Miami Herald - Sunday, December 7, 2003
Jennifer Mooney, jmooney@herald.com

AIDS can kill.

And delivering that message: About a dozen music stars, the likes of Julio Iglesias Jr., Fat Joe, Lil John & the East Side Boyz and Trick Daddy.

Trick Daddy? The rapster with a rap sheet?

"The bottom line is that our kids still respect them," said Samaki Variety, the community relations director for Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, whose office cosponsored the event.

Saturday's Victory Day Youth March for Life -- the first of its kind in Miami -- brought together community leaders, schoolchildren, college students and, of course, music celebrities. No classroom-style lectures here. Saturday was all about celebrity and song to get the message across.

"AIDS can kill me. I don't want to pass it on," Anthony Delossantos, a 12-year-old Miami Springs Middle School student. "I need to learn how to protect myself and get tested."

Though many of the young marchers have no family or friends living with HIV or AIDS, they are aware of the disease from school lessons, television and movies.

"Too many people are losing their lives to this," said Miami Central High freshman Richard Dorvilier. "Hopefully, after this walk teens will think twice about having unprotected sex."

Because Miami has one of the highest rates of reported AIDS cases in the nation, Diaz decided it was time to focus more attention on educating young people on the disease and methods of prevention.

"This is about our future," Diaz said. "It's about letting kids know about this terrible disease. This is not fun and games. It's serious."

By mid-morning crowds of youngsters, ranging in ages from preschoolers to college students, joined county and city officials for a pep rally at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center. From there, the nearly 2,000 marchers -- some holding signs, others gyrating to the echoing sounds of the Miami Jackson High marching band -- began their trek to Bayfront Park, where the concert would begin at noon.

Groups of teenagers huddled together, bouncing up and down, punching their arms in the air as local hip-hop groups took the stage.

And for those too young to enjoy the music, there were free rides at the adjacent downtown Miami's Holiday Village.

But the majority of the crowd was there to hear headliner Trick Daddy do his thing.

"The kids are always going to look up to us," said the rapster, who added that the cocaine and marijuana possession charges he currently faces are unfounded.

"We need to take advantage of them listening to us and tell them something positive."

Said Janice Rubio, an eighth-grader at Ponce de Leon Middle School: "We are learning at the same time we are having fun. This is great."

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