By Sharon Egiebor
(AUG. 21, 2006) ABC News will present a special documentary on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on African Americans. The documentary, “Out of Control: AIDS In Black America,” is the first comprehensive, national network television news documentary on the AIDS epidemic among African Americans. Terry Moran reports on the crisis in a special edition of “Primetime” on the ABC Television Network at 10 p.m., (E.D.T.) Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006. The documentary features commentary by noted African-American leaders and AIDS activists, including Phill Wilson, Executive Director of Black AIDS Institute; Debra Fraser-Howze, President/CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA), and The Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, chairman of the NBLCA’s board of directors and Senior Pastor of New York City’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, and LaJoyce Brookshire, author of the acclaimed bestseller “Faith Under Fire: Betrayed By A Thing Called Love.” "Out of Control is a hard hitting documentary on AIDS in Black America. Although hard to watch at times, this piece is a must see for anyone interested in the survival of Black people in America," Wilson said. Betsey Arledge, the show’s producer, said topics include the war on drugs, the disproportionate number of black men in prison, heterosexual HIV transmission, gays in the African-American community, the African-American church and relationships between men and women. Interviews were conducted in urban settings and in rural communities. Arledge said viewers should be outraged and hopefully energized to push for change following the program. “I hope everyone, African American and not, realize that we have an epidemic right in our backyard that is just as bad and caused by many of the same forces as that in Africa and that we’re paying no attention to it,” said Arledge. “It is criminal that we have all of these resources at our finger tips and some of our citizens are suffering this way.” The documentary shows that even with the development years ago of life-saving medications: •African Americans are dying, despite antiretroviral drugs clinically proven to increase life spans. •Children who were infected at birth are dying, even though methods exist to severely reduce the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission. •Two-thirds of all teenagers infected with HIV in America are African American. Philip A. Hilton, senior vice president for NBLCA, agreed. “For those of us who have been in it, sometimes you feel as if you’re preaching to the walls. When you tell people HIV is a crisis, a devastating crisis, you some how or another feel like you’re only talking to like-minded people and not making any headway,” Hilton said. “People talk about the first wave of the epidemic and the advocacy, activism and awareness when this was affecting gay, white men,” Hilton said. “Now that this disease is affecting African Americans disproportionately, you don’t have that same kind of interest anymore. I think it has to do with the fact that HIV and AIDS is primarily impacting a segment of our population that has historically been politically and economically marginalized.” Hilton added. “I often ask myself, ‘Are people saying to me, as a result, that my life has no value because I’m black.’ I ask myself all of the time, ‘How in God’s name can you sit idly by when 13 percent of the population is bearing a disproportionate portion of the epidemic?’ Something has to be terribly wrong with this picture. It is horrible and a moral outrage.” PJ Productions, the company that produced all of ABC Anchorman Peter Jennings’ documentaries, created the show. Jennings conducted several of the interviews and was planning to host the show. However, Jennings was diagnosed with cancer in spring 2005 and the project was put on hold. He died on Aug. 7, 2005. Arledge said ABC decided to finish the project and to include the footage of Jennings because his interviews with Black, gay men in Atlanta were integral to the program. Viewers will be told that reporting on the show began two years ago, before Jennings illness. “Pete had a longstanding interest in AIDS as an issue,” she said. “He had been one of the few journalists who had stayed on the story even when it sort of lost it luster.”