Barbara Lee Hosts Forum on HIV/AIDS in the African American Community
(Oakland, CA) – On Saturday, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) hosted “Getting Real: a Forum about HIV/AIDS” as part of an effort to raise awareness about the toll the disease is taking on the African American community and to foster community involvement in stopping its spread.
“This year at the International AIDS conference, I joined with Julian Bond, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP and many others to announce a National Call to Action and Declaration of Commitment to End the AIDS Epidemic in Black America. The goal is for African Americans to take ownership over stopping the AIDS crisis that is devastating our community, and the way to do that is for EVERYONE to get involved,” said Lee. “Everyone has a role to play in stopping this disease, and that is a responsibility I take seriously as part of my agenda in Congress.”
The forum, which took place on the campus of Merritt College, featured panelists Sheryl Lee Ralph – Artist / HIV/AIDS Educator; Bishop Dr. Yvette A. Flunder – Senior Pastor, City of Refuge United Church of Christ; Pastor D. Mark Wilson- Assistant Professor of Ministry and Congregational Leadership, Pacific School of Religion; and Roosevelt Mosby- Executive Director, Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County (SMAAC) Youth Center. The event also offered free HIV testing and information about local HIV services.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is devastating the African American community. Today, African Americans account for nearly 50 percent of all people in the United States living with HIV/AIDS even though they represent about 12 percent of the population. African American women also account for nearly 70 percent of new infections among women, and AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25-34.
In Alameda County over 6,600 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed since 1980, and nearly 4,000 people have died. Of those numbers African Americans represent well over 40 percent of the cumulative AIDS cases and AIDS deaths in the county.
In 1998, Lee led efforts to declare a State of Emergency in Alameda County regarding HIV/AIDS in the African American community, which provided additional funding to combat the disease and inspired the creation of a community wide taskforce to ensure that there was a focused response to this epidemic that targeted the African American community.
Lee also announced that this week she introduced legislation aimed at stopping the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in prisons.
“If we are serious about ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic we need to stop our prisons from being breeding grounds for the disease,” said Lee. “The fact is that more than 90 percent of incarcerated people return to our communities, and the head-in-the-sand approach to AIDS in prisons poses a serious public health risk for the general population. This bill takes an important first step towards addressing the negative impact of our criminal justice system in perpetuating the spread of HIV among African Americans and communities of color.”
Lee is the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Global AIDS Taskforce and in 2005 the House of Representatives passed her resolution supporting the goals of National Black AIDS Awareness Day. She has introduced legislation aimed at ensuring continuing care and treatment for Gulf Coast residents living with HIV/AIDS who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and later this year she will introduce legislation to allow the distribution of condoms in federal prisons and to develop a strategy to reduce HIV and other STIs in prisons.
As the lead author of the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000 and the principal co-author of legislation establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s accomplishments in promoting effective, bipartisan measures to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and bring treatment to those living with HIV/AIDS have earned her international recognition as a leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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