America is getting used to the AIDS crisis. Many activist groups have switched from street tactics to multi-million dollar fundraising soirées and the plethora of HIV medications on the market contribute to the perception that everything is under control.”I think our age (group) was able to grow up in an age that knew what AIDS was, after it was no longer considered only a gay white male issue,” said sophomore Atreese Watkins, a member of the College Aids Awareness Project (CAAP). “To a lot of (people our age) it is just another issue which is upsetting because people are living and dying with this disease all the time.”
As part of its campaign to combat student inattention to one of the most lethal pandemics in human history, CAAP holds AIDS awareness week every year. Events were held all last week (Nov. 25-30) at locations across campus. This year’s theme: “AIDS isn’t Black and White,” referring to what CAAP activists describe as the common media tendency to focus on only sub-Saharan Africa and gay white American males when covering HIV and AIDS.
“Historically certain groups have been disproportionately affected,” said senior David Norton, a Guilford AIDS fellow. “But the demographics are changing. Just one example: AIDS is the number one killer of African-American women between the ages of 21 and 34. This is a virus that affects the whole society.”
Events included a candlelight vigil and an open mic night. Students inscribed paper links with pledges describing what they would do to fight the AIDS crisis, and students sent condoms to their friends through CAAP organized “condom-grams.”
The final event was a “cocktail” party in the Founder’s Gallery replete with cheesecake and sparkling grape juice. Following the cocktails, partygoers split into five groups to discuss different populations and places affected.
One group learned about the post-invasion AIDS crisis in Afghanistan, where the conservative culture makes it hard to address the issue. Officially, there are only 35 HIV-positive cases in Kabul but the actual number is probably higher. Another group focused on India where an estimated 3.6 million people are HIV-positive.
“It was really interesting looking at AIDS as a cultural issue,” said first-year Chris Crocker who learned about the HIV/AIDS in India. “We talked about how different facets of Indian culture affect how AIDS is addressed in India. We even looked at how religion and economics affects it.”
Thirty people attended the ‘cocktail’ party, and 20 stayed for the discussion, a good turn out considering the timing of AIDS awareness week, which coincides with finals. Attendance at some of the other events was sparse.
“I think events that had an upbeat mood people came out to more,” said Sophomore Guilford AIDS fellow Amanda Pressley. “But for things that had a more somber tone there wasn’t as great an attendance. But overall, I think we’ve had a powerful presence on campus this week. Our promise chain is enormous and we handed out 120 condom-grams in two hours.”
AIDS awareness week ended on Friday Nov. 30, leaving CAAP’s members to hope that their message was clear: the AIDS crisis is far from under control.