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Publisher-Emeritus 1909-1989 Page A-6


Why Black people should get tested for HIV


By Phil Wilson Scientific denialists have


been around since, well, the beginning of recorded science. One group of denialists refused to believe that the earth was round. Another group insisted that the sun revolved around the earth until long after sci- entific evidence had proved it works the other way around. A group of denialists wants us to believe that President Obama is Muslim, while another group, called “birthers,” continues to challenge his presidency be- cause they refuse to believe he was born in the United States.


It should come as no sur-


prise that there are AIDS denial- ists as well. Typically they either reject the fact that AIDS exists, disagree that HIV causes AIDS, claim that AIDS is caused by the very medications designed to treat it, or try to dissuade people from getting tested for HIV.


Phil Wilson Given the magnitude of the AIDS epidemic


in Black America, we cannot allow ourselves to be either distracted or bamboozled by these types of dubious claims. In fact, we should con- sider AIDS denialists not only dangerous, but even enemies of our community. Nevertheless, with all the myths and misinformation swirling around about HIV/AIDS, I completely under- stand how some of us might be nervous about getting tested. Let’s consider the facts.


Nearly 500,000 of the 1.2 million Americans


living with HIV/AIDS are Black. Nearly 40 per- cent of Black Americans have a family member or close family friend who is living with or who has died from HIV/AIDS. I have been living with HIV for nearly 30 years. Those of us living with HIV/AIDS or who have lost family and friends to it know painfully well that the connection between HIV and AIDS is not theoretical; it is very, very real.


I also know firsthand the benefits of getting


HIV-tested early, receiving love and support from family and friends, and having access to appropriate care. I thank God that no denial- ist was by my bedside in 1996, when my doc- tors thought I had less than 24 hours to live and insisted I start new medical therapies. I am alive today and am living proof of the benefits of medical treatment.


Whether we’re talking about their blood


pressure, blood glucose, blood cholesterol or HIV status, very person needs as much infor- mation as possible to make informed decisions about their health. An HIV test tells us wheth- er we have the virus that causes AIDS. When people who are HIV-positive know it, they can obtain the same kinds of life-extending and life- saving care and treatment that has helped me, including medications that can delay or even prevent some life-threatening conditions.


People who know their HIV status are also


more likely to take precautions to prevent their partners from becoming infected than people who don’t know they are posi- tive. That’s why I believe that all of us need to take responsi- bility for knowing our own and our partners’ HIV status, and everyone should have access to HIV testing regardless of their ability to pay. Knowledge also empowers us with choices, in- cluding the option of whether to have unprotected sex or even to have sex at all. Knowing is greater than doubt.


Can the results of an HIV test


be incorrect? Yes, but rarely. Similar to other screening tests- for various cancers, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, the test yields a very low number of


inaccurate results. This is why positive HIV-test results are always confirmed by an additional test and why sexually active individuals are en- couraged to get tested at least once a year even if they have tested negative in the past.


Acknowledging and confronting our risk of


HIV/AIDS can be scary. Sometimes it seems easier to allow myths and misinformation to paralyze us and prevent us from taking action. But it would be tragic if we were to allow urban legends, conspiracy theories and fear-monger- ing about HIV/AIDS and HIV testing to drag us backwards so that we relive the suffering and death that existed during the 1980s. There is a drastic difference between the healing and self- empowerment that happens in communities that confront HIV/AIDS directly and the death and devastation that takes place in communi- ties that do not. Black Americans represent nearly half of the nation’s new HIV/AIDS cases and nearly half of the AIDS-related deaths be- cause for far too long, we either pretended that AIDS was not real or that it was somebody else’s problem. Fortunately, in recent years Black leaders, institutions and community members have started to mobilize to confront HIV directly and honestly.


Ask anyone infected with or affected by HIV/


AIDS, and they will tell you that AIDS is no joke. We must avail ourselves of all of the pos- sible tools at our disposal: participating in clin- ical trials, early access to appropriate care and treatment, using condoms properly, educating ourselves about every aspect of the disease and getting tested. Knowing is greater than doubt.


Phill Wilson is the president and CEO of


the Black AIDS Institute, the only National HIV/AIDS think tank in the United States fo- cused exclusively on Black people. He can be reached at PhillWilson@BlackAIDS.org The Greater Than AIDS movement responds to the AIDS crisis in the United States, in particu- lar the severe and disproportionate epidemic among Black Americans. To learn more, go to www.greaterthan.org or www.facebook.com/ greaterthanaids.


Oil politics led to disaster


By Walter Brasch Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) had a good idea to


slow or stop the Gulf Coast oil spill from reach- ing shore. Build artificial barrier islands, he told the federal government.


He wanted the Army Corps of Engineers to


dredge the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River to strengthen and connect the existing barrier islands.


The $350 million plan, which Jindal de-


manded be paid for by BP Oil, would establish an 80–85 mile barrier, about 200 feet wide and six feet high. The barriers would also protect the marshlands, the federal wildlife preserves, and a fragile ecosystem.


When the federal government didn’t re-


spond, he threatened to have Louisiana do the job itself, and had his attorney general notify the Corps of Engineers that under the 10th Amendment the state had a right to protect itself during an emergency.


After two weeks of discussion and analysis


by the Corps, President Obama ordered the first of six islands to be built. Coast Guard Com- mandant Thad Allen, the on-scene commander, said the first island would be a prototype; if it worked, five more would be built. Jindal wants 24 islands, but believes the first six are a good start.


The oil spill, more than 200,000 gallons a


day and entering its sixth week, is now the size of Delaware and Maryland combined. Eleven workers are dead, 17 are injured, from the ex- plosion of BP’s Deep Water Horizon, April 20.


Several hundred thousand marine mammals,


birds, fish, and reptiles have been killed by the spill. Thousands of migratory birds, during a two to three week rest in the Gulf Coast barrier islands on their flight north from South Ameri- ca, are dying.


For about 5,000 dolphins, this is also their


birthing season; mothers who survive may have oil on their teats; their calves may die from lack of nutrition or from ingesting the oil. The af- fected areas of the Gulf are also the spawning grounds for tuna, marlin, and swordfish.


Even the fish, which may survive by staying


below the spill, are affected by the oil. The coral reefs are being destroyed by the oil and what is needed to be done to break up that oil.


More than 700,000 gallons of chemical dis-


persants, used to help break up the oil, add to the destruction of the balance of nature. Its tox-


icity may affect sea life for at least a decade. The $2.5 billion fishing industry, a major


part of the life of the Gulf, has been devastated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- istration has closed about 46,000 square miles of fishing fields, about one-fourth of all fishing waters in the Gulf.


The lucrative shrimp, oyster, and clam in-


dustries are not only closed, but the effects will last for more than one season. Boat captains and their crews are idle.


Tourism at the beginning of what is normal-


ly a lucrative summer season is almost non-ex- istent.


Had the barrier islands been in place several


years ago, the effects of the spill would have been significantly less. Erosion, combined with deep water oil drilling long before the Horizon explosion, had destroyed natural barrier is- lands and wetlands.


A $14 billion proposal by the Corps of En-


gineers, supported by Louisiana, environmen- talists and the oil industry to restore the area levees, wetlands, and barrier islands was reject- ed by President George W. Bush. Both he and Vice-President Dick Cheney, former oil com- pany executives, were more concerned about protecting the oil industry than the people who would be affected by Big Oil.


Besides, they had a war to wage in Iraq, and


$14 billion was too much to spend on domestic protections.


Much of the $100 billion damage from Hurri-


cane Katrina, a Category 3 storm, was not from the wind and rain but from the failure to pro- vide adequate protection.


It is that same protection, those same bar-


rier islands that were destroyed by the oil in- dustry years ago, that would have significantly slowed or stopped the nation’s worst environ- mental disaster, one caused not by nature but the incompetence of mankind.


“Drill, baby, drill” was once an in-our-face


slogan of certain politicians and the oil indus- try that feeds them. It is now but a reminder that when mankind destroys the environment, there will be tragic consequences.


Walter Brasch is author of the critically-ac-


claimed book, “Unacceptable: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina.”


The BP Disaster: A time for moral reckoning


By Jim Wallis I am watching unbelievable


pictures of endless swaths of brown oil mixed with the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, of dying wetlands and marshes, of miles of contaminated coast- lines, of dead birds and animals, of helpless and hopeless Gulf Coast residents sadly witness- ing their livelihoods and their lives slipping away.


With the explosion and sink-


ing of the BP oil rig six weeks ago, the immediate talk was about environmental threats and technical fixes, economic losses and political blaming, and debates about responsibility for the costs.


Jim Wallis But with the failure of the latest attempt to


stop the spill, and with both BP and the federal government admitting they still really don’t know how much oil has already spilled or will spill, a national discussion is beginning about the fundamental moral issues at stake, and perhaps even a national reflection on our whole way of life based on oil dependence and addic- tion.


After the failure of “top kills” and “cut and


cap” strategies, it now appears the gushing of oil into the sea could continue until at least August, or maybe even longer. This could be one of those moments when the nation’s atten- tion all turns to the same thing, as in 9/11 and the days after Katrina.


To use an over-used phrase, this could be a


“teachable moment,” but as 9/11 and Katrina demonstrated, we don’t necessarily learn the right lessons from teachable moments. This time we had better do so.


First, we have to change our language. This


isn’t a little “spill,” it is an environmental ca- tastrophe — the potential contamination of a whole gulf (already a third is now off limits for fishing) and hundreds of miles of coastline, and it threatens to expand to an ocean and more coastlines.


It will bring the destruction of critical wet-


lands, endanger countless species, end human ways of life dependent upon the sea, and now, it will increase the danger of a hurricane season that could dump not just water, but waves of oil just miles inland from the coasts.


Theologically, we are witnessing a massive


despoiling of God’s creation. We were meant to be stewards of the Gulf of Mexico, the wetlands that protect and spawn life, the islands and beaches, and all of God’s creatures who inhabit the marine world. But instead, we are watching the destruction of all that.


Why? Because of the greed for profits, because of


deception and lies, because of both private and public irresponsibility. And at the root, because


of an ethic of endless economic growth, fueled by carbon-based fossil fuels, that is ultimately unsustainable and unstable.


It’s not just that BP has lied,


even though they have — over and over — to cover up their behavior and avoid their obliga- tions. It is that BP is a lie, what it stands for is a lie. It is a lie that we can continue to live this way, a lie that our style of life is stable and sustainable, a lie that these huge oil companies are really committed to a safe and renewable energy future.


BP should indeed be made to pay for this crime against the cre-


ation — likely with its very existence. But I am also reminded of what G.K. Chester-


ton once said when asked what was most wrong with the world. He reportedly replied, “I am.” Already, we are hearing some deeper reflection on the meaning of this daily disaster. Almost everyone now apparently agrees with the new direction of a “clean energy economy.”


And we know that will require a re-wiring of


the energy grid (which many hope BP will have no part in). But it will also require a re-wiring of ourselves — our demands, requirements, and insatiable desires. Our oil addiction has led us to environmental destruction, endless wars, and the sacrifice of young lives, and it has put our very souls in jeopardy. New York Times columnist Tom Freidman recently won- dered about the deeper meaning of the Great Recession when he asked, “What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable eco- nomically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall — when Mother Nature and the market both said, ‘No more.’” The Great Spill makes the point even more.


There is no one answer to this calamity;


there are many: corporate responsibility, for a change; serious government regulation, for a change; public accountability, for a change; and real civic mobilization to protect the en- dangered waters, coasts, species, and people’s livelihoods.


But at a deeper level, we literally need a con-


version of our habits of the heart, our energy sources and our lifestyle choices. And some- body will need to lead the way. Who will dare to say that an economy of endless growth must be confronted and converted to an economy of sustainability, to what the Bible calls steward- ship. What about the community of faith?


I am told this morning that the smell of oil is


already apparent in the parks and playgrounds near the Mississippi coast. Unless this crisis in the Gulf finally becomes the wake-up call that signals a new national commitment to end our dependence on oil, our children may now be smelling their future.


‘Hotlanta’: Is the ‘dirty South’ really the land of milk and honey?


By Neela Banerjee It’s “the ATL’’ and “Hotlan-


ta’’ to the hip-hop crowd. The ‘Big Peach” and Gate City to the bourgeoisie.


No matter the label, it


seems everyone wants to stake a claim in Atlanta. And everyone has a fantasy of what will happen once they arrive.


Atlanta’s mecca image has


deep roots. Antebellum “free people of color’’ laid the foun- dation during the mid-1800s when they moved here for rail- road jobs and education.


Jim Crow-era Blacks mi-


grated for the city’s Black col- leges and nightlife on Sweet Auburn Avenue and Hunter Street


In the last few decades, par-


ticularly since the 1996 Olym- pic Games, there’s been a lot to feed the fantasy.


Atlanta is home to celebri-


ties like Tyler Perry, Usher and Whitney Houston. It’s a hub for hip-hop and Black en- trepreneurship.


A large black middle- and


upper-class stretches through the city and into the suburbs. The sense of possibility that marks Atlanta fuels outsized rumors of a Mercedes SL Class


at every corner and ‘’baller’’ homes for all.


Atlanta has been nurtur-


ing black entrepreneurs and musicians for a couple of generations now. These days, though, the scale is vaster, and the rest of us outside At- lanta have taken note.


The Bronner Bros. hair and


skin care empire, for instance, began as cosmetology classes at a local Y in 1947. Now, it’s among the country’s largest beauty product suppliers.


Herman Russell’s vast


construction company has been around for more than 40 years.


Never as prominent on the


music scene as Detroit, New York, Los Angeles or regional centers like New Orleans, At- lanta, nonetheless, produced bluesmen like Chick Willis and a stream of soul and funk acts in the 1960s and 1970s, from Gladys Knight to the bands Cameo, SOS Band and Brick.


Now, OutKast is here. Lu-


dacris. Akon. Lil’ Jon. T.I. Young Jeezy. The soul and hip-hop scene here exploded in the 1990s, but the ground- work was laid about a decade earlier.


At the same time, Atlanta’s


growing economy drew Afri- can Americans in a return mi- gration, some of them bring- ing the musical influences they had heard elsewhere and others just bringing their talent.


The biggest record labels


and music-publishing firms had regional offices here.


But local soul and hip-hop


got a boost whenJack Gibson, who started the country’s first Black-owned radio sta- tion here, began to hold his Jack the Rapper Family Affair music conventions in Atlanta in 1977 to provide a network- ing opportunity for promoters, producers, distributors and promoters of Black popular music.


Then in the early 1990s,


LaFace Records, a project started by the producers An- tonio “L.A.’’ Reid and Ken- neth “Babyface’’ Edmonds, moved to Atlanta. They signed acts like TLC, OutKast, Toni Braxton, Goodie Mob and Usher, said Joycelyn Wilson, a scholar of hip-hop studies at Morehouse College.


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