More than 1,000 people rally on the White House urging the new administration to prioritize HIV/AIDS and put an end to HIV epidemic in the United States and across the world. Most of the marchers were black and HIV positive, many wearing hats and holding signs inscribed with the word "Hope" with the Barack Obama presidential campaign logo fused with the AIDS ribbon.
The rally attracted demonstrators from New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. The organizers are calling on President-Elect Obama to help people living with HIV and AIDS gain access to affordable housing, Medicare and Medicaid, and to increase funding for needle exchange and other prevention programs. HIV and access to housing and health care is a serious issue for black gay men.
In related news, the incoming administration's position on drugs and needle exchange is causing some concerns. Barack Obama supports needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users. The Huffington Post reports Jim Rastad, who is reportedly Obama's top choice for drug czar, opposes needle exchanges and argues for an escalation of the so-called War on Drugs. To be continued ...
White House Rally to Seek Guarantees for Funding [VOA]
Obama Drug Czar Pick: No Recovery from WoD [HuffPo]
Some Background ...
Black Baptist Convention FINALLY Mentions AIDS [R20]
HIV Spreading in NYC at Three Times National Rate Black/Latino Gay Men Hit Hardest [R20]
CDC: "Troubling" Rise in HIV Among Black Gay Men [R20]
GMHC's "I Love My Boo" Campaign [R20]
HIV Rates Rising Among Black NYC Gay Men [R20]
CDC Tracking "Serious" Strain of Syphilis [R20]
The HIV Morning After Pill? [R20]
Black Gay Men and "The Pill" [R20]
Jonathan Perry in "The Advocate" [R20]
Ending Black Homophobia Will Reduce HIV [R20]
Do You Disclose Your HIV Status? [R20]
Primetime Reports Black HIV Epidemic [After Elton]
"Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the Down Low [R20]
HIV Rates Rise Among NYC Black Gay Men [R20]
Phill Wilson: Candidates Must Address HIV/AIDS [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the “Down Low” [R20]
"Urban Rally Against AIDS" [R20]
The ABCs of Black HIV [R20]
Suicide Tuesdays [R20]
i am glad to see our comunity press for the change we need and deserve. we need a national aids strategy, our bothers and sisters are dying out there
Posted by: Eminem | 21 November 2008 at 15:24
Would it have been wiser to have the march once he was actually in office?
Posted by: freeleo | 21 November 2008 at 15:30
I think was a good time to march. There is no pressure on Obama now, he is not in the white house and he once he gets in he will come up with his hiv aids plan.
I dont think a march on Obama White House by black people with AIDS will go over so well in the media and black community.
Posted by: Femme 4 Femme | 21 November 2008 at 15:58
Considering Presdient-Elect Obama's father was born in Nigeria and Nigeria has a highest rate of HIV/AIDS cases, I think it was a good time to march as well. I'm sure this will be a personal issue for Obama, more so than any other President since this disease began in the early 80's. Hope is indeed coming and I wouldn't be surprised by the time Obama's second term is over, we will find a cure for this dreadful disease.
Posted by: Fred | 21 November 2008 at 19:16
Did anyone think to just ask Obama if he was a native born American citizen?
It is probably one of the biggest "opps" within American politics since you have to be a native
born U.S. citizen to take the oath of office for the Presidency.
It has just been revealed that the Democratic National Committee failed to fully check out
Obama's country of origin records. Evidence of citizenship abnormalities has now come to light
that Obama carries native Kenyan citizenship. High ranking DNC sources have admitted that
a serious failure occurred when the committee failed to confirm Obama's actual citizenship of origin.
It has been confirmed that 23 DNC members have been dispatched to Kenya, Hawaii, and Indonesia to
fully confirm Obama's current citizenship status.
In a frantic race against the clock the DNC is now attempting to patch together what everyone
thought they had already done. Copies of birth certificates, voting, arm services and educational records
are being gathered as fast as possible as the DNC scrambles to meet the Dec. 1, 2008 Supreme
Court deadline.
Nevertheless, in recent weeks, multiple lawsuits have been filed in seven additional states demanding
that Barack Obama produce an original vault copy of his birth certificate, to dispel fears that he is
not a natural-born United States citizen.
The latest suits have been filed in state and federal courts all over the U.S. and include Hawaii,
Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut. The suits seek to compel
Obama to release his original vault birth certificate. Currently Obama will only divulge a "Live Birth" copy
document which is not a vault birth certificate. Obama continues to adamantly refuses to let anyone
see his original vault birth certificate.
Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof
of his American citizenship, he now says that by failing to respond Obama will legally “admit” to the
lawsuit’s accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya.
On 11/07/08 Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging
Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States. He filed a Writ of
Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on October 30, 2008, requesting review of the
United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Surrick’s Dismissal of Philip J. Berg’s
lawsuit against Barack H. Obama, Jr., the DNC and the other co-Defendants. Accordingly, the U. S. Supreme Court has set dates in which Barack Obama, the DNC and
all co-Defendants are to respond to the Writ, which is on or before December 1, 2008.
Posted by: Dan | 22 November 2008 at 00:11
I wonder if any of the White gay men who tried to scapegoat Blacks on the passing of Prop 8 will look at this march and comment on the lack of White turnout.
Posted by: soulbrotha | 22 November 2008 at 14:07
Dan, you need to crawl back into your moldy dank cave, where you can subsist on Fox News until you die of malnutrition.
The pathetic man who recently moved to Hawai'i in order to bring a lawsuit over Obama's birth certificate just got slapped down by the judge here as having no legal standing even to bring such a suit.
And there is zero chance that Obama was not born right here in Hawai'i. His mom, only eighteen years old at the time, was just a freshman at the University of Hawai'i, where his father was also a student. Obama's birth announcement was published in the August 13, 1961 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser.
(Of course, since his parents knew that their baby boy would one day try to take over the United States as part of an anti-white/Muslim/Communist conspiracy, they no doubt had this birth announcement faked from their secret hideaway in Kenya, where Obama was actually born. Right, Dan?)
Posted by: Jim | 23 November 2008 at 02:34
lol.. jim, why even respond to that?
Posted by: freeleo | 23 November 2008 at 09:42
Jim, I concur with Freeleo, but can't resist saying, 'way to go!'
Posted by: Brien | 24 November 2008 at 08:53