After 30 years of the HIV pandemic, one might think that terms such as "community collaboration" and "community participation" would be commonplace among those fighting the disease. But in many communities across the country, this is not the case. In fact, the clock seems to be rolling back to the early days, when the opinions and actions of a small minority marginalized the voices of those who were most impacted by the global pandemic. Make no mistake: many people are indeed living longer with HIV disease as a result of improved treatments. But with all of the dynamic shifts in HIV treatment, prevention, and policy, it is especially disheartening -- and, we would say, dangerous -- that women, black gay men, people of color, heterosexual men, transgender individuals and, most notably, Black organizations still must fight to be heard by the decision makers who develop, implement, and allocate funding for HIV-related policies and programs.
The Occupy Wall Street movement went Uptown on Friday night, as more than 100 people filled the second-floor sanctuary at St. Philip’s Church in Harlem for the first general meeting of Occupy Harlem. Unlike their downtown comrades, those in attendance were mostly black and Latino, save for a handful of whites who sat and listened […]