June 11, 2010- HIV
and AIDS has become an epidemic within the Black population.
For the 8th straight
year, Tigger (a.k.a Darian Morgan) of WPGC 95.5 has been trying to bring awareness of the disease, and get more people to know their status
by testing for the virus that causes HIV/AIDS.
“It’s been a labor
of love”, said Tigger in a press conference today at Pose Nightclub at Gaylord at National Harbor.
In a city where 1 in 16 Black
men in Washington, and 1 in 40 Black men in New
York city are infected the slogan “Know Your Status” has never been so necessary.
“Lots of people are still
scared of the topic of HIV and AIDS. A lot of people don’t want to talk
about it, and I can’t not talk about it knowing that three percent of the people I hang out with, are living
with the disease”, said Morgan.
On hand for the opening press
event were several organizations that assist in providing services and information for victims of the disease.
The
Community Education Group is such an organization. While spreading the message that AIDS is 100% preventable, the group also functions to help
those living with AIDS, better manage the disease.
‘Jamal’, the
group’s Supervisor, tells us a lot of people in the community feel AIDS doesn’t apply to them, and feel as though
they’re invincible thinking they could never get the disease.
“Protect yourself, and become
aware of your partner’s status.” He also has advice for drug users,
part of the demographic of HIV/AIDS cases that share needles during drug use.
“Make sure you use clean needles.” “Do not
share needles.”
The organization, serving Wards
7 and 8 of D.C advises patients that taking medicines (on time), eating healthy, exercising, not smoking or drinking alcohol,
and learning how not to spread the infection helps at managing the virus.
Jameer Edwards, a member of CEG,
has lived with AIDS since 2008. On her bad days she feels tired, listless and
groggy. She manages the disease with the help of support groups, medication,
and keeping routine doctor appointments. A lover of not-so-healthy foods, she
tells us she’s working on eating a healthier diet.
Chadwick Alman, twenty-seven,
looking the picture of perfect health as we spoke with him today, said he contracted the disease by someone he was dating. He’s had the disease for five years, and shares the same sentiments as Jamal.
“I want people in my age
group to know that we’re not as invincible as we think we are.”
Admitting he was in denial when
he first learned he had the virus, Alman said his health got worse off by not dealing with the disease.
“I thought it was the end
of the world. I went into denial. I
thought if I didn’t think about it, and didn’t deal with it, it would go away.”
“My health got worse”,
said Alman. “Physically, I began wasting away.”
Now, with medication and proper
exercise he says he wants to change the face of a person living with the virus. “People think you have to be lying in
a bed dying” said Alman.
He stresses that with medication,
you can live a normal life. "You can have kids. You can do everything anybody
else does. Early detection is the best thing.”
Hydeia Broadbent, born with the disease, wants people to know AIDS is not something
you want to get. She talked about both the physical and financial stress of having
the disease.
“People don’t understand
that your medicine may cost $9,000 a month and up. You don’t just pay for
the pills. You pay for your doctor, you pay for your blood work, you pay for your hospital visits. People don’t think of the financial cost that goes along with it.”
Not all days have been good days for
Broadbent, living with the virus that doctors thought would not allow her to see her fifth birthday.
Now, at twenty-six she says, "“People don’t know the down days.”
Adding that at times she has been
ill enough where she’s in the bathroom when bodily fluids are coming out of both ends.
“Talk to your brothers and
sisters. Talk to your friends. Do
not get AIDS. We repeatedly tell our kids to wrap it up, wrap it up. But we forget to tell our kids, don’t have sex.”
Baltimore, MD group West Ave performed the Dru Hill
favorite, Love You For Life, and at ages between 17, 18 and 19, they also suggest abstinence.
“Stay celibate, and if you
can’t, wrap it up. It’s very dangerous out here with a lot of different diseases”, said Nedric, the youngest
of the group at seventeen years old.
With that message being repeated
so many times, we asked the group why then, are so many people still becoming infected with the virus.
“Sometimes as young people,
our generation we don’t listen”, said Chaz. Sometimes we need to
just sit down and actually listen to a person and take it in, and actually take the sharp criticism and apply it to our lives.”
“It’s all about a
mind of maturity”, said Nells. “And knowing what you’re supposed
to do, and what you’re not supposed to do.”
Good advice coming from our youth.
Also on hand to lend support were
Councilman Harry Thomas, recording artists Lyfe Jennings (out soon with
a new song titled, Statistics), Tank; CEO and president of the Ummah Foundation, Clyde
Penn; and Herman Taylor, candidate for US Congress.
The weekend continues with more
events, HIV testing, and celebrity appearances through Saturday, culminating with a celebrity basketball game at Kastles Stadium
on the corner of 11th and H Streets, downtown.
For more, visit www.bigtigweekend.net.
Photo gallery.
