Barack is President, Joshua’s Infected, and Reggie's Dead
As we commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAD) this Thursday, we are also launching a new layout for the new Black AIDS Weekly. Our new format will make it easier for you navigate to the stories that interest you most.
And we have a number of exciting guest editors that you're going to hear from over the next 5 months.
Indeed there is a lot going on at the Black AIDS Institute this week. In addition to the new layout, we are releasing “The Light at the End of the Tunnel”, the latest report on the state of AIDS in Black America, and working on NBHAD events in Georgia and Mississippi.
Watching Barack Hussein Obama taking the oath of office for the second time was without a doubt the most inspirational day of my life. I’m glad that the president used his inauguration to lay out a clear, unambiguous agenda for his second term. He recommitted himself to improving our economy, to bringing home our troops, making our country safe for our children and improving the health of all our citizens.
President Obama reminded us “that the most evident of truths that all of us are created equal -- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.” And that “…history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing… That while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by his people here on earth.”
He also reminded us that while we clearly have made much progress towards a more perfect Union, our journey is not over.
While in Washington D.C. for the inauguration, I received a call from my mother informing me that my cousin Reggie had died. Reggie had been living with AIDS for quite some time. Whenever we would see each other, I would ask how he was doing and offer to help connect him to care providers near where he lived in Omaha. Our conversations would always end with a commitment to follow up with each other -- a commitment that neither of us ever kept. It’s interesting to me that as public as I am about my HIV status, no one in my family ever talked about Reggie’s disease. It always seemed to me that he was living with his disease all alone. It appears he died that way as well.
The Saturday morning before I left to go to the inauguration, my friend Joshua (not his real name) called me out of the blue to ask if he could drop by and hang out for a little bit. When he got to my house, I offered him a hot tea and we sat in the dining room and talked about the holidays and my plans to attend the inauguration. He wanted information about volunteer opportunities at the Institute -- always music to my ears.
“I'm feeling like I need to start giving back to the world; it would help my karma, he said.
Then he told me he was HIV positive.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“I was at the clinic when I called you,” he replied.
Joshua is a very good-looking guy. He’s funny and he’s smart. Yet neither he nor his sexual partner could figure out how to protect him from HIV. He said he pretty much knew when it happened, and admitted that while sometimes he practiced safer sex, he didn't always.
We have the tools to end the AIDS epidemic. We have better surveillance, better diagnostics, better treatment and better prevention tools. Our president is committed to better health for all Americans, including those of us living with or at risk of HIV infection. And yet Joshua is newly infected and Reggie is dead.
Clearly having the tools is not enough. Having a National HIV/AIDS Strategy is not enough. Having the Affordable Care Act is not enough. Ending the AIDS epidemic is going to require a commitment on our part—all of us. It's going to require us to do something. It's going to require us to do the work necessary to end the stigma and marginalization and isolation that caused my cousin Reggie to be reluctant to speak to me. It's going to require us to make sure that everyone living with HIV reaches viral suppression so that the person that Joshua had sex with will be less likely to be able to transmit the virus. We need to make sure that people who are at high risk have access to PrEP and condoms so that people like Joshua can protect themselves from infection. We need to affirm that each life is precious so that both Joshua and Reggie would have taken steps to save their lives.
During his inauguration address, the President laid out a list of tasks that we must accomplish before our journey is complete, including safety from gun violence for our children, complete equality for our gay brothers and sisters, an end to voter suppression tactics, and real immigration reform. And, our journey is not complete until we end the AIDS epidemic.
I am writing this column for Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to the California Wellness Foundation, I'm going to be on sabbatical until July. This is a remarkable opportunity for all of us at the Institute. After 14 years at the helm, it is an opportunity for me to renew, recharge and think about the next phase of our work. It is also an opportunity for you to get better acquainted with the remarkable women and men who do the real work at the Institute, which is led by Gail Butler, our COO, Raniyah Copeland, our training director, Leisha McKinley Beach, our stakeholder engagement director, and our new board chair, Dr. Neil Lowe. I know the Institute is in great hands.
One of my goals during my sabbatical is to become fluent in new media. I am hoping to report in from my world travels and share my adventures, including connecting with people working in HIV around the globe. Look for me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter (@iamphillwilson), and keep your eyes open for my posts on Instagram. But most importantly, take care of yourselves and your blessings.
In this issue how one grandmother handles her self care and HIV treatment, HHS takes inventory of their African American HIV initiatives, Medicaid expansion may improve state mental-health funding, how restrictive enrollment policies may discourage hospice care, and a plan to serve homeless youth.
A luta continua.
Phill