By Imani Williams
DETROIT – The Between Sistahs conference on Black Women facing the challenges of HIV/AIDS took place Oct. 7 at Marygrove College.
The conference was sponsored by AIDS Partnership Michigan, and YWCA Interim House.
The keynote address was delivered by, Linda Villarosa, a self identified lesbian and freelance writer, Essence Magazine editor-at-large, and contributing writer to the New York Times.
"When I got involved with the work in the early 1980s, AIDS was called 'Gay Related Immune Disease,' or GRID," Villarosa said as she described how she became an advocate for those living with HIV/AIDS. Villarosa shared that she was assigned to do the cover story by Essence Editor, Susan Taylor. Villarosa, new to news report writing eagerly jumped at the opportunity for a cover story. She interviewed an infected mother who had a toddler that was also infected with the disease. The mother weak and very sick shared with Villarosa that she had contracted the disease from her boyfriend who was an IV drug user.
It was later that Villarosa discovered that she was given the opportunity because no one else would do it.
Information around the disease was limited. She didn't know to be afraid. By the end of the year that the story ran both the mother and child had died. Villarosa's cover story became the catalyst for hundereds perhaps of thousands of articles covering AIDS as numbers and incidences increased over the years. Villarosa herself became a serious health and medical issues writer because of this experience. She returned to school to become certified in public health so that she would be properly trained to do the work.
Twenty-five years after reports of the first cases of HIV/AIDS many communities around the and world are just beginning to have serious conversations about prevention and awareness. African American and Latina women of color are becoming infected at alarming rates in the US.
More than 200 people attending the all-day conference, which included workshops on how women are infected and affected by this deadly disease.
Twenty-five years into the disease, AIDS/HIV still does not have a vaccine. This disease more and more often has a black face. Because of cultural taboos and women often not knowing and feeling empowered enough to have the conversation won't inquire of potential mates about being tested, status and their need to be protected by condom use and other barriers.
Between Sistah's offered a chance for women to explore issues of protecting themselves, and their loved ones.
Other workshops included: Women to Women empowering ourselves, the Interface between Domestic Violence & HIV, HIV Disease Progression in Women, HIV and Hepatitis C Co-Infection among Women and Prevention Strategies for Young African-American Females.
The Rev. Selma Massey of Whosoever Ministries emceed the event and Detroit artist and Kalimah Johnson offered spoken word.
Sponsors for the event included Bristol Meyers Squibb Company and May Company.
