Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - Thursday, November 14, 1996 - Page A23
Thaai Walker, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
Oakland will host the two-day conference, "AIDS is No Laughing Matter: The African American Community Faces the Challenge of HIV/AIDS," which begins tomorrow at the Oakland Airport Hilton.
The conference was inspired by what health providers call an alarming increase in the number of HIV and AIDS cases within the black community, especially among women and children. Some blame that increase on the stigma attached to AIDS and a lack of education about the disease in the African American community.
"It is taboo to talk about AIDS in the African American community," said Gloria Cox-Crowell, co- chair of the African American Aids Coalition, which is sponsoring the event.
"I know mothers who didn't know why their sons were dying until the very end," Cox-Crowell said. "Ministers have preached at funerals for AIDS victims but never mentioned the disease."
Of the 513,486 AIDS cases nationwide reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1981 and 1995, 26 percent were African Americans -- more than double their population in the United States.
The conference will bring together health care providers, educators, community and church leaders, and those living with HIV and AIDS from California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon. Seminars include topics on HIV and AIDS in the penal system, on AIDS as it affects women and children and on families and AIDS.
Along with finding ways to get education and prevention messages out to the black community, participants hope it will be the starting point in developing a support system for those living with the deadly disease. They are looking to the black church as the leader of that effort.
"The African-American church is the gatekeeper for the black community," said Reverend Mark Wilson of Berkeley's McGee Avenue Baptist Church.
"Many of our members are living with this and the churches are silent. The church itself has perpetuated a lot of the fear and hatred surrounding AIDS. Instead we need to work toward dispelling some of the ignorance."
For more information about the conference, call 510-548-3807.
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