AIDS/RACISM

Well today is supposedly blog against racism day, and I was thinking about a semi-thoughtful 5 paragraph essay, but now I'm at work an hour later than I intended (I'll just take off early tomorrow!) and hungry.

Today is also World AIDS Day, which I have been a part of, on occasion, but mostly in my sorta-activist youth back in the T-town.

What can I say about these two subjects? Hmm. Maybe something about how racism and AIDS cannot be thought of as two completely seperate issues.

Impact of HIV/AIDS on People of Color:

· People of color now represent the majority of new HIV infections, as well as new AIDS cases and people living with with AIDS in the U.S.

· Although African-Americans and Latinos represented 13% and 14% of the U.S. population, respectively, in 2003, they accounted for 49% and 20% of newly diagnosed AIDS cases.

· Studies have shown that survival after an AIDS diagnosis is lower among African Americans than other racial/ethnic groups.


Yah, that's good enough for now. I wish I had better links to research, but it's almost 7pm and I'm still at work.

I got started doing HIV prevention work when I was a junior in high school and got a nice grey hoodie out of it that I still wear today. I also got to be a pusher of condoms and lube and hang out in dangerous downtown Olympia past dark. We had good times, learning how to properly sterilize a needle and load it with heroin, scrambling to find something to cover the reflective metal bowl of condoms to protect it from the sun, dressing up like an AIDS ribbon and walking around Capitol Lake, meeting Miss America, Kate Shindle, etc..

My favorite was when I came up with a brilliant program to promote National Condom Week and got shut down by my principal who went to the same church as me. I wasn't being an annoying kid about it either. I had daily announcements, lunch activities including making a mural or art, a bodily fluids/pathways wheel of fortune-type game, AIDS ribbons, and sample condoms that I had no intention of handing out as the ASB president (and 100 more + instructions in my backpack that I handed out as not-ASB president).

Oh yeah - my other favorite was when we argued "should condoms be available in schools or in the nurse's office at school" in my church and my Catechist got up and said, "Giving out condoms is like giving needles to drug users," to which I said, "Guess what, that program works - in the past year the rate of HIV transmission for injection drug users is 1%! EAT MY SHORTS!" (minus shorts). Then they surprised us with a candle lighting ceremony for dead unborn babies. I'm glad I got confirmed, and I'm glad those totally f'ed up white middle aged gay homophobic father men had nothing to do with it.

What do you know! Segue to racism!
ha. My freshman year some jock-hillbilly asked me if I was a spic in class because I said something to him in Spanish. Having that shocked-don't-know-what-to-say reaction, I actually answered that POS's question and he then asked me, "are you a Chink?...then what ARE you?" Still lacking the wisdom to either ignore him or put my knee in his crotch, I answered those questions too.
Tumwater was great, man. It taught me lots of lessons about how racist people are from your stupid jock classmates to my Superintendent, who told me, while interviewing him about Affirmative Action for our school newspaper (I-200 actually) that we don't have a lot of POC teachers because there "aren't enough qualified minorities."

Piece of shit.

I need to go eat something before bitterness takes my clarity away. I mean - there's so much more to be mad about, but if I try to write about that I'll starve.

peace.