It’s World AIDS Day

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of days, you’d know that today is World AIDS Day. I decided to try something this time and do a short series of posts talking about my experiences with protecting myself, getting tested, and losing people I care about to the disease.

The next two posts will be dedicated to Damon Eskridge, a family friend of mine who shared his story about living with HIV to me and other young people years ago at my church back home in Los Angeles. Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I talked about how Damon influenced me and informed what I know about HIV and AIDS along with other STD’s. Damon passed away in December 2000 after a long battle with AIDS.

I am remembering Damon today as I write these next few posts. Thank you, Damon for sharing your story and your light. You are loved and missed.

For those of you in DC and wanting to get tested for HIV today call 202.442.9152 to find the nearest testing location.

Those of you tweeting on twitter about World Aids Day, the official hashtag for world AIDS day is #WAD09.

Shout out to the Red Pump Project, who raise awareness about HIV and AIDS 365 days a year.

BET actually does it right and remembers Black celebrities we’ve lost to AIDS.

Lastly, did you know that trans women are most impacted by AIDS? Get familiar. Many times we forget that more than Black cisgendered women* are trans women who are the most impacted by the disease and yet served the least…because trans women are often rendered invisible by the status quo. Some food for thought.

From Tambra Stevenson of Creative Cause. If you are a woman and you’re in the DC Area please check out this important event. The Roundtable is free and open to the public.

As the author Alice Walker noted in her 2007 book release, we are the ones we have been waiting for.
And the classic acapella group, Sweet Honey on the Rock, sings, “we are the ones we have been waiting for?’

So with all the noted research social and health inequalities impacting our sisters–those with degrees and not—what are we waiting for?

Does it have to be your sister, niece, or daughter for you to realize that you are the one we have been waiting for!

Must we die being superwomen – from stress-related disorders causing the mental health, chronic diseases, etc.

What are you waiting for?

Does it have to take another Megan Williams of W. Va., Benita Jacks of Washington, DC, the girl who is so depressed

she eats her anger away, the 10-month black female infant who was raped in DC, or the Howard student who was raped?

Health and healing begins with us…if we don’t speak up, it’s like all of us giving up.

In this month’s Heart and Soul magazine, a black woman shares her story with bipolar.

In the PBS documentary stories of highly educated professional black women with families still

suffer from higher levels of stress impacting their babies’ outcomes. Do you think there is a coincidence?

What do you think needs to happen?

This is not just an American issue, this is a global issue. Women of African descent suffer the worst health care and receive the lowest to no wages compared to anyone else. The information is on the web, just Google!

Like politics, change starts local and with ourselves.

With a Gen Y population of 76 million mostly women, we have an unbelievable opportunity to

galvanize from the grassroots to the grasstops. We can create change from our computers to

the streets and to the suites.

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Join us and bring a friend to make history and set the personal

and political agenda on young black women’s health! This event is part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Black Women’s Health Imperative which is holding the National Black Women’s Health Conference. Learn more at www.blackwomenshealth.org.

Setting the Agenda: Young Black Women’s Health Roundtable
with the Black Women’s Health Imperative, KIMsense.com, and

DC Young Women’s Leadership Committee

Thursday, June 19, 2008
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Omni Shoreham Hotel
2500 Calvert Road, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Metro: Woodley Park (red line)

For directions use: www.maps.google.com (car) or www.wmata.com (metro)

Open to the public. Free. Get a special gift. RSVP via email or Facebook.

Questions? Email tambra@creativecause.org.

Want to be a host committee? Email me your name, age, hometown and what is your health story.

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No Voice. No Policy. No Power. No Progress. We are the ones we have been waiting for.