By Brittany Hutson
Originally regarded as a gay white man’s disease in the early 1980s, nearly three decades later it is the Black community that has been hit the hardest by HIV and AIDS. Despite continuous messages of awareness and prevention, Blacks, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for nearly 46 percent of people diagnosed with HIV at the end of 2007, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, there is an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV and AIDS, and an estimated 1.8 million people died as a result of AIDS last year alone. The virus knows no boundary—whether you are homo or heterosexual, male or female, young or old, anyone can be at risk. Here’s a list of 11 activists that have joined the fight against AIDS:
Sheryl Lee Ralph
An AIDS activist for over 25 years, award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph first took notice of how HIV/AIDS infiltrated and crippled our community in the early 1980s during her stint on Broadway in the classic, Dreamgirls. Back then, a mysterious disease was floating around called GRID (Gay Related Immune Disorder) that was killing gay men on Broadway and no one wanted to talk about it. As a memorial to the friends she lost to HIV/AIDS, Ralph founded The Diva Foundation in 1991, a national not-for-profit that uses music and entertainment to inform, educate and erase the stigma which is still attached to the disease. Ralph also wrote, directed and performed a one-woman play called Sometimes I Cry, which tells real life stories of women striving to cope with HIV/AIDS. Ralph is a national spokesperson for the National Minority AIDS council and sits on the boards of several AIDS organizations. In 2005, she received the United Nation’s first Red Ribbon Leadership Award for her tireless work with AIDS.
Maria Davis
Fifteen years ago, Maria Davis was a successful New York hip-hop promoter when her life took an unexpected twist. Davis, a single mother of two, was required to take an HIV test as a requirement for a life insurance policy she wanted to open. It never occurred to her that anything was wrong because she took an HIV test the year prior and had tested negative. Unfortunately, this time the test came back positive. She had contracted the disease from her soon-to-be husband. In 1998, Davis was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. Today, she speaks to countless young people and organizations about HIV/AIDS awareness and is the CEO of her own non-profit called Can’t Be Silenced.
Blair Underwood
One of the current stars of NBC’s new series The Event, actor and AIDS activist Blair Underwood collaborated with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to open a free treatment clinic in Washington, D.C. last year named the AHF Blair Underwood Healthcare Center. Though there’s been a decline in new AIDS cases in the District, it is still known as the “epicenter” of the HIV/AIDS epidemic with more than 3 percent of residents living with the disease. Underwood is also featured on billboards to promote AIDS awareness where he implores people to “Man Up” and get tested for free. The actor also served as a spokesman for YouthAIDS in 2003.
Marvelyn Brown
At the age of 19, Tennessee native Marvelyn Brown was a high school basketball and track star who suddenly found herself battling an unknown illness that doctors later found to be HIV. She contracted the disease from a man she was in a monogamous relationship with. Brown opened up to the world about her story in 2008 when her autobiography, The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive was published. Since her diagnosis, she has traveled around the U.S., Canada, Jamaica, Mexico South Africa and Rwanda and has spoken at over 100 colleges and universities nationwide about HIV/AIDS awareness. The 26-year-old is the CEO and an independent HIV consultant for Marvelous Connections.
Hydeia Broadbent
An international AIDS activist, Hydeia Broadbent has literally dedicated her entire life spreading the message about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. She was abandoned at birth and diagnosed as HIV-positive which advanced to AIDS by age 3. Her prognosis was that she would not live past the age of 5 but now at 26-years-old, she has clearly defied the odds. She debuted as an HIV/AIDS activist and public speaker at 6-years-old and by the time she was 12, Broadbent had appeared on national programs, spoke at a number of universities and has been featured in prominent publications. In 1996, she spoke about AIDS at the Republican National Convention. Today, she continues to be a speaker and activist, educating women between ages 13-35. Broadbent teamed up with Purple W.I.N.G.S, a non-profit youth development organization, as the HIV/AIDS program facilitator to educate young women in Las Vegas about abstinence and HIV/AIDS.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
Magic Johnson was on top of the world as the star point guard who helped the Los Angeles Lakers acquire five championships during the 1980s until his career came to an abrupt halt. In Nov. 1991, Johnson called a press conference to announce he was retiring from the game because he was HIV-positive. After retiring from basketball, Johnson became a national spokesman on HIV and urged young people to practice safe sex. Also that year, he established the Magic Johnson Foundation to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and improve the quality of life for individuals and families who have been affected by the disease. In 2006, Johnson entered a $60 million partnership with Abbott Laboratories to cut AIDS rates in African American communities by 50% within five years.
Nelson Mandela
Since retiring from the South African presidency in 1999, Nelson Mandela has been committed to the fight against AIDS. According to AVERT, an international HIV and AIDS charity, as of 2008 there were 5.7 million people living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa. In addition, there’s been 350,000 people that have lost their lives to AIDS. Mandela has given numerous speeches on combating AIDS, including at the International AIDS Conference. In 2003, he lent his support to the 46664 AIDS fundraising campaign, which was named after his prison number. But the disease hit close to home when Mandela’s son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS in January 2005.
Common
Since 2004, Common has been a part of the Viacom and Kaiser Family Foundation’s “Knowing Is Beautiful” movement, which encourages young people to undergo HIV testing through public service announcements, television and radio programming, and free print and online content. The television segments showcase the importance of getting tested through original spoken word poetry written and performed by the Grammy Award-winning artist. He has personally felt the impact of the disease because an uncle was diagnosed with HIV. Common has said that since he is a true advocate of taking care of and loving ourselves, it was important for him to get involved to show people that the disease doesn’t affect just a single race or sexual orientation.
Phil Wilson
The fight against AIDS is personal for Phil Wilson, who is openly gay and learned in 1980 that he was HIV positive. His partner died of AIDS nine years later. Since then, Wilson has worked extensively to “end the AIDS epidemic” by serving in a number of leadership positions throughout the 90s, such as the AIDS Coordinator for Los Angeles and co-chair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission. He’s also been involved in the founding of a variety of AIDS service organizations and community-based organizations, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the National Minority AIDS Council and the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum. In 1999, Wilson founded the Black AIDS Institute, the sole national HIV/AIDS think which that focuses exclusively on Black people.
Rae Lewis-Thornton
Rae Lewis-Thornton had aspirations for a career as a political strategist, having served as the national youth director for the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns. But she had to forgo that budding career when at 23 years-old she was diagnosed with HIV in 1986. Lewis-Thornton learned her status from the Red Cross, to whom she had donated blood. In 1994, she took one of the most courageous moves of her life when she publicly revealed her status on the December 1994 cover of Essence magazine. In the mid 90s, Lewis-Thornton served as a contributing editor for WBBM-TV, a CBS owned and operated television station for an ongoing series of first person stories on living with AIDS, for which she received an Emmy Award. She has also designed and handcrafted a line of fashion bracelets called The RLT Collection. Today, Lewis-Thornton serves as an ordained Baptist minister.
Alicia Keys
After a trip to Africa in 2003 where she witnessed the impact AIDS can have, including orphaning children, devastating communities and stifling economic progress, Alicia Keys, along with her friend and longtime AIDS activist Leigh Blake, founded Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit dedicated to providing AIDS medication and support services to children and families who have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. KCA has raised millions of dollars and as of 2009, saved an estimated 45,000 lives. A global ambassador for KCA, Keys has led many well-known media initiatives, including the most recent Buy Life campaign, where people can scan a “Buy Life” bar code using the cellphone apps Stickybits or WiMO to provide medicine, food and shelter to those in need due to the disease. Keys is also the host of the annual Black Ball held twice a year in New York and London, which brings celebrities and philanthropists together to raise funds.
