Miami Herald (MH) - Monday, March 16, 1998
Leslie Casimir; Herald Staff Writer

"The Bible says love the sinner, not the sin," says McRae, pastor of Liberty City's Mount Tabor Baptist Church. "And at this point, AIDS is not a homosexual problem -- it is a black problem."

Since AIDS -- known on the inner-city streets as the Ninja -- has become a top killer among blacks, McRae for years has been repeating the same plea: It is time that the black church assumes its leadership role and fights the syndrome that is snatching up a disproportionate number of black lives.

Now McRae, the progressive 53-year-old church leader, will spread this message on a national level: On Tuesday, he will speak about AIDS, homosexuality and drug needle use at a two-day media briefing on the AIDS crisis in the black community at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research.

His robust voice will join others -- including former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, Harvard humanities professor Henry Louis Gates and Harvard psychiatry professor Alvin Poussaint -- in a message of resistance: Stop AIDS from killing more black people.

In Miami-Dade County, although blacks make up 22 percent of the population, they make up 48 percent of the 20,169 AIDS cases reported since data has been collected.

That is why two years ago, McRae formed the nonprofit center called Minorities Overcoming the Virus through Education, or MOVERS, an arm of Mount Tabor's AIDS ministry that promotes AIDS prevention and counsels those who are HIV-positive.

McRae has made fighting AIDS his top mission. And it is fitting that he does so, he says. For every problem that blacks have faced in America -- be it racism or education -- the black church has been the refuge people turn to to lift their spirits.

But AIDS has remained taboo for most leaders in the black church, who have been slow to discuss preventive measures and shy to embrace those who are inflicted by it.

"We don't talk about sex," McRae said. "For theological beliefs, it's kind of a no-man's land in the black church. But that is not going to prevent me from showing compassion or love to anybody."

Showing compassion is how McRae changed the life of Petera Johnson, a former drug addict who tried to kill herself when she discovered she was HIV-positive.

The Liberty City native, who now lives in North Miami Beach, ended up at a substance abuse meeting at Mount Tabor, 1701 NW 66th St. That's when she met McRae, a small-framed man with a deep, forceful voice.

"He gave me a hug," said Johnson, 40. "Here I am feeling shame and guilt, and I couldn't even hug myself. He came down to our level." McRae has had to overcome battles of his own. When he graduated from high school, he had a football scholarship to Florida A&M University, but he shattered his knee in summer training and lost his hope of ever becoming a professional football player.

"I was so angry, I even stopped talking to God," said McRae, who has been married to Mary McRae for 38 years. "That had been my only dream."

Football had been McRae's outlet as a boy growing up in Palatka, Fla. McRae struggled with a speech impediment. He stuttered so badly, he feared his communication skills would squash his chances at succeeding in life, not to mention becoming an effective speaker.

That is why this Harvard invitation is so sweet for McRae, who was speechless when he got the call from the institute.

"I just can't believe this is really happening," he beamed. "I wished my mother could see this. She would be pleased."

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DONNA E. NATALE-PLANAS / Herald Staff COMFORTING WORDS: The Rev. George McRae, of Mount Tabor Baptist Church, talks with Petera Johnson in the church chapel.

CAPTION: photo: George McRae and Petera Johnson (A)
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