News 2008
Election 2008
Still Cool -- Round Two
By Phill Wilson
Saturday’s Los Angeles Times ran a Joel Pett comic strip commenting on Sen. Barack Obama’s victory in the Iowa Democratic caucuses. A Black man and women are sitting at a table. The man is reading a newspaper, and He says to the woman, “A white state voted for a black man…cool!” The woman replies, “You mean 3% of a 98% white state voted for a 50% Black Man?” The woman leaves the room. The man considers what she said, and then says to himself, “Still Cool!”
I made a point of watching Obama’s Iowa victory speech with my nephew. In some ways my desire to share that experience with him had nothing to do with who he should vote for, who should be the democratic nominee, or even who should be the next president of the United States. It has everything to do with how he sees himself. I wanted him to see first hand what hope, hard work and perseverance can do. Hopelessness, fatalism and giving up because the prospects look impossible are pervasive among African Americans today. We have an obligation to infuse as much hope as possible in our communities, and especially among our young people. Regardless of whether Obama goes on to win, or whether you support him, his victory injected a badly needed dose of hope into black America. Obama’s campaign is not just about whether white people will vote for a black candidate. It is also about what role Black people are willing to play to in our democracy. Our democracy is in trouble and America needs us. We cannot achieve racial equality in America, if we do not equally participate in the democratic process. The vote in Iowa represents who Americans want to believe we are—and we can help all of us—black, white, rich, poor, red state, blue state—get there. African Americans have a lot at stake in this election. This is not an election where we can be AWOL. We cannot sit on the sidelines this time around. Nor can we just give our votes away. We have to be actively engaged every step of the way. No matter whom we support, we have to let them know that we are there, and they ignore us at their peril. We need to be writing the campaigns every day. We need to be attending the rallies and forums en masse. We need to be heavily represented among the volunteer corps. We need to be listed among the major donors. And each and every one of us needs to VOTE. We need to ask questions, lots of questions. What is the candidate going to do about the sub-prime mortgage disaster? When is New Orleans going to finally be rebuilt? How are they going to reverse the shameful trends in college admission of Black students? What is their plan to end the AIDS epidemic in Black communities? Any candidate who cannot or will not answer questions of import to us does not deserve our support. Today, voters from New Hampshire are going to the polls to make their own comment on the Iowa caucuses. But no matter what the good people of New Hampshire decide, no matter who ultimately is the Democratic standard bearer, no matter who becomes the next president of the United States, they can’t unring the bell of hope that was Iowa. And that’s “still cool.”
Election 2008
It's All About Change
LOS ANGELES – (January 2, 2008) The Black AIDS Institute (The Institute) released today the first in a series of educational briefs on electoral politics—We Demand Accountability: The 2008 Presidential Elections and the Black AIDS Epidemic. The booklet is the latest in a series of reports and news articles, published as a part of the National Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) campaign that will help Black America hold elected officials accountable for ending the Black AIDS epidemic. “Ending AIDS is about leadership—personal, professional and political leadership,” said Phill Wilson, the Institute’s CEO. “We have aggressively called upon Black America to take responsibility for our own health and that of our communities. And part of that responsibility is insisting that our elected officials also do their part to help us end this epidemic.” As we dive now into the primary season, We Demand Accountability empowers Black voters to engage elected officials by: • Educating Black voters on the key questions that they should expect any candidate for elected office to answer about HIV/AIDS in our community; • Putting the campaigns and candidates on notice that Black America will expect them to not only be aware of the problem but to have a plan for dealing with it; and • Educating voters on what the current presidential candidates have and have not contributed to the fight against AIDS in Black America. The Questions Black America Must Ask • Reduce infection rates. The Mobilization seeks to slash HIV infection rates in our community by half over the next five years. • Get Blacks tested. The Mobilization seeks to boost the number of Blacks who know their HIV status by 50 percent in the next five years. • Support appropriate care. The Mobilization seeks to insure that African Americans who do test positive have access to appropriate care and are personally able to take the necessary steps to live healthily with HIV. • Eradicate stigma. The Mobilization seeks to finally wipe out all of the needless, deadly stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS that have for too long blocked Black communities from saving themselves from this epidemic. The Black AIDS Institute sent written surveys to each of the 16 declared Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in October 2007. The survey (a copy is included in the report’s appendix) asked 15 questions designed to measure the candidates’ commitment to accomplishing the Black AIDS Mobilization’s goals. Some questions were general; others asked about specific policies. We Demand Accountability summarizes the candidates’ positions on these four broad questions, based on answers to the survey, previously published evaluations of candidates on AIDS more broadly, and the candidates’ own public statements and platforms. Reviewing the Candidates’ Answers Some notable differences between the parties are: • Six Democrats have committed to drafting a national strategy to end AIDS; only one Republican has done so. • Seven of eight Democrats support lifting the ban on federal funding for needle exchange; no Republican has made such a commitment. • All three front-running Democrats —Sen. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama—have published AIDS plans that stress the importance of addressing the epidemic’s racial disparities; no Republican candidate has done so. • Seven of eight Democrats have vowed to increase funding for the Ryan White CARE Act; no Republican has done so. Among the top-tier Democrats, conversely, there is great similarity. All agree on basic principles of targeting resources to address the Black epidemic, putting science ahead of ideology and politics, and building a national strategy with goals to which we can all be held accountable. There are, however, notable differences in details among the leading Democrats: • While Edwards and Obama have vowed to end funding for abstinence-only sex education, Clinton has stated only her support for comprehensive sex education. • Obama’s record on encouraging HIV testing among Blacks far outstrips all other candidates: He and his wife, Michelle, have been publicly tested and have spoken forcefully about testing’s import. • Clinton, both in response to the survey and in her subsequently published AIDS platform, has made the most forceful commitment to working with Black faith leaders to address the epidemic. Stay Tuned for More • Look for updates in Phill Wilson’s blog on AOL Black Voices, www.blackvoices.com/blogs/category/aids-25-years-and-counting • For the latest news on the road to the White House from a Black perspective visit Georgecurry.com • Check your local Black newspaper for stories about the election. • Tune in to the Bev Smith Show on your local American Urban Radio Network affiliate for updates and analysis. “Getting informed is the first step in getting engaged,” said Wilson. “And We Demand Accountability gives Black voters the information we need to get engaged politically on AIDS.”
In August 2006, a group of leading voices and organizers in the African American community came together to launch the BAM, led by Balm in Gilead, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and the Black AIDS Institute. The Mobilization has four primary goals, and We Demand Accountability evaluates the candidates based on those goals:
A review of the overall field of candidates in the Democratic and Republican parties provides a stark comparison. All eight Democratic candidates have robust public records on the core questions; there is scant information available on any of the questions for all of the Republicans. What information is available about the Republican candidates does not bode well for the Black epidemic.
The Black AIDS Institute will continue to follow the presidential elections throughout 2008, both on its Web site—www.BlackAIDS.org—and through reports in other Black Media outlets.