II,
Page A2
August 16. 2006
join Mayor Tom Potter
& State Senator Avel Gordly
for the 4th Annual Wellness Within REACH Walk!
Saturday, Aug. 19th at 9:00 AM
in Dawson Park (at N.Vancouver & Stanton)
Music, food, & fun!
$20 registration, children under 10 free!
Contact the AAHC to register
at 503.413.1850 or www.aahc-portland.org
photo bv I saiah
B oi ir/Tui P okti . ami O bnkmkk
SEI Soul Celebration
Students from the SEI Drum Line are in perfect concentration performing Sunday at Self Enhance
ment, Inc. s 25th Anniversary Soul Celebration at Unthank Park in north Portland. SEI community
and educational programs have benefited thousands o f local youth over those years.
Black Leaders Urge AIDS/HIV Defeat
Bond cites
failure to lead
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Ricial and Eltink Approach«» to Community Health
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(AP) -- It is time for the A fri
can-A m erican com m unity “to
face the fact that AIDS has be
com e a black disease” and find
ways to defeat it, said the chair
man o f the N A A CP at the inter
national AIDS summit Monday.
Julian Bond, the Rev. Jesse
Jackson and other powerful A f
rican-A m erican leaders called on
• their own com m unity to accept
responsibility for ending the dev
astation o f A ID S, w hich has
claimed more than 200.000 black
A m ericans since the epidem ic
began 25 years ago.
In a first for the political lead
ers, they blamed the disaster on a
lack o f will anil pledged to do
m ore.
“The story o f AIDS in America
is mostly one o f a failure to lead
and nowhere is this truer than in
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks during at the 16th
World Aids Conference in Toronto.
The story o f AIDS in
America is mostly one
o f a failure to lead and
nowhere is this truer
than in our black
communities.
-Julian Bond
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family or your business.
our black com m unities." said
Bond, chairm an o f the National
Association for the Advancement
o f Colored People. “We have led
successful responses to m any
other challenges in the past. Now
is the time for us to face the fact
that AIDS has become a black
disease."
According to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Preven
tion. A frican-A m ericans account
for half of all new cases o f HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS. It is
the leading cause o f death for
black women between the ages
o f 25 to 34. Overall, blacks are
seven times more likely to die
from A IDS than other at-risk
groups.
“Because o f poverty, ignorance
and prejudice, AIDS has been
allowed to stalk and kill black
America like a serial killer," said
Jackson, chairman of Rainbow
Push Coalition. Jackson didn't
make the conference, but issued
a statement o f support with the
other leaders.
“ But we have also been a com
pliant victim, submitting through
inaction." Jackson said. "It is
now tim e for us to
fight AIDS like the
m ajor civil rights is
sue it is."
The U.S. black del
e g a tio n p le d g e d to
draft a five-year plan
to reduce HIV rates
am ong
A fric a n -
A m e ric a n s and to
boost the percentage
o f those who get tests
and learn their HIV
status.
The 16th annual AIDS summit
has drawn more than 24,000 re
searchers, activists and health
workers from 132 countries this
year, which marks the 25th anni
versary of the first reported cases
o f HIV. Since then, nearly 65
million people have been infected
with the virus globally and AIDS
has killed more than 25 million
people.
The conference opened M on
day with the double Bills of the
global fight against AIDS —
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and
former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Local Support for War Victims
A m m irar Family Muti »«I Inaurane* Company and 4 s SijbMdiarM»»
«V»
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A candlelight vigil by Arab-
American families and their friends
on Saturday in the downtown South
Park Blocks raised $31,6«) for
groups delivering emergency sup
plies to victims in Lebanon and
Gaza.
The money will be donated to
the American Red Cross, Mercy
Corps and American Near East
Refugee Aid. among others.
The vigil was supported by
prominent Arab-Americans in Port
land including former Gov. Victor
Atiyeh.
"It is so very depressing to see
and hear about the destruction of
Lebanon and especially the loss
o f so many civilian women, chil
dren and men, said Atiyeh. "This
invasion by one country into
another cannot be tolerated by
A m erica and the rest o f the
world."
Atiyeh and others criticized the
generous amount of support Israel
receives lor guns and ammunition
from the United States.
“ Arab-Am ericans are devas
tated by the destruction of Leba
non and Palestine and the fact that
the bombs raining down on these
twocountriesare made in America",
said Hala Gores, spokesperson for
Palestine Lebanon Emergency Ac
tion.