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I Volume XVII, Number 33
June 24, 1987
25C
Aids and
Minorities
Dr. Roger Bakeman, a psychologist at Georgia State University, points
out that economic status also plays a major role in the disproportionately
high rate of AIDS among minorities. "People of lower class get less atten
tion from the medical system," he says. Minorities are also more vulner
able to AIDS because chronic malnutrition, and other consequences of
poverty, have weakened their immune system from the outset.
According to U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, the disease is
spreading to the general population after having been largely confined to
gay men and I.V. drug users. He remarks: "The best protection right now
— barring abstinence —is use of a condom." He also states that the quaran
tine of AIDS victims has no role in the containment of AIDS because it is
not spread by casual contact. The virus is spread through contact with an
already infected person's bodily fluids, such as blood and semen. Accor
ding to Koop, 25,566 Americans have been diagnosed as having AIDS and
another 1.5 million are believed to have been exposed to tne disease.
Photo by Richard J. Brown
Nate Jones, Principal of Jefferson High School.
Jones Named Outstanding
Secondary principal
the Thirteenth Annual COSA (Confederation of Oregon School
Nathan Jones, Principal at Jefferson High School, Portland,
has been recognized as The Outstanding Secondary Principal
Administrators) conference.
The theme of the conference, "Challenging Oregon School
Administrators . . . Pursuing Emerging Options” , will feature
national and state leaders who will speak on current educa
tional issues. Gov. Goldschmidt will be one of the speakers,
from the Oregon Association of Secondary School Administra
tors (OASSA). He will be honored at Seaside at the Annual
COSA Conference and will receive a plaque and special recog
nition at 8:30 a.m ., Friday, June 26th at the Convention Cen
pending the conclusion of the 1987 Legislative Session.
One of the highlights of the conference will be the honoring
ter.
Approximately 1500 Oregon School Administrators will be
meeting at the Convention Center in Seaside, June 24-27, for
of the outstanding principals in Oregon. These principals were
first selected by Colleagues from each region.
Schools Win $5000 For
Fighting Drug Abuse
by Alan Brown
Drug abuse on the school grounds of America has reached frightening
nrooortions Sixty-one percent of all high school seniors have tned some
form of hard drugs. One in twenty high school seniors smoke marijuana
daily In 1986, there were four hundred children between the ages of 11 and
U picked up for narcotics violations by the Los Angeles Police Department
Children, as young as 7 and 8, are not only using but also selling illegal
drugs Lives of America's youth are being ruined every day by drugs.
Because of these and other alarming statistics, the Concerned Business-
men's Association of America is sponsoring an annual Se A Good Ex
ample Contest,” with the goal of ending drug use on school grounds and
h ^ ' g children develop pride in themselves. This yea, s contest, vvhrch
ended April 1, involved 1700 schools and youth groups from across the
" ’ The contest i. inspired b , THE WAY TO HAPPINESS
sense guide to safer, happier living. Over 13.5 million copies of the book,
14 different languages, have been distributed throughout the world^
The book has started a grass-roots effort to get drugs o ff the school
grounds in the United States and return youths to such values as compe
tence, good citizenship, honesty and setting a good exam ple-the idea on
which the contest is based.
, .
. .
For the contest, each school's student council was required to originate
nlan and run a "drug awareness" campaign using principles from Trie
WAY TO HAPPINESS book to influence their fellow students in a positive
direction awav from drugs. During .he comes.. needy 600.000 book, were
distributed by students in their schools and communities.
O™ X h e winning schools, which will receive $5.000 to continue its
fight against drug abuse, was Roosevelt Jr. High of Charleston. West
qinia. The school's activities included passing out THE WAY TO HAPPI
NESS book to all the new 6th graders entering the school, a ta ent s ow
with an anti-drug theme, and a "Jump Against Drugs" at a localm all m
which students jumped rope for three continuous hours-joined by local
celebrities, the Mayor and other community leaders.
The other winning school and groups, which were equally effecbve and
creative in their campaigns against drugs and will also receive $5 000, were.
Sydney Elementary School of Sydney, New York; Eunice Sr. High of Eu
nice, Louisiana and Children Against Drugs (CAD KIDS), a youth group
from Hollywood, California.
Judging this year's contest were: Kim Fields, star of television s Facts
of Life; Susan Newman, Executive Director of the Scott Newman Foun
dation; Brian Dyak, President of the Entertainment Industrial C o u n c ilo r
a Drug Free Society; Fred "M oon" Mullins, Secretary-Treasurer and
eral Manager of Municipal Motorcycle Officers of California (M M O C ),M ar
cine Shaw, Senior Deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth
Hahn; Teddv Joudeh. Executive Director of Narconon International and
Debbie Hughes, Executive Director of Sterling Management Systems .
The next contest has already started as of last month. Books and ant.
drug education materials are provided free of charge to schools entering the
contest by CBAA, businesses and professionals sponsoring the contest in
local communities and the national association of Pharmacists Against
DrForAmoreC information about the 1987 88 SET A GOOD EXAMPLE con
test and/or copies ofrthe WAY TO HAPPINESS book,
to
Contest, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America.
^.Ish.re
Blvd., Suite 320. Los Angeles. CA 90010. Or call toll free 800-782 6767.
"The media make you think that AIDS is a white, gay man's disease
That's just not a true picture," says Sandra McDonald, one of four black
board members of AID Atlanta, the city's principle support group for A ID b
victims. In reality, McDonald points out, statistics show that U.S. minori
ties are suffering in disproportionately high numbers from the AIDS epi
demic. For example:
.
• As of July 7, 1986, of the then known 21,546 AIDS cases, 11,787 of
the victims were people of color.
. . . .
• The rate of AIDS cases among Blacks and Latinos is nearly three times
as high as it is among the rest of the population.
• Blacks and Latinos make up 18 percent of the U.S. population, but
account for 40 percent of all reported AIDS cases.
• Nearly two-thirds of intravenous drug users with AIDS are Black or
Latino.
• More than 50 percent of women with AIDS are Black.
• Eighty percent of all children with AIDS are Black or Latino.
• Ninety-one percent of infants with AIDS are non-white.
Minorities are made more vulnerable to AIDS because, until very recent
ly, preventative education programs have focused almost exclusively on
the white gay male population. Since the recent release of statistics show
ing the high incidence of AIDS among minorities, minority groups around
the country have been pressuring health agencies to widen AIDS education
programs to include minority communities. In particular, they emphasized
the need tor education among intravenous (IV) drug users, many of whom
are people of color. According to Dr. Richard Wright of the Eastside Health
Center in.Denver, IV drug use is the main culprit in the spread of AIDS in
the minority community.
Fran Moore, who works with the AIDS testing and health counseling
program for the Denver Department of Public Health, argues that another
barrier to AIDS education among minorities is cultural disapproval of homo
sexuality within the Black community, which makes Black men reluctant to
admit they are qay and part of a high risk group.
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