Miami Herald (MH) - Thursday, November 6, 1997
Leslie Casimir, Herald Staff Writer
AIDS awareness agencies that serve the neighborhood want to stage a march on Nov. 15 to emphasize how hard the virus is hitting the black community.
While blacks make up 14 percent of the state population, they make up more than two of every five AIDS cases in Florida. And in Dade County, blacks account for 48 percent of the reported cases of AIDS. A large number of those infected can be found in Liberty City, according to health experts.
The organizers are calling the march: A Journey for Survival. The walk starts at 10 a.m. at African Square Park, 1400 NW 62nd St.
"We want to make sure the focus is here because this community has been overlooked for so long," said Chrystal McDonald, a community outreach coordinator with the Liberty City Initiative, an AIDS awareness program under the state Department of Health. "There are AIDS walks everywhere -- why not in Liberty City?"
Several organizations -- including the city of Miami Neighborhood Enhancement Team in Model City and the Urban League of Greater Miami -- will come together to raise the awareness of what is known on the streets as the "Ninja."
Outreach coordinators say many people don't get tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, because they don't want to know. And many women are not aware that they can protect themselves from their partners with a new female condom.
"When they told me I had the virus, I just kept doing what I was doing -- I thought, oh well, I might as well enjoy myself," said Curtis Delford, 37, a Liberty City resident who was diagnosed with HIV 15 years ago.
Delford is now a volunteer at the two-year-old Liberty City Initiative.
"This AIDS walk is going to make a difference," he said.
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