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Article by Candace Y. A. Montague, The Examiner
“OBAMA! FENTY! CAN’T YOU SEE? FUND THE FIGHT! STOP HIV!” — They were young, loud, bodacious, and angry. A collective body of AIDS activists in conjunction with DC Fight Back, Act Up Philadelphia, The Campaign to End AIDS, Health GAP and a plethora of other non-profit organizations electrified the streets of downtown DC on Tuesday. The DC Fights Back rally and protest was held between two main statues of power in DC, the White House and the John Wilson Building (city hall). On lookers were stunned to see more than 150 protesters, advocates, and activists holding up traffic while making their message known.
“WHAT DO WE WANT? HOUSING! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!!” — The message was more than just a plea for housing. It was a wakeup call for President Obama to keep his campaign promise of providing funding for HIV patients and to Mayor Fenty to fix a “broken system”.
It began as a mock funeral to symbolize the funerals of the 5,500 people who will die from AIDS in a day.
Article written by Darryl Fears, Washington Post
A coalition of groups led by D.C. activists staged a sit-in inside the John A. Wilson Building and a mock funeral procession outside the White House on World AIDS Day to call attention to the suffering of those afflicted with the disease.
Two representatives of the AIDS awareness group D.C. Fights Back were arrested Tuesday for squatting in front of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s “bullpen” office, where his staff meets, and refusing a police order to move from the doorway.
Larry Bryant, co-chairman of the group, and member Matthew Kavanagh vowed not to move until they could meet with the mayor to discuss their demand that he pare down a three-year waiting list for housing for people with HIV/AIDS.
Bryant, who is HIV-positive, and Kavanagh were part of a procession of about 200 people and five symbolic coffins that were carried from the White House to Freedom Plaza across from the Wilson Building.
There, speakers said Fenty (D) has failed to answer the “wake-up call” from an epidemiology report that said 15,000 adults in the District are HIV-positive, and that the city’s HIV prevalence rate is 3 percent, the highest in the nation, according to the city Department of Health.
We often forget that HIV/AIDS is not just a growing epidemic on other parts of the globe, but it is also an ever growing crisis that has also been plaguing America since the 1980s. In 2006 the HIV virus was estimated by the Center for Disease Control to have infected 1.1 million people in the United States with the number of infections growing at a rate of 56,000 more Americans a year. A recent study, conducted by the World Health Organization, concluded that AIDS is now the leading cause of death and disease for women between the ages of 15 and 44. International AIDS Charity Avert estimated that there were 2 million children under the age of 15 in the world infected with HIV at the end of 2007. AIDS around the globe, including America, is a growing crisis that we as global citizens need to address.
Washington DC has the highest rate of AIDS of any city in the United States. It is estimated that one In 33 DC residents is infected with HIV/AIDS giving DC an infection rate of 3%, though the number is believed to be higher. According to The Washington Post, DC’s infection rate is comparable to San Francisco’s during the height of the AIDS epidemic and has double the infection rate of modern day New York City. The Center for Disease Control views an infection rate of 1% to be a crisis yet the capital the United States has three times that number. 
The nation’s capital is the perfect place to voice our concern and demand an ending to the epidemic, both in DC and abroad. During the start of the Obama administration, many promises regarding AIDS were made. Promises about increased global funding for US Global AIDS programs, access to affordable generic drugs in developing countries, and lifting the federal ban on federal funding of syringe exchange were all broken as none of the promises have materialized.
On December first, World AIDS day, Washington DC will urge the administration to follow through with their promises. In an effort to inspire the US government to take action against the dire condition of the capital city, and in many places around the globe, DC Fights Back (www.dcfightsback.org), along with other groups including AIDemocracy, will be organizing a march/rally starting in Lafayette Park (the White House) at 12 pm and ending in Freedom Plaza at 2 pm. The rally hopes to raise awareness of DC’s and the World’s AIDS crisis and inspire policy changes.
Interested in joining the rally? Just show up at the White House at 12pm on December first, OR for more information on joining the AIDemocracy team during the rally, contact Priti@aidemocracy.org. On Facebook? You can RSVP for the rally and learn more about the issues there, visit: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=187734974082&ref=mf.
The World InSight 