Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS Needs Overhaul

For Immediate Release
June 15, 2007

AIDS ADVOCATES DEMAND APOLOGY FOR RACIST COMMENTS MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HIV/AIDS

Contact: Larry Bryant, 877-ENDAIDS (877-363-2467); info@campaigntoendaids.org


Immediate action necessary to diversify council membership

Washington, D.C. June 15, 2007 - On Tuesday at the 33rd meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), members of the council made egregious racially and ethnically insensitive remarks while discussing the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the black community. HIV/AIDS activists, grassroots organizations, and community leaders are demanding that PACHA issue an apology that acknowledges the comments were racist and take steps to address the lack of racial diversity on the council.

During the PACHA Members Open Discussion period on the first day of a two-day open-to-the-public meeting at Washington, D.C.'s TK venue, the conversation took a surreal, but all too common turn, when Harvard researcher Edward C. Green, Ph.D., suggested that prevention research and interventions done in Africa should be utilized in America's black communities. The presumption that black people living in Africa and the U.S. are indistinguishable shocked the audience into stunned silence.

On the subject of the disproportionate incarceration rates of black men, Franklyn N. Judson, M.D., rationalized that, "there are more blacks in jail, since they commit more crimes." Judson, who last year declared that stigma "doesn't exist" for HIV positive people, ignored decades of common knowledge that black people receive disproportionately longer sentences than white people. Judson and Green's remarks are just the latest in a stream of seemingly unconscious insensitivity and ignorance involving race, ethnic background, and sexuality.

HIV/AIDS organization and grassroots leaders are raising their voices to counter the insensitivity and ignorance of the councilmember remarks. "The racial and ethnic insensitivity was deeply disturbing," says Donna Crews, director of governmental affairs at AIDS Action. "For a statement to be said for the record that 'there are more blacks in jail, since they commit more crimes' disregards the sentencing disparities that have been the norm in this country for more years than anyone would care to remember."

Larry Bryant, national field organizer of Housing Works and member of the Campaign To End AIDS (C2EA), who along with Ms. Crews was present on both days of the lightly attended full Council meeting, says that "black and Latino men and women as well as youth are sorely underrepresented at a table where trying reach those communities remains a mystery." PACHA is predominantly white but is addressing an epidemic in which over 70 percent of new infections are among people of color. "The collective face of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. has changed and so should its leadership," comments Mr. Bryant

National Demand For A Change

Actions are being organized to address the comments made by the PACHA members and to ensure and elevate the cultural competency and racial sensitivity of the council. C2EA, National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), and the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) are working to develop an effective and powerful strategy to force PACHA to acknowledge the comments as racist and apologize and change the makeup of the council, How can you help?

Express your comments and concerns about the cultural and racial insensitivity of the PACHA members and demand adequately diverse representation on the council to Mary (Marty) McGeein, Executive Director, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS; (202) 401-8005. You can also send emails to info@campaigntoendaids.org and they will be forwarded to the Mary McGeein