The Black AIDS Institute and the AIDS 2012 Hubs Storm the Windy City

African American HIV/AIDS activists came together in the Windy City to share knowledge about the International AIDS Conference, held in Washington, D.C., in July.

The HIV Post-Conference Update--one of 16 sponsored by the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN) and the Black AIDS Institute, in collaboration with community partners nationwide--consisted of a two-day event held on Sept. 6 at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center and Sept. 7 at Mercy Hospital.

The crowd--a mix of people living with HIV/AIDS and professionals working in the field--listened to Phill Wilson, the Black AIDS Institute's President and CEO, speak about some of the current research and the need for Black communities to be active in the fight.

"The most important thing we can do now is to act--to take what we learned at the International AIDS Conference back into our communities," said Wilson. "Words are not enough now; we are beyond the meetings and the conversations. We can end AIDS in Chicago if we act decisively, boldly and locally."

In addition, Justin Wooley, BTAN Chicago co-chair; Louis Spraggins, Regional CARE coordinator and BTAN Chicago co-chair; Yaa Simpson, from the Association of Clinical Trial Services (TACTS) and the Chicago Department of Public Health; and Dominique Wilson, a BTAN advocate, shared information that they learned at AIDS 2012. They covered a wide range of topics, including poster presentations from the conference, the importance of linking people to continuing care, the role that stigma plays in Black communities, the lack of HIV messages for heterosexual Black men and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

The events also served as a safe space to speak--in an unapologetic manner--about the specific issues and obstacles that the Black community faces.

"By having Phill and Greater Than AIDS come out to Chicago, the community was excited and not ashamed to talk about AIDS from a Black perspective," Wooley said. "Having those conversations can be hard because you can be accused of being a separatist, but this event was an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Black AIDS Institute."

Race-specific conversations are crucial, given that African Americans are disproportionately affected by this epidemic. According to AIDS Foundation Chicago (pdf), while African Americans account for almost 37 percent of the Chicago population, they represent 59 percent of Chicagoans living with HIV. In 2009, more than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV were African American. More than half of these cases occurred among MSM--most between the ages of 20 and 29. In Chicago 80 percent of women diagnosed with HIV are African American.

Dominique Wilson, 19, the youngest BTAN advocate, emphasizes that a vital step in making a dent in those numbers entails ensuring that the community realizes just how serious HIV/AIDS is.

"The community is aware that HIV/AIDS is an issue, but they don't understand how much it is actually hitting home. More African Americans have to step forward and acknowledge the issue and then take action." He added, "We must work together and educate ourselves, and most importantly, we must do it now."

Kellee Terrell is an award-winning Chicago-based freelance writer who writes about race, gender, health and pop culture. Her work has been featured in Essence, The Advocate, The Root, The Huffington Post and The Body.