Jay Holloway:
Tonight we'll talk about why African-Americans account for 59% of the total cases of AIDS here in North Carolina. I'm Jay Holloway:. Join us next on Black Issues Forum to find out more about what you can do. [MUSIC]

Jay Holloway:
Good evening and welcome to Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay Holloway:. On tonight's program we begin a two-part discussion on a North Carolina health crisis, AIDS and prostate cancer. Tonight is part one and with the discussion on AIDS and HIV, a subject that has become an epidemic here in North Carolina and specifically in the African-American community. In North Carolina the cumulative number of reported AIDS cases from the beginning of the epidemic in 1981 through June of 199 4 is 5,083 and 785 cases have been reported in North Carolina over the previous year. Tonight we have a studio audience composed of health care professionals, community workers, church members and just plain interested citizens. In our panel is Mr. Ashley Rogere, Executive Director of Cape Fear Regional Bureau for Community Action. Welcome, Mr. Rogere. AR: Thank you.

Jay Holloway:
All right, and Mr. Darrell Iverson:, Director of the Simon Group in Durham, North Carolina. Thank you both for being on the program.

Darrell Iverson:
Thank you.

Jay Holloway:
We're going to talk about AIDS tonight. And AIDS has certainly been in the news and has seen a lot of publicity but why does it and does it continue to have such an impact on African-Americans here in North Carolina and around the country? Either of you. AR: Well, primarily one of the reasons why HIV and AIDS is so prevalent in our community is, you've got to remember, during the very inception of this disease, this illness, most people were very judgmental, very insensitive to different subcultures within the cultures. Even in the African-American community we said it was a gay disease. We talked about Sodom and Gomorrah. And the spiritual community, no matter what faith, has not been involved, whether it's the Christian or the Islamic faith, etc. - ha ve not been involved totally. Secondly, the disease is spreading so rapidly because of economics. Whether it's AIDS or any other chronic illness in the community, if you are poor, indigent, without proper health care then therefore you're going to not get the proper medical attention. Thirdly, one problem that we have - you've got to remember last year 75-77% of the newly-diagnosed cases of HIV in this state are the people who actually went and took the HIV antibody test. Seventy-five to 77% in that range of the people newly diagnosed were African-Americans. So one of those reasons is because of drugs, substance abuse. Another reason is because a great number of our men in the community are bisexual. Now let me state that this is not a gay disease. We know that the fastest-growing group of people becoming infected are child-bearing women and adolescents. And another group becoming infected because of certain risk behavior factors. But you've got to remember that the bisexual community, specifically, black men, do not deem themselves as being gay. We don't have programs in this state. We have one or two programs t hat get grant money to go out and do outreach to people in the community that are the gay population but we don't have many. And we need to target gay men of color more. Many of the people that are diagnosed HIV infected are seen in the community and my staff of volunteers, many of these men who are HIV positive don't classify themselves as being gay. They say through heterosexual transmission that was false. They got it through bisexuality, having sex with a man __________________ that can affect that African American woman. And that is a hidden statistic that people do not want to talk about. Many of those statistics that you see are statistics whereby the people actually were gay men that infected these child-bearing age women and this is a touchy subject that many people don't talk about but it's true. So if you talk about those things, those are factors, economics. And one other thing is that we don't have the right people making the decisions. Thank god for programs like the community based organization I head up and the minister here and we've got D____________ and Adolescent Connection. And other programs across the state that are making their difference. Reverend Ed White, Mt. Sinai -- we have grass root community based organizations now that are making the decisions and policies in our community. Previously we didn't have that. We still have to get a round table more and make our own decisions and do for ourselves and power our own people and, therefore, go at the table and they give us the grant money and we do this. In the past programs have been ran and implemented by our white friends, and we now need to have our own programs, be independent, do for ourselves and our own community and then go to them for assistance.

Jay Holloway:
Okay, I understand that we've got a lot of people in the audience that represent some of those organizations you're talking about. Iverson: he mentioned as one of the reasons that our spiritual community had not been involved, and you're doing just that. Tell us about what you're doing and why you think it's still a problem.

Darrell Iverson:
Well, I think that in the beginning that the media played up a lot that it was a gay white man's disease and that's what our community kind of took hold of. I remember conversations about AIDS and people saying, "Well, thank god it's not us this time." It was thought of to be a gay white man's disease, so when you think about doing prevention from the time that the gay white community was doing prevention activities, education being the key to preventing, we didn't do that ecause we didn't perceive it to be a problem that we had. And when it became more known in the churches of course the issue of homosexuality being such a taboo subject in the faith community and such a heartfelt and oftentimes anger provoking conversations around the issues of homosexuality, believing that it's a homosexual disease and that homosexuality is a sin above sins caused a lot of churches to not even want to talk about the issue and not even expect that they could do anything because they're not in contact with that population, that culture, and that sort of thing. So there's a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings among the faith community and a lot of bad feelings from the gay community and the injection drug using community about the faith community and the faith community not being as active as it should have been to help them with whatever the problems are.

Jay Holloway:
But you think that's improving now?

Darrell Iverson:
It is slowly but surely with programs that are being implemented, especially in North Carolina, through the HIV STD control section helping a lot of faith organizations to do things like the black church week of prayer for the healing of AIDS and with groups like Teens Against AIDS and there are a number of entities that are coming together and working in their own areas to try to get the prevention message out to their constituencies. Black churches have a captive audience every Sunday and if we can do AIDS prevention, education from the pulpit then we can reach a lot more people and the more that we do it that we hand out literature and talk about it from the pulpit the better we'll be able to educate our community about the issues concerning HIV and AIDS.

Jay Holloway:
Let's do this now and take a look at a piece that Sonia Williams: did here at UNC-TV on AIDS. She looked at a case, particularly in Durham. And we'll come back and talk more about that and talk with some of our audience members. Let's take a look at this.

Male Voice:
I found out in 1988 in Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville, NC on October 11 exactly 2:00 in the afternoon.

Sonia Williams:
What was that like for you?

Male Voice:
Very disturbing, very -- I got a little sicker.

Sonia Williams:
1988 is still vivid in Robert Arrington's memory right down to the day and the hour doctors said he tested positive for HIV. Now eight years later Robert's health is deteriorating. He now has full blown AIDS.

Male Voice:
Me being a gay African American man living with AIDS is very hard, and I have to look out for that whole community.

Sonia Williams:
But the virus is an epidemic that's affecting every segment of society, particularly African Americans. In North Carolina, AIDS is the number one killer of black men between the ages of 15 and 44. It's second only to cancer for black women of the same age group.

Female Voice:
The problem is that a very huge problem and there is approximately four to six times the rate of AIDS/HIV in African Americans as it is to the white population. It's just growing much faster and affecting men and women, babies, and even adolescents as well as the little bit older group it's starting to appear in the African American community.

Sonia Williams:
Larger counties like Mecklenburg, Wake, and Cumberland lead the state in the number of HIV and AIDS cases overall. Areas like Guilford and Durham counties aren't far behind. Durham county is one of the areas hardest hit by this disease. Experts say the HIV and AIDS rates here are three times the state average.

Female Voice:
Durham has the highest per capita rate of AIDS of all the 100 counties in North Carolina, so we do have a high rate here, higher than average.

Sonia Williams:
Susan Sacks is the executive director of the Piedmont HIV Health Care Consortium. One of the 15 regional HIV health care consortia in the state. Its purpose is to fund and coordinate outpatient health care and support services to people living with HIV. Sixty to seventy-five percent of the clients they see are African American.

Female Voice:
I'm not sure exactly what the reasons are. My sense is that there are a couple of things. I think one reason is that the community has not really come forward and been willing to embrace the disease.

Female Voice:
We have a drug problem in North Carolina in Durham and that has to do again with social economics, the down and out and the people who don't make good choices because of not long-term goals and outlook. They kind of want satisfaction just right then and there and to say that the AIDS virus could kill you in seven to ten, twelve years. It seems like a long time away.

Sonia Williams:
Another reason is the distrust some African Americans have for doctors. Many say this stems from the Tuskeegee experiment, which began in the 1930's. That's when doctors studied black men infected with syphilis by taking blood samples from time to time but offered no treatment for these men.

Male Voice:
African Americans as a whole are afraid to trust the government period on just about everything but especially with sticking needles in their bodies.

Sonia Williams:
While doctors and AIDS activists work to dispel myths and calm fears of the medical community, they still say denial is their biggest obstacle.

Female Voice:
There is denial in the upper middle class white community too. But that it could hit them or affect their loved ones. There is denial but historically they've been in denial in the black community.

Sonia Williams:
And that's where people like Robert step in to give young African Americans a reality check.

Male Voice:
But I tell them that just don't play, and I really tell my life story and that kind of shakes them up a little bit. I'm taking about ten pills now. And before it's all over with the new drug I'm taking I think it's going to go up to about 26. But that's really is not a whole lot comparing to -- I got a friend right now who takes almost 60 pills a day.

Sonia Williams:
That Robert considers himself one of the lucky ones, he's seen over two dozen of his friends suffer and die from this disease. All the more reason for him to fight for his own life and for the lives of others.

Male Voice:
Please go out and get tested. Understand from someone who is living with this disease, who has prepared himself for death, who wakes up every morning facing the possibility of death, to understand and look at me not as a gay man, but look at me as a child of god, who I am, and see that this disease is really true. It's nothing to play with. Magic Johnson and some other athletes are showing that they're coming down with this, so we really need to get ourselves together. But one thing we need to understand is we need to get knowledge and you do need to be treated earlier so you can survive so you can live.

Jay Holloway:
Thank you, Sonia Williams: with UNC for that feature. It certainly gave us another outlook of the problem throughout our state, as well as right here in North Carolina in Durham County here. Also James Wise you are co-chair of the North Carolina Minority AIDS and Health Advisory Coalition. Tell me about that and what have you been able to see from your viewpoint around the state with this problem of AIDS.

James Wise:
Well, the coalition consists of 15 community based organizations that target people living and educating people living with the virus across that state from the coast to the mountains. I think that one of the good things about this coalition is that we have come with a new way of educating the folk in our community. Traditionally folks have gone to the drug stores or gotten pamphlets when they've gone to see the doctor. But what we do we do door to door street outreach educatio n to our communities, to our civic groups and now with the new initiative with the churches we hope that this will be a thing that turns the tide of this disease in our community.

Jay Holloway:
You agree with the reasons our panelists mentioned about why we still have this problem with the economic, spiritual, as well as the substance abuse situation?

James Wise:
I do.

Jay Holloway:
Have you seen any other solutions in terms of reducing the statistics?

James Wise:
Well, I have to agree with Mr. Rogere that we have to take control of what goes on in our communities. In other words we need the dollars in our community to do the things that we know are needed in our communities. Our communities vary from region to region. What's happening in the rural community is not always the factor of what's going on in our urban areas, so this coalition has come together to address all of these problems and of course we want the state and federal agenc ies to put the money in the community and let the leaders of the community and the community-based organizations start the programs that are needed and to educate these folk.

Jay Holloway:
Mr. Rogere, you talked about the fact of the federal government -- he just touched on dollars -- and prostate cancer -- the American Cancer Society is leading one of the efforts of educating and organizing people. Is there a similar organization in North Carolina that is doing that statewide? AR: Concerning?

Jay Holloway:
AIDS. I'm just giving the analogy. AR: Okay. The organization in North Carolina that he mentioned the minor health and advisory council which consists of 15 community-based organizations, that is one program state-wide from coast to coast. Our program now saw a need to encompass six other rural counties.

Jay Holloway:
But do you work together? I guess that's what I'm getting at. AR: Yes, we definitely work together because if we don't work together and empower one another then we're divided and that traditionally you've got to remember in African American community has been one of our problems, whether it is politics, whether it's a social problem in the community. We traditionally are a group of people who divide and that's the way in which we're being conquered. With this AIDS epidemic now you've got to remember we cannot get upset with the white gay community. They tradition ally originally in '77 or '78 when we started hearing about this mysterious illness politically got involved, began to lobby, began to get totally involved when it came to AIDS prevention and AIDS research. One reason why little black babies are getting assistance now when it comes to HIV and AIDS is because of the white gay community, but you've got to remember that the white gay community is very powerful politically. It's a well educated, very affluent group of men and therefore today most of the books are going to their community and that's why it's important for the different community-based organizations in this state to get involved. People like Senator Shaw of Fayetteville, Senator Lucas of Durham are totally involved. We have HIV/AIDS prevention bills in the house 551 a bill house 551 and __________________ 634 up in the senate and house now. It is important for the African American community to get involved with their legislative people to tell them it's important that we have more prevention money. The new people becoming infected again are child-bearing age women and teenage boys and girls of African American, so we have to get involved. And the only way we're going to do this is if we get involved totally in our community. And so, sir, what you just stated is something that is true. It's going to take all of us in the community to get together politically, economically and not just when it comes to AIDS -- the prostrate cancer or whatever and one thing is African American we wait until something happens before we do something about it.

Jay Holloway:
What about the black church? That's something that's controlled within the black community. You don't necessarily need the external support. But are the black churches working together? But how have you seen that effort around the state?

Darrell Iverson:
There is a faith initiative that is doing a lot of work across the state. The black church week of prayer for the healing of AIDS is a program that's been done in several areas of the state and it's a week of prayer that Mr. Rogere's organization has done. We work together. Networking is very important and that program is a very good tool to network to get to know other people who are doing AIDS prevention and compassionate care in our communities. AR: Also I would like to say -- I'm not trying to -- our program -- one thing I like about the Cumberland County, the Fayetteville area with our local churches we were the first program in the state of North Carolina to sponsor AIDS Sunday. This next year will be the seventh annual AIDS Sunday event. Harvey Gantt has been our keynote speaker two out of six times. They have never had a program of this magnitude in the Mecklenburg area and by coming to our AIDS Sunday event he got totally involved in AIDS prevention and AIDS research, which is very pivotal for us. This past year we had 24 churches in the Cape Fear region get totally involved. They spoke from the pulpit. We had ministers talking about abstaining from sex but realistically they talked about distributing bleach, talked about distributing condoms to people in the community that had not changed their lifestyles. So those things are very important but again I keep talking about empowerment. It's not just AIDS. It's total involvement in the community and we don't need to depend on our European friends to do this. We need to do for ourselves. We need to become independent self-sufficient and then go to our white friends for assistance in the community.

Jay Holloway:
You had a comment sir.

Male Voice:
Yes. My name is Pastor E. L. White from Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Thomasville and I wanted to share with you that we lead a faith initiative across the state of North Carolina. And we are doing workshops, seminars, training clergy all the way across the state. We do weeks of revival services and churches are definitely involved in the African American communities, so it's not that the churches are just sitting back doing nothing. The churches have been really active since 19 92.

Jay Holloway:
Great. Well, we've got a lot. We talked about the churches, the economic situation. Are the churches organizing this economic impact? Are they organizing the economic potential, I should say, to help with these needs?

Male Voice:
Well, there are a number of agencies in the communities that are doing work and funding themselves. One is called TRAIN: Triangle Interfaith Network, which provides compassionate care and social support to people living with HIV through care teams. Seven to ten people who come within a faith organization to help care for someone living with HIV. There are organizations like the ___________ Group which is completely volunteer and we get no funds. We pay for everything ourselve s, and we do our prevention and compassionate care advocacy in work in our community strictly out of our own pockets.

Jay Holloway:
Mr. Heron, you come from Duplin County, what are you all doing there about this initiative?

Male Voice:
We're starting to educate black adolescents and do counseling, transportation.

Jay Holloway:
Is your community supportive of those actions?

Male Voice:
No, because in the rural areas of North Carolina it's sort of like they -- men who partake in bisexual activity, they don't consider themselves being gay.

Jay Holloway:
So exactly what you're saying is a real problem in our rural community?

Male Voice:
There is a real problem.

Jay Holloway:
Well, what would you say to your colleagues because really this state is largely rural even though we have these urban areas. What would you say to your colleagues throughout the state now in the rural areas about this disease?

Male Voice:
I want everybody to come and to join on this and try contribute to stopping this disease.

Jay Holloway:
Well, one of the things I can say is that we will make the information available on our Website and at the end of the program we'll let everyone know how to get in contact with these organizations and what you can do. Mr. Rogere, you had a comment? AR: Something else I would like to say also is that our program receives only $88,000 in grant money, a little over $88,000. Our program could not last and I state to other community based organizations, specifically those that are run by African Americans is that is a very small amount of money. We have to -- our program gets a lot of private donations from the churches and businesses, fraternities and sororities. You must not depend on state and federal grant money. That money is going to dry up. Ou program could not run today if we had to depend totally on one grant. It is key for all community-based organizations to run their own programs to try to do away with grant funds. Grant funds should be used only temporarily until you can get more money from the community. What's going to happy though is the rural communities, like where he resides is not going to be able to get money until we can educate the churches and come together so he will be able to get some capitol also. But that's the key bec ause once you deal with the government over a long period of time they can dictate to you. They can tell you how to run your program. They key for us is our spiritual community, our churches.

Jay Holloway:
What is the key in the spiritual community?

Male Voice:
They key is to realize that we have mandate from our God to volunteer. 1) We must volunteer to help prevent the spread of HIV and to care for those who are living with HIV.

Jay Holloway:
Well, thank you so much. And thank you to our studio audience and thank you for watching our program tonight. And we invite you to watch Black Issues Forum every Friday night at 11:00 on UNC-TV. After having discussed or distanced ourselves from the AIDS epidemic for years, many African Americans in black churches across North Carolina are now recognizing that the disease is impacting our own community. AIDS is the leading killer of our state's black men between the ages of 5 and 44 and the second leading killer of black women in that age group. We hope that you are now more informed about AIDS and HIV and how you and your organization or your church can be more involved in preventing more cases and providing more support for those living with AIDS and HIV in North Carolina. Please contact us with your comments and if you would like for us to use or you would like to use this program or the series as a discussion guide in your community, your civic group, your classroom or church. Our telephone number is 919-549-7167 or you may e-mail us at bif@unctv.org or visit us on the World Wide Web at www.unctv.org/bif. You'll find information on past episodes and a lot of additional information on issues of concern to African Americans. Join us next week for part II of the North Carolina health crisis, when we talk about prostate cancer. Thank you again for watching Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay Holloway:. Have a blessed evening.