Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - August 9, 2001
Lynette Kalsnes, Tribune staff reporter
Clinton, who has said AIDS is one of the themes shaping his post-presidency, also called for increased prevention, education and treatment of the disease in prisons and around the world.
Americans have become complacent, believing AIDS is no longer a problem here, Clinton told the gathering of nearly 400 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. But the rate of AIDS infection is increasing among young people here as well as in other countries, and if the trend continues, 100 million people across the world will have AIDS or HIV in five years, he said.
"It's creeping back at us from everywhere in the world," Clinton said. "America and Americans have to be concerned about that."
Describing prisons as "incubators" for drug addiction and AIDS, Clinton said, "The AIDS rates would go down and other good things would happen if we didn't send so many people to jail for so long who do not present a physical threat."
Clinton joined Rev. Jesse Jackson, who introduced the former president, in urging an end to the fear and shame surrounding the disease. The day before, Jackson and many other ministers took AIDS tests at the Cook County Jail to inspire hundreds of inmates to do the same.
The five-day Rainbow/PUSH conference is focusing on efforts to provide equal access and opportunities for everyone in America.
Election reform is one topic important to the organization. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on Wednesday cautioned conference-goers: "Rather than allow the anger ... to erode our energy, we need to use it to strengthen our democracy."
Daschle called "unacceptable" the fact that the U.S. has no hate-crime law and pledged to examine all of President Bush's judicial nominees, rejecting them when they don't have the best interests of all Americans at heart.
The senator also was critical of Bush's tax cut plan, because "34 million Americans are not getting a rebate at all ... we're borrowing money to send it out ... and that $300 rebate check is just a crumb of what those in the top 1 percent are getting."
Other conference topics will include voting rights, racial profiling, slavery and reparations, social justice and education.
Other speakers will include U.S. Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Olympic gold medallist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Celeste Garrett contributed to this report.
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