TruthAIDS

Prevention Power Animated Intro

2011-01-12T21:34:00.001-08:00

Democracy Video Challenge Winner from Ethiopia

2010-10-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Democracy is important for health equity. Telling this truth requires creativity. The U.S. State Dept had their second annual Democracy Video challenge and one of the winners was Yared Shumete. Check out Yared Shumete's response to the challenge "democracy is..."

Team Afrika hits Washington D.C.

2009-10-05T17:02:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the AIDS Walk in D.C. and TruthAIDS was kindly invited to kick of a Truth Circle with Team Afrika courtesy of Frank Minja and Asteria Hyera. Check out their thoughts below on the event and the walk. These people are connecting dots and mobilizing participation.

Good People -

One in 20 adults living in Washington DC has HIV (most are people of
African descent)

More than 25,000,000 people are living with HIV in Africa

Thanks to everyone for a successful experiment in sharing, reflecting
and acting on the above facts.

10/2 Truth Circle at Safari DC -
We could not have planned this any better. It just so happened that
African Studies students at Howard University were also gathering at
Safari DC following their panel discussion on Africom - and so we
joined forces and had a wonderful animated discussion w 30+ young
people! Dr. Mehret navigated the crowd through many
pertinent topics including HIV testing and counseling (mostly lack
thereof), domestic violence, sex education, ABC policy, condom use,
teenage pregnancy and mental health. It was an inter-generational night of Diasporic conversations in Washington, D.C.

10/3 AIDS Walk Washington DC - Viva Afrika!
The weather was a gorgeous 75 degrees, even though the forecast had
predicted 20% chance of morning showers! The theme for Team Afrika was
generation next, with one third of our 20 walkers being under 5! It
was a lovely family walk with Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda
and America represented. Shout out to Siaya for running the 5K under
20 min (go Kenya!) leaving plenty of time to join us for the leisurely
walk! Speaking of generation next, below is a peek at why you should
all plan to walk with us next year (early October 2010). Please mark
your calendars ..

Aluta Continua! Viva Afrika!

Asteria Hyera & Frank Minja
Co-Captains Team Afrika

TruthAIDS Ethiopia

2009-07-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Check out the first entry from the TruthAIDS Ambassador to Ethiopia who functions as our project officer!

TruthAIDS was invited to participate in a two day national conference in Addis Abeba to discuss the staggering problem on child abuse, rape, molestation and the courts bail system. I was among judges, police commissioners, lawyers, and city and regional representatives of the lower and higher circuit courts in the country. The conference was led by African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) who commissioned its legal arm, Children Legal Protection Center (CLPC) to do a study on the legal procedure on crimes committed against children. The center's finding were shocking, to put it in milder terms. The study, that surveyed court cases in four regions, showed that 2 out of 3 sexual crimes committed against children never get solved. The survey indicates, though not the main reason, the lack of integration between the police and the courts as one of the reasons for these cases not to be solved. The majority of unsolved cases in the regions surveyed are due to bail. The criminals simply disappear after posting bail. The center also pointed out lack of evidence as the other reason for cases to go unsolved.

Though the government's and court's efforts to protect children are commendable, the task ahead is clearly daunting. Tougher laws must be placed and every criminal should be punished up to the maximum penalty that the law permits. I am hopeful that the courts decision to deny bail based on the severity of the crimes and to treat each case individually will curb the outrageous stats presented by the center. It was also satisfying to hear rape against minors carries a minimum 15 years prison term.

Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
truthAIDS Ambassador to Ethiopia

Remembering Thembi Ngubane

2009-06-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Thembi Ngubane was a brave 24 year-old HIV positive young South African woman who passed away last week. She recorded an AIDS diary in 2006 that was broadcast by NPR to over 50 million listeners in the U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K. and her native South Africa. The themes she touched on in the diary are about profoundly common human experiences. "She was smart and perceptive and self-reflective in a way that many people aren't," says Mr. Richman, who won an Overseas Press Club Award for the broadcast. Her story galvanized many to act in the service of others in South Africa and around the world. She is a great example of how one person's story can inspire others to serve. For more about her, please check out the WSJ article "Young South African Women's AIDS Diary Touched Millions of Listeners", 6/13/09.

Health and Human Rights

2009-05-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

Come learn about health and human rights this Friday, June 5, 2009 at the First South Los Angeles Health and Human Rights conference. TruthAIDS will be presenting on the housing and health panel.

Check out the website for details:

http://www.southlahealthandhumanrights.org/index.html

Zip Code Matters More for Health Than Genetic Code

2009-04-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

There was great article posted last week from the Senior Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the importance of place and context in the health. TruthAIDS supporters you know the story but just in case you missed this article. Check it out below:

Why Your ZIP Code May Be More Important to Your Health Than Your Genetic Code
This commentary by James Marks, M.D., M.P.H., originally appeared April 23, 2009, on The Huffington Post.

How you see a problem drives how you create the solution.

We are not a healthy country. And while health reform focuses on coverage, cost, access and care, this is simply triage to a system that fails to ask the question "Why aren't we healthier in the first place?" Our health reform debate is focusing on where health ends (with medical care) and not on where our health begins (where we live, learn, work and play).

This month, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America released a report about all of those other things. This report comes out of a bi-partisan commission created to look at the factors that affect Americans' health in our homes, our work environments, and our communities. In wonky terms, we call these factors "social determinants of health." In plain English, the Commission's purpose was to look for ways beyond medical care that could improve our health.

What do we mean by "beyond medical care?" There is a ton of evidence that shows where and how people live, learn, work and play has a tremendous impact on our health. And while this link may seem intuitive to most, the extent of the relationship is not reflected in either the way we consider our own health or the way we go about creating solutions to make us a healthier nation as a whole.

Let us consider just a few facts:

*
Evidence now suggests that medical care accounts for only 10 to 15 percent of preventable early deaths.
*
Some Americans will die 20 years earlier than others who live just a few miles away because of differences in education, income, race, ethnicity and where and how they live.
*
College graduates can expect to live five years longer than those who do not complete high school.
*
Middle-income people can expect to live shorter lives than higher income people, even if they are insured.
*
And people who are poor are three times more like to suffer physical limitations from a chronic illness.

In other words, as it relates to our health, our ZIP code may be more important than our genetic code, our school files may be more telling than our medical files, the time spent in our office at work may be more relevant than the time spent at our doctor's office and the places we play may be more crucial than those where we get treated.

Even when we do consider these social factors, we too often place an unfair burden on personal responsibility and ignore the obstacles that stand in the way for some to make healthier choices. Consider that Detroit, an area of 139 square miles and over 900,000 citizens has just five grocery stores. An apple a day may help keep the doctor away but that assumes you can find an apple in your neighborhood.

As we begin to explore new ways to improve this country's health, we should look for inspiration from innovative programs around the country that are finding sensible, sustainable solutions at the intersection of health and daily life.

Take for example a program like Bonnie CLAC (Car Loans and Counseling), which is built on the premise that how you get around affects your ability to live a healthier lifestyle. Reliable transportation can mean the difference between keeping and losing your job, being able to take your kids to the doctor and make it to a grocery store that sells healthier food. Bonnie CLAC is helping the working poor purchase fuel-efficient cars at great prices and low interest rates, while providing them with crucial financial counseling. This counseling not only helps them make the payments but also show how changes, like quitting smoking, can help their financial bottom line and be good for their health. If only our banks had taken a similarly responsible approach to home lending, we could have avoided the sub-prime mess that has had a devastating domino effect in creating more Americans who are vulnerable to financial difficulties and subsequent poor health.

As we consider health reform in 2009, let's think about the neighborhoods and towns in which we all live, and ask ourselves: What are the barriers standing in the way to better health and how can health reform change the places we spend our lives to make them healthier places in which to live?

Take a look around you and ask yourself "where does health really start?" Is it in the hospital or the home? Is it with insurance company or your employer? Is it with an ambulance driver or an urban planner?

Only when we answer these questions honestly and see our health problems more clearly in this broader context, will we begin the real work to create and invest in solutions that help us all live as long and as healthy as we can.

James Marks, M.D., M.P.H., is currently the senior vice president, director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is former assistant surgeon general, director of the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

David the Piano Player

2009-04-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

The trailer for David the Piano Player screened at the New York Academy of Medicine's conference on housing, health and serial displacement yesterday. It was very well received. David's story teaches volumes about dignity and how to heal from trauma. Many thanks to the talented editor and co-producer Sabrina Gordon, of Vespertine Media and Film Productions, DP/post-production supervisor Amir Ebrahimi of Metric Nine Productions, and Tiona McClodden (second camera) for signing on to make this project possible.

Please stay tuned for updates on this project which will be complete by Summer of 2009. I can't wait to share it with all of you.

TruthCircle Los Angeles

2009-03-31T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles-based TruthAIDS team, spearheaded by the poet Lily, recently held a TruthCircle for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness day. Lily wrote the following about the event on her blog (lilyliketheflower.blogspot.com):

I recently hosted a TruthCircle event at Mecca Hair Studios in Los Angeles. To provide some background, the TruthCircle is designed to promote honest communication and offer the opportunity for women to share their stories and learn from others experiences. Ultimately, the goal is to identify alternative ways to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its effect on the population most vulnerable to it - women. Ideally a TruthCircle would take place with an all female audience, but the first TruthCircle Los Angeles was different to say the least. Firstly, it was coed with men outnumbering women. Secondly, because it was hosted at a local beauty salon and community hub, we actually had walk-in participants! Overall, it was an enlightening experience and offered the chance the hear answers to controversial TruthCircle questions such as "Are you sexually satisfied" and "Have you ever had sex when you did not want to?" from a man's perspective. Ladies, I must tell you these are questions that we should not only be answering ourselves but asking the men in our lives. The vast difference in the answers can be mind boggling. My key takeaways from the event are as follows:
1) As women, with our emotional and physiological vulnerabilities, we (when I say we I mean me too!) have to be more aware of the choices that we make and their potential outcomes
2) Men think very differently than women, especially when it comes to sex. Relying on a man to put our safety and feelings on any list of priorities is not likely in a casual dating situation and many times not even in what a woman would consider a "committed relationship"
3) We absolutely have to keep up the open and honest communications! I learned so much and look forward to the next opportunity to share! Have a TruthCircle with your girlfriends or visit http://www.truthaids.org/ to find a TruthCircle near you.

Social vulnerabilities and HIV prevention

2009-03-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about who is responsible for addressing social vulnerabilities. This is a big question. My answer, in short, is everybody! Professionals, researchers, concerned citizens, advocates, and infected communities all have a stake to claim.

Poverty, homelessness, racism, sexism, violence and homophobia are all forms of social vulnerability that predispose communities to ill health. These problems are not specific to HIV prevention and are rooted in long histories of oppression. So then the question becomes, how do we get free? We start by not repeating mistakes from the past and focusing future efforts on collective emancipation. The operative word being collective. You don't need to be an expert to start addressing social vulnerabilities. In the words of Arthur Ashe: "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

I touched on these issues while speaking on a CHAMP community forum panel last fall that was focused on HIV prevention. Check it out below. If you still have questions... you know where to find me.

Welcome Ebon!

2009-03-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

TruthAIDS artisans are a group of artists we collaborate with to help us communicate community-based health lessons. Our newest member to the team is Ebon Heath.

Ebon Heath lives and works in Brooklyn New York and received his BFA, in Graphic Design, from Rhode Island School of Design. In 1993 he founded (((stereotype))) , a design studio focused on music packaging, magazine layout, and fashion advertising. Clients varied from the urban fashion pioneer Tripe 5 Soul, Puffy’s Bad Boy Records, to independent magazine Stress, as well as cultural institutions like the African Burial Ground, Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and promotions for the Nike NYC Swoosh Campaign.
He subsequently co-founded Cell Out in 2003, a consultancy that develops issue-based media strategies for non-profits, NGO's and brands. He is currently a adjunct professor in Graphic Design at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York.

Ebon will also be joining our advisory board and bringing his expertise in design to advise on all TruthAIDS projects. We are incredibly lucky to have him.

Please check out his incredible work: www.listeningwithmyeyes.com

Welcome Trina!

2009-03-19T10:10:00.001-07:00

Using media to connect the global and local is the expertise and creative vision that our newest Board Member, Trina DasGupta, brings to the table. We are so grateful she has joined the TruthAIDS family.

Trina DasGupta is a new media & youth marketing consultant, currently working with South Africa’s largest youth NGO, loveLife, to develop media-based engagement models to address the social determinants of HIV. On this project, she has also created the world’s first cell phone-based social network dedicated to youth empowerment & HIV prevention. Trina’s other clients include the Kaiser Family Foundation, Voxiva Inc., Going.com, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Democracy Institute, and the Democratic National Committee’s “Trailblazers” Young Trustee Program.

Prior to consulting, Trina worked for MTV Networks as the Manager of Integrated Marketing & New Business Development, developing creative concepts that brought in over $31 million in new revenue in less than two years. In this role, her clients included Coca Cola, Cingular/AT&T,
Dunkin’ Donuts, Intel, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Sharpie, and Starburst, among many other top consumer brands. She has also worked on Viacom and MTV International’s sexual health campaigns, Know HIV/AIDS and Staying Alive.

Stop AIDS in Prison Act Passes

2009-03-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

House Passes Congresswoman Waters' Legislation to Prevent Spread of HIV/AIDS

PRESS RELEASE

March 17, 2009 Contact: Michael Levin

For Immediate Release (202) 225-2201

HOUSE PASSES CONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS’ LEGISLATION

TO PREVENT SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS

Washington, DC – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Stop AIDS in Prison Act (H.R. 1429), legislation introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), a longtime leader of Congressional efforts to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Stop AIDS in Prison Act requires the Bureau of Prisons to test all Federal prison inmates for HIV upon entering prison and again prior to release from prison, unless an inmate opts out of taking the test. The bill also requires HIV/AIDS prevention education for all inmates and comprehensive treatment for those inmates who test positive.

“The Stop AIDS in Prison Act will help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among prison inmates and will protect people in the general community from transmission,” said Congresswoman Waters.

Original cosponsors of the Stop AIDS in Prison Act include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over federal prisons.

The legislation also has the support of many health advocates. “AIDS Action, and our diverse nationwide membership of community-based HIV/AIDS service providers and public health departments applaud Congresswoman Waters’ efforts to combat the HIV epidemic within federal prisons and address the public health threat it poses to our nation,” said Ronald Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of AIDS Action, a leading national organization dedicated to shaping public policy related to HIV/AIDS.

The Department of Justice reported in 2005 that the rate of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons was three times higher than in the general population. This legislation is designed to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS within prison as well as lessen the spread of the disease in the general community following the release of infected prisoners.

Congresswoman Waters first introduced the Stop AIDS in Prison Act during the 109th Congress. She reintroduced it in the 110th Congress, and it was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee. However, the full Senate did not complete action on the bill prior to adjournment.

Stop AIDS in Prison Act Passes

2009-03-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Center for Women & HIV Advocacy

2009-03-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

TruthAIDS has been filming a video narrative series with advocates from the HIV Law Project's Center for Women & HIV Advocacy. These women advocates have been incredibly impressive and have taken on the issue of comprehensive sexuality education. They recently released a press release calling on President Obama to specifically fund accurate and appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for all students. Check it out below:

New York, NY (March 10, 2009) – Schools across the country routinely fail to provide girls and young women with comprehensive sexuality education – the cornerstone to HIV awareness and prevention. Meanwhile, young people between the ages of 13 and 29 accounted for 34% of new HIV infections in 2006. As the Appropriations Act awaits Senate approval, and as President Obama crafts the details of his budget, the United States must change course and ensure that HIV awareness and prevention begins with comprehensive sexuality education for our young people.

“We are at a critical moment where the President and Congress have the opportunity to end ineffective and inaccurate abstinence-only-until-marriage programs,” says Tracy Welsh, Executive Director at HIV Law Project. President Obama has stated support for comprehensive sexuality education. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that she would redirect abstinence-only funds toward sexuality education. Yet, it appears that neither the President nor Congress is taking affirmative steps to educate our youth about HIV prevention.

The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009, passed by the House of Representatives on February 25, 2009 maintains over $94.6 million in federal funding for abstinence-only programs for the remainder of the fiscal year. As well, President Obama’s recently released budget does not directly mention comprehensive sexuality education. Privileging the abstinence-only agenda, while denying young people information that directly impacts their health and welfare, is irresponsible and short-sighted.

HIV Law Project calls on President Obama to specifically fund accurate and appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for all students. “Prevention programming must include comprehensive sex education that teaches young people how to prevent HIV transmission. If we miss this opportunity, we will fail our young people now and for generations to come,” says Ms. Welsh.

HIV Law Project believes that all people deserve the same rights, including the right to live with dignity and respect, the right to be treated as equal members of society, and the right to have their basic human needs fulfilled. These fundamental rights are elusive for many people living with HIV/AIDS. Through innovative legal services and advocacy programs, HIV Law Project fights for the rights of the most underserved people living with HIV/AIDS.

HIV Law Project’s Center for Women & HIV Advocacy is fighting for comprehensive sexuality education for students in New York and throughout the country.

girl Child

2009-02-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

The TruthAIDS family of artisans is growing. These artisans use their craft and talents to teach about lessons that heal. The newest addition to the family is Lily.

lily(like the flower), grew up in Compton, California and began writing poetry, songs and short stories at the age of ten. lily spends much of her time writing, promoting her first book girl Child (The Transition in Poetic Form) and hosting poetry/ self-expression workshops for at-risk youth. lily is currently working on her first spoken word album and a second collection of poetry.

As an author, poet and lyricist, lily's strong voice holds true behind the powerful message of acceptance and self-love that she promotes in her poetry and music. We will be using her book in the TruthCircle efforts as well as our National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness event scheduled in Philadelphia, NYC, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

About the book girl Child (The Transition - In Poetic Form)
girl Child puts into poetic verse a young woman's journey from adolescence to adulthood. girl Child's message is as honest and witty as it is empowering. For more information visit www.lilyliketheflower.com or www.amazon.com.

Congresswoman Barabara Lee at the 2008 International AIDS Conference

2009-01-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

Check out Congresswoman Barbara Lee's address on the U.S. HIV epidemic at the 2008 International AIDS Conference. This was the first time the United States epidemic featured so prominently at the International AIDS Conference. Global and local are finally colliding.

Girl Effect

2009-01-08T18:44:00.001-08:00

This video is produced by a great website called girleffect.org

It is connected to the last entry about empowerment and lists the various ways you can empower young women. Check it out!

Who feels it knows it

2008-12-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

I was recently on a panel about HIV and got asked a tough question about empowerment. The question was: “What does empowerment mean to you? What does it look like?” I gave an answer about jobs and economic security because those were the issues coming up over and over again in my work in Philadelphia. But I left the panel very unsatisfied with my response. My dissatisfaction was less at my ability to respond than at the limited constructs we have to understand the true meaning of empowerment.

Empowerment is an expansive topic. There is a totality about the phenomenon that is bigger than what any individual can see or say. That’s why it’s hard to explain. To understand empowerment we have to think collectively for the idea to fit in our world. I think ultimately it’s about freedom and having whatever you need to be free. In my case, my friends and family are critical.

An important aspect of staying free are supportive relationships. I just got a video from a kindred soul that prompted this blog entry. People can help keep you free. So part of what empowerment looks like to me is a web of nurturing relationships. Relationships that find you at the right time and at the right place. A lot of people don’t have this web. I would be lost without mine.

On that note, I have attached the video that inspired the lesson. Not surprisingly it is none other than Nina Simone. Enjoy and stay free…

99.5 WBAI Pacifica Interview

2008-12-11T16:01:00.001-08:00

Check out the link to the Women: Body and Soul interview from today by clicking here. I talked about All of Us, new HIV prevention messages and more. Thank you to the host, Nathalie Thandiwe, for inviting me.

Question about Lecture 1

2008-12-08T19:56:00.000-08:00

We just got a comment on the TruthAIDS site regarding video lecture #1 and I wanted to share my answer back to the following comment left by Jessica:

QUESTION: " I just wanted to share with you the experience i have had learning about
truthaids and show support in this movement to a more logical and realistic way
of combating STD's.... I really think that this idea of connecting aids and
STD's with underlying issues of violence and injustice is a powerful one. Along
with that, i am curious if whether or not this same concept could be applied to
other unsafe practices we (women, or even human beings) participate in that lead
to disease and destruction. I am wondering if the organization has extended
any of it's concepts to other STD'd that are lifelong such as HSV or HPV. Along
with that, the ideas of addiction and dependance that spawn from histories of
violence."

ANSWER: HIV is the first STD we have tackled and our approach to teaching about it as a justice issue with the general public is what we are learning all about. The connections between social justice and health apply to many issues, not just HIV. Creating a safe environment where peace is the norm, instead of violence would make us all healthier.

The best things in life happen COLLECTIVELY

2008-12-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

Happiness is a collective phenomenon. A new study came out showing that happiness is important to your health! This connection is all about the positive effects of people in your lives. Yet another reason why social context matters to your health. So keep grouchy people away!

For a review of the study please click here.

Inspiration

2008-12-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

The responses from the Showtime airing of All of Us across the country have been so awesome! I have no words to express the intensity of the email messages I have been receiving from young, old, men, and women. Thank you so much for the encouragement, support, blessings, and well wishes.

Fundamentally, the HIV epidemic is about the connection between health and human rights as well as the obligation we all have to serve. As the saying goes, "start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can." For all of you who never had a connection to HIV and are now inspired to be part of the movement, jump in. Here are some suggestions:

1) Call a local AIDS service organization in your neighborhood and get involved.
2) Register at www.truthaids.org and stay connected to us by taking our free online classes.
3) Get HIV tested and encourage a friend to do the same.
4) Try using a female condom if you never have. Practice makes perfect.
5) Hold a truth circle!

And just in case you need some more inspiration... check out MLK below:

Thank you SisterLove Inc.

2008-12-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

Chevelle and I spent World AIDS Day with SisterLove Inc. in Atlanta and were received with open arms. Our visit started out with a live radio interview with Dazon Dixon-Diallo on WRFG for their World AIDS Day programming and ended in an awards ceremony at the Shrine of the Black Madonna. We would especially like to thank the "hostess with the mostest" Debra Mlambo for housing us, feeding us, and catering to our every need. The night was beautiful. Thank you for creating such a tender and safe space for us to honestly share our thoughts and experiences on filming All of Us. It was also an honor to meet Dr. Biggers, an Atlanta-based physician/advocate who has devoted her career to HIV/AIDS. I have no doubt that women supporting women can change the world.

SisterSong National Membership meeting

2008-11-19T20:09:00.000-08:00

SisterSong National Membership meeting occurred over the weekend and I spoke on the panel about HIV as a reproductive justice issue. SisterSong is the longest standing Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective that is building a movement around reproductive justice. Daxon Dixon Diallo of Sister Love Inc. led the session and my co-panelists included Coco Jervis, Policy Director for CHAMP as well as Marsha Jones and LaCisha Crear of the Afiya Center.

The reproductive justice framework is an important integrated lense that makes it impossible to talk about empowerment of communities in isolation from their social networks. This is an important principle when considering women's health as well as the health of urban populations. Too often, discussions of risk are limited to personal responsibility messaging that completes misses the importance of the social context. Reproductive justice is an important frame for avoiding this pitfall.

My contribution on the panel was to report the outcomes of the Women of Color United meeting in Mexico City at the International AIDS Conference on behalf of Jacqui Patterson. The women in the session were energized by the dialogue concerning transnational solidarity and wanted to know how to advance the six step solidarity plan concerning the intersection of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. After the session many came up to me to try and strategize the ways in which they could support.

Washington D.C. Outreach

2008-11-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

Dr. Mehret and Chevelle took it to Washington, D.C. to spread the truth about what they learned in the South Bronx regarding HIV prevention, women, and filming All of Us.

University of Orange 2008 Course Announcement

2008-11-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

God Speaks: Philadelphia Voices Against Violence

2008-11-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

TruthAIDS has teamed up with Philadelphia-based filmmaker Makia Harper to develop a community education training guide for her film God Speaks: Philadelphia Voices Against Violence. Harper is an independent writer and filmmaker that produced/directed a one hour length documentary in less than one year! Her focus on solutions against violence that are up and running in Philadelphia present interesting public health solutions. We are honored to be working with Makia. Her film instructs defeating violence will take a village and we are excited to help build upon her efforts.

Rolling: A shining example of visual medical advocacy

2008-10-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Physician filmmakers are blazing a trail for visual medical advocacy and Dr. Gretchen Berland is at the forefront.

She spoke at University of Pennsylvania as part of a Roundtable on Visual Legal Advocacy and talked about her film Rolling. Rolling is a 71 minute documentary about patient-centered perspectives on wheelchair use that is creating a grass roots movement around issues of the disabled across the country.

Dr. Berland had a former career in TV production and insider knowledge about the traditional documentary-making process. In her former life she was a producer for MacNeil/Lehrer and NOVA. She entered medicine with the intent of putting her TV career behind her but the training revealed many misconceived notions about patients that slowly brought the need to document patient-centered perspectives.

Visuals are a powerful tool for accountability and with this in mind she gave cameras to the patients and empowered them to tell their own stories. In her documentary Rolling, the audience gets an unusually intimate perspective on what it means to be disabled. Dr. Berland not only gave editorial control to her patients but actually partook in an iterative editing process that involved them every step of the way over a two year period. Now that's commitment!

Dr. Berland recently spoke at a Roundtable on Visual Legal Advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania where she shared her thoughts and challenges in making the film. "The more control you give to the people you involve, the less of an issue it is," said Dr. Berland.

Dr. Berland is a shining example for what TruthAIDS hopes to do in teaching the public about health, and human rights. Her film aired on PBS this year and is available for free online at: ROLLING

"The website is bigger than me"

2008-10-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tiberah Teshai recently wrote an article about Dr. Mehret and TruthAIDS for an Ethiopian on-line magazine. Writing the article was a process that shed some light:

"Before I even wrote the article, I had to stop and think about it for days. Where to start...how to format it....there was a lot of information that people needed to know! After I read Dr. Mehret's responses, I felt something I never felt before. That's when it hit me that the website is bigger than me." -- Tiberah Teshai

That 'bigger than me' moment is how the personal becomes political. In that moment, all of our stories connect and remind us that a collective consciousness exists. The internet is a perfect platform for allowing the lessons that flow from this understanding to take shape and affect change.

Social change = No more business as usual!

2008-10-04T18:25:00.001-07:00

The economic meltdown on wall street is proof positive that unchecked greed and exploitation has a limit. The paradigm of "business as usual" has ended.

A recent article entitled "The politics of women and leadership" in the San Diego Tribune by Kavita Ramdas, CEO of the Global Fund for Women, problematizes the paradigm within the context of women's worldwide increasing involvement in social change. "As president of the world's largest women's fund that has quadrupled in size over the past eight years, I've witnessed firsthand how women worldwide are choosing to invest in social change," Ramdas writes.

Ramdas continues to state that women's involvement in social change comes with the obligation of making sure it is not done using business as usual principles:

"The daunting scale of world problems, from fast-moving health epidemics and climate change, to food insecurities and the current collapse of the global financial system, require major structural changes for their solution. It is not enough for women to aspire to have the same rights and access to power as men. Instead of simply demanding a place at the table, women must have the courage and imagination to chart a wholly different way of organizing economic and political systems grounded in principles of egalitarianism, human rights and ecological sustainability. "

TruthAIDS is hoping to help chart this different way by keeping equity, dignity, and respect central to all projects, and using solidarity as the framework for all partnerships. It will require a lot unlearning, but the time has come for the tough discussions and we are hopeful that higher ground lies ahead.

Stripped: Tripple Consciousness

2008-09-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

During the process of writing "Stripped" (which is a fictional one woman show based on the real life experiences of Dr. Mehret Mandefro), I was able to translate the powerful relationship between a doctor and two of her patients in the spirit of sisterhood. Although the doctor herself was not infected with HIV, her unrelenting quest to heal her patients became a very conflicting mental struggle. As she was searching to understand the voice of her patients, she was haunted by their memory and cries that went unheard. The line "one voice, one choice, one body to reclaim" clearly expresses the idea of sisterhood. When one of us is suffering, we all are. If one of us is drying of a disease that can be prevented, we all need to evaluate how we can begin making a collective preventative effort to heal our wounds and consciously make healthier choices.

Doctor Mandefro's movent through TruthAids touches my heart to the core because she understands the issue of women's struggles and oppression as being a universal problem. However, there is hope!!! The hope begins in unleashing power of sisterhood. After my first conversation with Mehret, I was left with a feeling of power and hope. By simply sharing our experiences as women, we immediately developed a common bond and sisterly connection. Half of the comfort came from knowing that we weren't alone in our desire to heal ourselves and each other. Sisterhood is contagious! As women, we all share the same spirit of nurturing, love, and strength. By sharing our stories of pain and triumph, our tears turn into laughter and begin to water the garden of healing and restoration!! Sisterhood already exists we just have to reach out and grab it, hug it and listen to it with our hearts!

It is an honor to be apart of the TruthAids movement. I look foward to using the arts as a way to tell the truth about women's struggles and the power of truth, love and sisterhood!!! God Bless!!

TruthAIDS Salutes 41 Million Strong Campaign

2008-09-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

TruthAIDS is part of the Women of Color United (WOCU) advocacy coalition which started the 41 Million Strong Election Campaign. The following is WOCU's official statement for the campaign:

The pandemics of HIV & AIDS and Violence Against Women (VAW) affect women in the Global South at alarming rates and disproportionately affect women of color in the Global North. There is both the need and the opportunity during the US 2008 election cycle for a campaign that seeks to educate constituencies and candidates on the issues of VAW and HIV & AIDS.

Women of Color United (WOCU) is implementing the 41 Million Strong Campaign, a campaign that seeks to mobilize the 41 million women of color in the U.S. to vote in the 2008 elections and to advocate for policies on behalf of women affected by VAW and HIV & AIDS domestically and worldwide. WOCU is a network of individuals and organizations that brings together grassroots constituencies of over 50,000 women voters nationwide. WOCU member organizations include survivors of violence, women living with HIV&AIDS, violence against women (VAW) survivor groups and service agencies, HIV & AIDS service and advocacy organizations, immigrant and diaspora groups, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, sororities, and other women’s groups.

Goal

Our goal is to increase involvement of women of color in the 2008 elections and to heighten public interest and engagement on Violence against Women (VAW) and HIV & AIDS in order to advocate for policies on behalf of women affected by these pandemics in the U.S. and globally.

Objectives/Intended Outcomes

The four main pillars of the campaign are as follows:

1. Increase voter registration among women of color
2. Increase voting among women of color
3. Increase awareness of the general public, and specifically among women of color, about two key issues that are at stake in the coming elections and that disproportionately affect women of color globally, VAW and HIV & AIDS.
4. Hold elected officials accountable to the commitments they have made around VAW and HIV & AIDS once the new administration is installed

Activities

1. Education of general public through direct action such as teach-ins and issue-based voter education at key events.
2. Dissemination of voter guide on candidates’ positions on VAW and HIV & AIDS for voter education purposes.
3. Dissemination of “I am a Woman of Color and I Vote” buttons, bumper stickers, pens, and T-shirts at various voter registration, Get-Out-The-Vote, and voter education activities.
4. Campaign-sponsored events including film series, speaker’s tours, and panel discussions where dynamics linking geopolitical inequity, feminist/womynist discourse, and racism in relation to VAW and HIV & AIDS can be explored and discussed.
5. Guidance on legal issues on allowable Election/Campaign work for 501(c)(3) organizations.
6. Toolkits for Women of Color United members and others to engage in voter registration, voter mobilization, and issue-based advocacy activities for the elections.
7. Monthly conference calls to provide technical assistance to Women of Color United members and others on voter registration, mobilization, and education efforts.
8. Web-based promotion of the activities of Women of Color United members and others participating in the 41 Million Strong Campaign.
9. Opportunities for dialogue and solidarity-building between domestic grassroots constituency groups and sisters in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.
10. Presentation of policy platform/slate of demands on VAW, HIV&AIDS, and the driving factors of the pandemics, to Presidential, congressional, and local candidates
11. Attendance at various candidate appearances and events to obtain commitments from candidates on VAW and HIV & AIDS.
12. Engaging Congressional Caucuses of Color – Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander, Congressional Black Caucus, and other Caucuses such as Human Rights Caucus and Women’s Caucus.
13. Educating politicians and subsequently holding them accountable to the commitments they have made through meetings with key individuals on their staff, grassroots organizing and advocacy, candidate questionnaires and publication of voter guide, and dissemination of information through various media outl

The Nonconverted: The Village Voice All of Us Review

2008-09-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

Telling the truth is tough business, and we you enter the public space, it gets tougher. The recent review in the Village Voice about All of Us asks:

"How effective are social-activist docs that don't entertain enough to captivate the non-converted? Brooklyn filmmaker Emily Abt's well-meaning, pro-feminist doc offers little new insight in seeking to raise awareness that black women are disproportionately at high risk for HIV infection (the leading cause of death among those 25 to 34)..." (Click here for full Village Voice review).

One thing about truth-telling is that there is often nothing entertaining about it. That is what makes it tough. The whole point of truth-telling is about the act of listening and creating safe spaces where people can listen to views that may be radically different from their own. This is what the Truth Circle is about. Creating a safe space where you can begin to have the converted and non-converted actually listen to one another in a respectful way without judgement, condemnation or attacks.

This is tough work. But sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. TruthAIDS is committed to communicating across all of these divides and taking the lessons learned to the next level. If we don't build on these lessons, we cannot connect the dots towards a movement

Truth Circle at International AIDS Conference about transnational solidarity

2008-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Regional Dialogue for Women of Color in the Global North
Women’s Networking Zone—International AIDS Conference
August 4th, 9:30am-10:30am

(notes courtesy of Jacqui Patterson)

Agenda
I. Introductions --Name, Country, Work in the Cause, Expectations/Motivations in coming to this session
II. Discussion Questions:
• Is it useful to have this space?
• What is your experience with race/ethnicity/indigeneity in relation to HIV&AIDS? How does race/ethnicity/indigeneity play out in your work? What is the relationship of these issues to advocacy? Does working on these issues present a unique challenge?
• What are the challenges across the groups, within and across diasporas?
• How do we expand transnational solidarity?

Participants
• 33 participants at peak.
• Countries represented: Mozambique, Guatemala, Uganda, Canada, South Africa, USA, Mexico, Swaziland.
• All female participants.

Discussion

Country Specific Commentary
A. Canada: The government has identified key populations and countries where HIV is endemic. What about immigrant populations and populations that have been settled for generations? This is a whole other set of impacts, especially with women in those communities. These groups are always a bit separated, funding wise. African Caribbean Council on Education in Canada has done a documentary. Canada has a National AIDS Strategy. Since it is institutionalized, it will be difficult to change. There were no WLWHIV groups involved in its development.

B. Guatemala: In Guatemala, a sister shared how women, indigenous women, women living with HIV&AIDS, link with national women’s movements and have been working together for 2 years. Women are empowered by turning private/community space into national spaces. Groups have organized and created a women’s secretariat as part of the first ladies’ office. Policy was developed in a participatory way with women from cities. They developed a national plan for women’s opportunities. Laws against femicide and VAW were developed which provided opportunities to make complaints and seek justice. There was the problem of impunity. Women who speak indigenous/languages not same language as the judge. The court has to speak the native language of communities. Women’s groups have been successful in advocacy. They are now reviewing global fund proposals through a women’s rights lens.

C. South Africa: Issues in South Africa include poverty, WR, women’s security, rural areas, land ownership, income, home based care, etc. In South Africa, large HIV orgs and women with HIV orgs don’t do much on violence. Violence groups don’t do much on HIV. Women with HIV are not being heard/recognized. The discourse and decision making on HIV continues to be very male dominated. People Opposing Women’s Abuse has been invited to participate in strategic planning processes on women and HIV. POWA then sought funding to help them to do work with women with HIV. However, they then had to cut back funding on WLWHIV issues. People talk about what women should do and how they should do it, but they don’t provide money to support. In South Africa, one study found that 80% of women living with HIV are positive due to violence.

D. USA: Women in the US are 30% of the epidemic, but are not 30% of those making decisions about policies and funding. Globally our common experience as women of color is being ignored/trampled by imperialists. The network of positive women is seeking to facilitate dialogue and organize leadership and action. Nationally we are moving forward. A lot of women are making decisions. However, we have a long way to go. Having a National AIDS Strategy would create more government accountability that we don’t have currently, yet we demand the same from other countries. People of color are 35% of the US population country, but 50% of the epidemic. 83-85% of the women who are HIV positive are women of color. African Americans are the hardest hit. We as WOC in the US are not as accountable as we should be. We must examine how we can be accountable to our sisters in the rest of the world? How can we work with and support each other? US individualism is a barrier to collaboration. The US has an opportunity, but not everyone sees it as such.

More Unites Us than Divides Us
A. What is common between countries? People think there is too much difference, so lessons and models are not transferrable.

B. One challenge is division within groups, as there is the issue of internalized racism which causes us to hate ourselves and distracts groups from working together. La lucha es la misma.

C. As members of various Diasporas, we move around from different countries and work in different lands. We have a lot to learn from each other.

D. There is a range of structural/institutional issues differentially impacting women of color globally that are not examined by those leading the discourse on HIV&AIDS

E. On a global level, as well as nationally (within countries) women tend to be less empowered and don’t know what’s going on at a broader scale.

Towards a Joint Action Agenda
A. This sort of dialogue doesn’t happen a lot/enough.
B. We have to create a movement to support women which is linked nationally, regionally, and globally.
C. We need to examine how policy issues play out on the ground and how do we integrate gender into policy. We need to change how policy is done. Currently policies are disconnected. Policy must be inclusive of women to make them feel a part of it. We need to help women to engage. We need women to understand policy spaces or politicians won’t know because we won’t be there to tell them. How are we using policy to ensure the claiming of our rights. Are we using the policy spaces enough?
D. We need to figure out jointly how to create public policies for rights defense.
E. Women from the global north should go and see how women from the global south work on their NAS.
F. Immigrants in the US with ties to various countries need to the shift dialogue.
G. We should hold a workshop to unify strategies. We must make efforts to forge relationships and create alliance as sisters working together globally. If we work together we can achieve greater results.
H. We must begin communication and sharing amongst us. Cultures have many similarities and we need exchanges to understand how people function. There is so much in common in India, South Africa, etc. We as women of color look at research differently. We need to document what women are saying.

Next Steps:
• As a concrete next step, a participant issued an invitation to participants in the Latin American region to join the Women Won’t Wait Coalition which is active in Brazil, Guatemala, and Chile in particular.
• Notes from the Regional Dialogue will be shared with all, including a Spanish translation version.
• At the same time as the notes are shared, all will be invited to join the Women of Color United listserv for sharing and joint strategizing for moving forward with a common agenda