In recognition of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

(United States Congress) – National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is celebrated every year on Feb. 7, is a day set aside to increase HIV awareness and enhance prevention, testing, and treatment among African Americans, and also to recognize the progress that has been made in the ongoing fight to combat this horrible illness.Throughout my career, I have been a strong advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, screening and treatment, with a particular emphasis on the minority communities that have borne the brunt of the disease. I began my work on HIV/AIDS during the 1980s while I was in the California State Assembly, where I introduced legislation to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African Americans. During that time, I worked with early AIDS activists in the Black community to ensure that organizations serving African Americans living with HIV/AIDS would have funding.Related Stories I especially enjoyed working with Archbishop Carl Bean, who founded the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles in 1985; Dr. Wilbert Jordan, who established the Oasis Clinic for AIDS patients in South Los Angeles; and Phil Wilson, who became an AIDS activist following his HIV diagnosis in the early 1980s and went on to establish the Black AIDS Institute.As...