The Miami Herald, Inc.; Sunday, May 11, 1997
Sabrina Walters; Herald Staff Writer

Though there were no floats or bands, a small group of adults and children carrying red ribbons and signs created a paradelike atmosphere while trying to create an awareness of AIDS, which is more rampant in Dade's poorer inner-city communities than anywhere else in the county.

Liberty City, a predominately black neighborhood, is among the hardest-hit areas.

Of the 56,000 people in the state who have developed AIDS since the epidemic's dawn about 20 years ago, blacks account for 42 percent -- the same percentage as white, non-Hispanics, even though blacks make up just 14 percent of the state's population.

In Dade, the numbers are even more stark:

Blacks constitute 48 percent of reported AIDS cases, with heavier concentrations in Liberty City, Allapattah, Brownsville and West Little River, according to statistics from the state Department of Children and Families.

"We're telling people today, AIDS is not a secret anymore," said Mamie Kirton, 39, a member of Liberty City Initiative, a health-awareness group that sponsored Saturday's Let's Meet At the Starting Line AIDS Walk.

"Because of the drugs and the substance abuse here, we're suffering from the disease more than other people."

Singing Lean on Me and holding signs that read "Stop AIDS" and "Break the Chain of Ignorance," walkers with red ribbons pinned to their shirts made their way past the James E. Scott housing project and Jackson Unisex Barber Shop on Northwest 22nd Avenue and the Great Food Supermarket on 62nd Street.

Along the way, they stopped shoppers and hailed people crossing streets, handing out multicolored condoms and AIDS literature.

"We decided to go to the people, to their homes, since they weren't coming out to a clinic," said Chrystal McDonald, who helped organize the event.

"We've found that there's a lot of distrust, because many of them believe the government played some part in them getting the disease. They didn't want any part of the health department."

Dr. Reynald Jean, HIV/AIDS prevention-education program manager for the Liberty City Initiative, an outreach of the Dade County Health Department, said people must fight harder to prevent AIDS from spreading.

"There's a lack of access to health care, there's poverty and unemployment," which all play a role in allowing AIDS to continue to spread, Jean said.

Latavia West, 24, was hanging clothes on the line as the walkers made their way past her apartment at Northwest 22nd Avenue and 70th Street.

"More people should have been out here participating," said West, who lost an uncle to AIDS in 1992. "I was shocked when they told me how many people who live right here have the disease. I was just shocked, shocked."

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