Think About It!
1981…. The wolf came knocking. Cofounder/C.U.R.E. 2008--the most recent year for which official statistics are available--33.4 million people worldwide were living with AIDS and HIV. That same year, 2.7 million people became infected with HIV and another 2 million died from the disease. Sixty-seven percent of the people living with AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa. (Great Answers: Michael Kerr)
Behind us were “troubled times”, racing to catch us. One day the headlines read – “President Reagan Shot!” Newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded during an assassination attempt. We were frightened, then terrified when across the globe political unrest and violence erupts when Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat was assassinated, and days later Iran’s President and Prime Minister were assassinated. Pope John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square and to our disbelief martial law was declared in Poland.
Amidst all this we continued on … for the most part, life in our American lives was.... well, so American. Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sports, the great American past time, had us cheering and in tears when the Los Angeles Dodgers took the World Series title defeating the New York Yankees, and the Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl Fifteen. MTV aired its first music video, “Video Killed the Radio Star”, we were introduced to Indiana Jones and American Airlines began offering us Frequent Flyer Miles. Medicine and technology wowed us….the first American test tube baby was born, the first Columbia space shuttle was launched and the term “internet” found its way into our vocabulary. Best of all, Dunkin Donuts opened its doors … oh, life was good.
But what we didn’t hear was the knocking at the door … the door opened. Things were about to change in a way we could never imagine. 1981 – The year the assault on the whole human race began. It took its place quickly – it changed us, it divided us, stirred fear among us, yet the disease that took us in its grip 30 years ago still stirs among us.
The report issued by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in June 1981 about a similar “illness” found in 5 young gay men (who all later died) marked the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As the disease spread, primarily among men in the gay community, it came to be known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). By the end of the year 121 people had died of the disease. The gay community suffered not only loss of friends and loved ones but also such unspeakable discrimination.
The lack of any quick action on behalf of the White House to initiate medical support was evident – ok, almost deliberate. It was after all a gay mans disease. Family and friends were being buried as this disease marched across the country and every corner of this earth, yet it was not until 1985 did President Reagan even utter the word AIDS at a press conference. During that year 5,636 Americans died of AIDS complications.
It would take another 2 years (1987) before AZT, the first drug for AIDS patients, was finally introduced. In 1987 4,135 Americans died of AIDS complications. Ten years into the “war” we had lost an estimated 36,000 Americans to AIDS. And the numbers continued to go up as the years past.
Now into the thirtieth year of HIV/AIDS among us, we can look back and see we learned a lot. Our attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS changed; we took a unified stance against AIDS. Local nonprofit organizations took root and took up the call to help the ill and government funds were funneled to help these facilities. Even as we wept for those we lost to AIDS, fear was constantly among us. We needed a way to heal, stay strong and soften the pain but most of all we needed something that would allow us to keep our sites on “hope”. And it came. It came in a form of fabric and thread….in 1987 the AIDS Memorial Quilt took its place in the fight and education of HIV/AIDS.
Today the AIDS Memorial Quilt is recognized as one of this century’s greatest treasures. It has traveled the globe and has been viewed by millions. The somberness of the Quilt remains, its beauty unmatched, and its messages still rings clear.
With the knowledge we have about HIV/AIDS, and witnessing its ability to sustain its power for 30 years, we must undeniably understand - the fight is not over.
Rosemarie Odom
