDS activist, if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that HIV and AIDS do not happen in a vacuum. There are many social and structural determinants of health, including barriers that prevent people from finding out their HIV status, roadblocks that keep people from being linked to care, detours that drive people out of care and bureaucracies that prevent people from reaching viral suppression.

This means that stigma is an HIV issue, racism and sexism and xenophobia are HIV issues, same-sex marriage is an HIV issue, poverty is an HIV issue, irrational immigration policies and irrational gun policies are HIV issues, mass incarceration of Black men is an HIV issue.

We are committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by any means necessary and that means we are committed to writing and talking about anything and everything that gets in the way of doing what we must do to reach an AIDS-free generation. We are trying to have big conversations and big discussions in an effort to put an end to this thing called HIV/AIDS. We invite you to join us, to suggest topics we should be talking about, and to challenge us when you think we are not addressing topics that are important to ending the epidemic in our communities.

In this issue you can find out where the Black AIDS Institute and our partners will be at the U.S. Conference on AIDS and what we'll be educating people and raising awareness about while we're there. If you are at USCA make sure you stop by the Greater than AIDS booth. Pick up a copy of our Roadmap Challenge forms or fill out a Positively Out survey and win a chance to get a free roundtrip ticket to Australia. You will read about how the Community Education Group in Washington, D.C., is retooling itself to adapt to the changing HIV/AIDS landscape in the city hardest hit by the virus. Congresswoman Barbara Lee and designer Kenneth Cole, chairman of the board of amFAR, mark the third birthday of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. As we commemorate the March on Washington, former Secretary of State Colin Powell talks about race, the March, and voter ID. And Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health reminds us what the Affordable Care Act means for people of color.

Yours in the struggle,

Phill