San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, November 30, 2000
Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer

As African Americans, they have seen how hard the disease has hit their community, with AIDS being the No. 1 killer among black men and women between the ages of 25 and 44.

Yesterday, King and Benjamin walked down International Boulevard again, among a dozen volunteers who distributed flyers and packets of condoms to anyone who would take them, hoping to slow the spread of AIDS by raising awareness. The blitz between 73rd and 98th avenues was organized by the African American AIDS Support-Services and Survival Institute in preparation for World AIDS Day 2000 tomorrow.

Sedrick Gardner, the group's executive director, said little has changed since 1998, when Alameda County declared a state of emergency for African Americans and Latinos with HIV/AIDS.

"Over 50 percent of new AIDS cases are made up of African Americans, and over 50 percent of newborns with AIDS are African American," Gardner said.

Ten years ago, the Journal of U.S. Public Health cited statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control, which showed that African Americans made up 26 percent of the nation's AIDS cases, even though they constituted only 12 percent of the total population.

And things have only gotten worse, Gardner said.

"In this 10-year period, we have seen increasing numbers of African Americans being infected with the AIDS disease," he said.

Alvan Quamina, coordinator for a community task force formed two years ago to promote public awareness of the disease, said the county has not responded adequately to the problem.

He gave Alameda County a D- grade for its efforts to provide funding for community organizations fighting the AIDS epidemic. Quamina was even more critical of Oakland.

"It's a no-show," he said. "The city is doing what it's always done in regards to AIDS, which is nothing."

Sherri Willis, public information officer for the Alameda County Public Health Department, defended the county's efforts but acknowledged that more should be done.

"Are there enough resources? No," she said.

This year, the county allocated $1.6 million to AIDS prevention and education programs as well as for treatment and care.

Unlike San Francisco, where the AIDS population is largely white and has more resources to fight the disease, Oakland's AIDS population has a multitude of other social issues, such as drug use and poverty, to address in addition to the disease.

"It's not an easy quick fix," Willis said.

Along International Boulevard yesterday, King and Benjamin saw what Willis was talking about. Those most in need of AIDS education included prostitutes and the homeless.

Some of the people they approached on the street walked away, while most accepted the condoms and AIDS literature.

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