United Press International - Tuesday, December 1, 1998
Edward J. Negron

The clergy gathered at Mother A.M.E. Zion Church in Harlem on World AIDS Day said that although blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they're 50 percent of the AIDS cases, a figure the Centers for Disease Control says will jump to 60 percent by 2005.

Pernessa Seele, founder and CEO of the group that organized the evening's program the Balm of Gilead, tells United Press International that her association is targeting clerics, "because the church is the center of the black community."

She adds, "We are also committed to stopping HIV/AIDS in any community, but, we are focusing on the black community because we have seen how programs which are culturally specific have been effective." The activist points to the gay community as an example.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of 18,000-plus member Potter's House of Dallas, Texas, says: "This event will open up a very much needed dialogue about this crisis within our community. I'm here, because as an American, I am concerned. As a Christian, I am committed. And as a clergyman, I am called to respond to anyone in pain."

The Grace Baptist Church Choir opened the evening's program and the audience joined in, singing along and clapping their hands. The Rev. Rainey Cheeks of Washington's Inner Light Unity Fellowship Church -- which ministers primarily to people of color in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities -- performed the pouring of the libation ceremony.

Seele told the hundreds of attendees: "We can no longer tolerate your excuses...about the use of condoms or not exchanging needles or your position on homosexuality. AIDS prevention is not about your positions."

To demonstrate the impact AIDS has had, the Rev. Dr. W. Franklin Richardson of the Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, N.Y., asked the crowd, "Does anyone here tonight know someone who has AIDS?," some stood up. When he queried, "Does anyone here tonight know of anyone who has died of AIDS?" Many more got out of their seats.

Erline Belton, also of the Balm In Gilead, told the crowd, "In the past, when people were in pain, the church was there to help." The historic Mother A.M.E. Zion Church was the center of the underground railroad in New York. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were members as was entertainer Paul Robeson.

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