BLACK AMERICA MUST CONFRONT AIDS

It has been 25 years since we first learned of a disease that was
killing a handful of white, gay men in a few of our nation's largest
cities -- a disease that later became known as AIDS. But lulled by
media images that portrayed AIDS mainly as a white, gay disease, we
looked the other way: Those people weren't our people. AIDS was not
our problem. It had not entered our house.

We had our own problems to deal with, so we let those people deal
with their problem. But that was a quarter-century ago, and a lot has
changed. Now, in 2006, almost 40 million people worldwide have HIV,
and 25 million are dead. And most of those who have died and are
dying are black. That's not just because of the devastation the
pandemic has wreaked upon Africa.

The face of AIDS in the United States is primarily black as well. The
majority of new HIV infections here are black, the majority of people
who die from AIDS here are black and the people most at risk of
contracting this virus in the United States are black. AIDS is now in
our house. It's now our problem, and we must come up with solutions.

This week, a historic contingent of black leaders will attend the
16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto to put AIDS in our
community at the top of the national agenda. All of black America
must do the same. Every African-American must stand with us, take
ownership of AIDS and fight this epidemic with every resource we have.

I realize that what we are proposing may seem an overwhelming task.
But we know it can be done. When AIDS hit the gay community, its
members couldn't afford to wait for the government to save them;
instead they worked to save themselves -- in part by using tactics
and strategies out of our civil-rights playbook. AIDS is a major
civil-rights issue of our time.

We cannot wait for the government to come and rescue us either --
that help may never come. Part of our response must be to eliminate
the rabid homophobia that lives in our schools, our homes and
especially our churches. Our inability to talk about sex, and more
specifically homosexuality, is the single greatest barrier to the
prevention of HIV transmission in our community. Intolerance has
driven our gay friends and neighbors into the shadows. Men leading
double lives -- on the "down low" -- put our women at extreme risk.

We must also overcome our resistance to safer sex practices that can
help prevent the spread of AIDS, and we must ensure that our young
people know exactly what AIDS is and how to protect themselves against it.

For black America, the time to deliver is now:

Leaders must lead. The AIDS story in the United States is partly one
of a failure to lead. Prominent blacks -- from traditional ministers
and civil rights leaders to hip-hop artists and Hollywood celebrities
- -- must immediately join this national call to action to end the AIDS
epidemic in black America.

We must build a new sense of urgency in black America, so that no one
accepts the idea that the presence of HIV and AIDS is inevitable.

Black America must get informed about the science and facts about
AIDS. Knowledge is a powerful weapon in this war.

Black Americans must get screened and find out their HIV status. I
have -- it took 20 minutes and was bloodless and painless. Knowing
your HIV status and the status of your partner can save your life.

We're calling for a massive effort to address the disproportionate
impact this epidemic is having on black youth, women, injecting drug
users and men who have sex with men.

We must pressure our government and elected officials -- at local,
state and national levels -- to be far more responsible partners than
they have been. We must lift the federal ban on funding for
needle-exchange programs, which have been proven to slow the spread
of AIDS. We must also work with elected officials to promote
comprehensive, age-appropriate, culturally competent AIDS prevention
efforts that give young people the tools they need to protect themselves.

We must heed Martin Luther King Jr.'s warning, originally meant for
others but right for us now: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Julian Bond is a professor at American University and the University
of Virginia and chairman of the board of the NAACP.