Living Out Loud with Darian

Last night I attended what I thought was going to be a meeting to mobilize the black community and elected officials into action around the HIV/AIDS crisis in America and locally here in Atlanta, but what I ended up sitting through was another discussion on how our silence has contributed to the epidemic and the insurmountable obstacles we have to overcome.

To be direct and honest, it was another town hall meeting where a room full of intelligent people with good intentions assembled to dialogue about this devestating disease, but at the end of the session there had not been a single action plan put in place.

I'm sick of attending these meetings with a desire to make a difference and leaving without the necessary tools or support to take the message of HIV/AIDS to my brothas and sistas who may be putting themselves at risk for an entirely preventable disease.

In Georgia, African-American men and women are ranked #1 and 2 collectively in cumulative HIV reports.

It's great to sit in a room with like minded individuals and discuss which ASO(AIDS Service Organization)you're representing, and your professional achievements, but at the end of the day it's about having a clear action plan and executing that plan in order to gain results.

I guess I'm just venting because HIV/AIDS affects so many of us, and in those meetings we lack the faces and stories of the people who live with this disease everyday and we get caught up in the politics of HIV. It's time to act up again like the HIV warriors did in the early days, anyone else up for the challenge?