Category Archives: people with AIDS in leadership
Prison Health News: Spring 2011 Issue Available for Download!
The spring issue of Prison Health News has been out for a few months — but it is such a good one, I hate to see it go! You can download it as a pdf for reading by clicking here, … Continue reading
Why Ideology Matters, and what the AIDS Movement Can Teach the Left about Organizing
Every day I read another depressing news article about how the lame duck Democrats are going to cut off unemployment checks for millions of people right before the holidays and keep Dubya’s tax cuts for the super-rich intact. And sometimes … Continue reading
Che Gossett on AIDS activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya’s legacy and the intersections between all movements for liberation
“For many low income, no-income and houseless, queer and trans people of color, the distance between prisons and pride parades is not a chasm but instead, overlapping terrain.” Continue reading
Filed under African Americans, criminalization of HIV, economic justice, gay and bisexual men, harm reduction, housing, imperialism/colonialism, New York City, people with AIDS in leadership, Philadelphia, police repression, prison, revolutionary strategies, Southern United States, stigma, trans and gender non-conforming, Uncategorized, war, women
Prison Health News is up and running again!
Prison Health News is a print newsletter read by thousands of people who are locked up in prisons and jails across the United States. It is produced by a Philadelphia-based collective of writers and editors, most of whom have been in prison and are living with HIV, and includes the work of imprisoned artists and writers. Continue reading
New York City’s HASA For ALL Campaign: Advocating for Homeless People With and At Risk for HIV
According to Sean Barry, co-director of NYCAHN, the problem is that “people who didn’t have an AIDS diagnosis and didn’t qualify for HASA because of that are dying because the bad conditions in the shelters worsen their health so quickly – before they can go through the bureaucratic process to get HASA benefits once they do get sick.” Housing Works estimates that 7,000 low-income people living with HIV would benefit from HASA For ALL, including an estimated 800 individuals in the shelter system.
“It took me two years to get on HASA,” Alan Perez, coordinator of the Legislative Action Group at GMHC, says. “I had to stop taking my meds just to get on it. A lot of people are doing something to get sick, especially people who are in the shelter system. They should be in permanent housing.” Continue reading
A Lone Activist Survives an Urban Shelter System
The people who work at the shelters put everybody in a classification that comes from Narcotics Anonymous – that you can’t manage your life so somebody has to do it for you. “You’re here, so you must have a problem. We’re gonna strip you down and build you back up, and we’re gonna make you the man that you couldn’t be.” They treat you like you’re on drugs, even if the problem is just that you’re having trouble with your wife, and you have a home, if you could just patch things up. People might have mental health problems, you might have HIV, or have had a disaster, like a fire. But I’m 45 years old – you can’t strip me.
I think people who work in this capacity need to listen. I would let people express themselves, and I think I would get a better response. Rather than “Shut up, let me tell you what I want you to do.” They provoke people. A guy could come there and be at his exceeding limit, and they’re not trained to notice anything like that. Something could trigger him, and he goes into a rage. I’ve seen suicides in the shelters. Continue reading
Solidarity Workshop: How to Do Activist Teach-Ins at a Homeless Shelter
Meet people where they’re at. You need to have a great deal of respect for the people there and what they’re dealing with. There’s a lot going on in their lives. Probably in the back of everyone’s mind, they’re thinking, “I don’t want to be in this shelter anymore.” So it can be hard to engage people in conversation. Maybe the last thing they’re thinking about is going to an action. But they’re probably already angry with the system. You need to find some way to talk about the issue that hits home. If you’re not talking about homeless issues, try to relate the issue you’re focusing on to something that’s happened in their lives. For example, if your demonstration is against higher co-pays for medicines, even if you’re homeless, you still have to pay them – and it’ll be even harder for you than for people with more resources. Continue reading
What Is Prevention Justice? Why a Mobilization?
HIV prevention programs are not handouts from the government – they are reparations, a redistribution of wealth, only a beginning of what’s needed to end the AIDS epidemic and the systemic injustice that fuels it. Continue reading
RESOURCES
November 2007 • Issue 7 Levels of HIV Prevention Intervention (2004, PDF) Anthony Morgan, now Director of Programs at the New York State Black Gay Network, explains the difference between individual- and structural-level prevention interventions. http://www.champnetwork.org/index.php?name=AnthonyM-10.27.04 Critical Analysis of HIV … Continue reading
Solidarity Workshop: Understanding Oppression Across Communities
November 2007 • Issue 7 AIDS thrives on injustice, inequality, and oppression. The epidemic disproportionately affects those who are marginalized and relatively powerless, including communities of color (most disproportionately African Americans), women, young people, trans and gender non-conforming people, gay … Continue reading
