African American AIDS associations in cities across the United States provide urgent health education, counseling, housing, financial, and other types of support to people affected by HIV/AIDS. They offer AIDS education and prevention resources to groups, organizations, and individuals who would like information, outreach, and counseling on AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment. In 1991, HIV infection and AIDS was the sixth leading cause of death among African Americans and the seventh leading cause of death among Hispanics, while it ranked tenth among white Americans. Because many of the early AIDS organizations did not focus on minority health concerns, special interest groups—such as the National Minority AIDS Council—emerged to combat the rise of AIDS and the spread of the disease among African Americans and other minority groups in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control has worked to establish collaborative arrangements with national programs that involve business, labor, industry, religious institutions, youth agencies, the media, and voluntary, ethnic, and racial minority organizations.
In September 1994, the office of the assistant secretary for health and the United States Public Health Service sponsored the first National Congress on the State of HIV/AIDS in Racial and Ethnic Communities. The congress was the first of its kind to focus on public policy issues related to HIV/AIDS prevention programs and services in racial and ethnic communities in the United States. The congress, assisted by key nongovernmental organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles; Morehouse School of Medicine; Iris House; Riverside Church; Outreach, Inc.; Black Entertainment Television; and Inner City Aids Outreach developed workshops that placed special emphasis on promoting a greater understanding of the role of biomedical and behavioral research. With 935 community leaders in attendance, the congress met to reflect on the broad spectrum of racial and ethnic minorities involved in HIV/ AIDS prevention, services, and research. In workshops and special institutes, representatives from African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American communities sought to identify opportunities to improve efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. The congress explored avenues of expanding the use of technology and computers to support HIV/AIDS services and enhancing new and existing opportunities for partnerships between governmental organizations.
Despite these efforts, African Americans are still disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. They account for about 34 percent of the total reported AIDS cases in the United States, while comprising only 11 percent of the American population. Racial and ethnic disparities of those infected with AIDS are much more striking for women and children than they are for men. In June 1996, the Centers for Disease Control reported that African American women accounted for 55 percent of AIDS cases reported among women and that 58 percent of all children reported with AIDS were African Americans. Likewise, African Americans accounted for over half of all AIDS cases reported among injection drug users (or IDUs). Clearly, there is an urgent need for health care professionals and other leaders within the African American community to be concerned about HIV and AIDS. While many organizations within the African American community offer AIDS awareness institutes and workshops, perhaps the greatest impact is often made by medical and biomedical research, direct-service providers, and AIDS educational organizations with a grass-roots focus.
In the African American community several factors have played a significant role in limiting proper AIDS education and awareness training. Workshops initiated and conducted by black groups have tried to reduce these barriers by promoting improved access to and the delivery of comprehensive AIDS-related services for people of color. Workshops, for example, identify public policies that respect the traditions and cultures of America’s diverse racial and ethnic communities. Moreover, they identify components of effective programs that promote the development of culturally competent and linguistically appropriate service models.
Among African Americans, AIDS and HIV has been, and to some extent still is, often thought of as a disease that primarily affects gay males. Many black churches, for example, teach that homosexuality is a sin and blame the gay community for the spread of AIDS. Some black ministers such as the Reverend Yvette Plunder have tried to combat that perception, arguing that the characterization of homosexuality as a sin perpetuates denial and contributes to the spread of the disease among African Americans. Plunder, a former lead gospel singer with the Edwin Hawkins Love Center Choir of Oakland, California, now conducts an HIV/AIDS support agency in San Francisco. Her organization, the Ark of Refuge, provides housing, education, training, and care partners for HIV/AIDS clients. During the past years, she has conducted AIDS education seminars at esteemed venues such as the annual Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, reaching many people through a combined effective ministry and advocacy that culminates in a supportive educational outreach program.
While HIV/AIDS is not primarily a “homosexual issue” among African Americans, black lesbians and gay men have often been at the forefront of providing financial, educational, and other types of assistance. They have worked through a variety of community organizations that serve African Americans, people of color, and gays, often volunteering or serving in key managerial roles within HIV/AIDS resource organizations. As a result of their involvement they are often able to demand more inclusive perspectives on health care delivery practices and the distribution of other types of assistance in HIV/AIDS prevention and management programming. New York City’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GHMC), for example, began to target minority populations after increased pressure to be more inclusive and has since endeavored to increase minority outreach. Another gay and lesbian organization involved in outreach work with the African American community is Washington, D.C.—based Black Lesbian and Gay Pride, Inc. (BLGP). The nonprofit organization was established as a direct fundraising provider for community-based organizations that offer HIV/AIDS services to African Americans. BLGP is committed to removing the barriers of homophobia, fear, denial, and alienation through fund-raising efforts and civic involvement. The group is dedicated to raising social consciousness through community action, unifying communities of color, and bridging the gap between heterosexual and homosexual communities. The group’s “passion to action” is bred out of a desire to decrease the rate of HIV/AIDS infection among communities of color. BLGP offers support to community-based organizations that provide a wide array of HIV/AIDS services including health education, medical and mental health services, HIV testing, legal and financial support, volunteer training, and shelter and food support for African American children, teenagers, and adults affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS.
There are a number of similar organizations around the country that provide education, housing, resources, and other forms of assistance. Groups that have launched efforts to combat AIDS among African Americans include the Minority Task Force on AIDS in New York City; the Jefferson County AIDS in Minorities program in Birmingham, Alabama; the African-American AIDS Support Services and Survival Institute in Los Angeles; the San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS; Black Gays and Lesbians United Against AIDS in Denver; the HIV Support Group for African-American Men and Women at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C.; the AIDS Education and Services for Minorities program in Atlanta; the Minority Outreach Intervention Project in Chicago; Project Survival in Detroit; Men of Color Aids Prevention in the Office of Gay and Lesbian Health Issues in Manhattan; the Oregon Minority AIDS Coalition in Portland; Blacks Educating Blacks about Sexual Health Issues in Philadelphia; the Renaissance II, Brother2Brother Project in Dallas; and the People of Color Against AIDS Network in Seattle.
These groups provide a collective front against the rise of HIV/AIDS among African Americans and other minorities, disseminating vital health care information to a variety of clients on a year-round basis and keeping abreast of important developments in the war against AIDS. They help educate those who might not otherwise be reached by traditional health care networks, and they provide a valuable service to African Americans from all walks of life.
FURTHER READINGS
Graham, Rhonda. “And the Choir Sings On.” (Wilmington, Delaware) Sunday News Journal, October 23, 1994.
——. “Special Report: AIDS in the Gospel Choir.” (Wilmington, Delaware) Sunday News Journal, October 23, 1994.
Bill Stanford Pincheon
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