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Black ministers unite to end HIV, AIDS discrimination
CITYSEARCH-SAN DIEGO (CA) (WWW)
Los Angeles, CA
11/18/2001
By Onell R. Soto UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Source Website:
http://sandiego.citysearch.com
She looked for comfort, but found cold stares and silence. Acintia Wright had
just tested positive for HIV, but said members and leaders at the church she attended
turned her away.
"The only person I could talk to was God," she said.
She was hoping they would take her in and understand her.
"Church is like home," she said. "It's like running to your
mother and father."
A group of black ministers hoping to change the reaction people with HIV and
AIDS get in their churches -- and to work at stemming the spread of the virus
-- met yesterday to listen to Wright and others talk about how the disease has
changed their lives.
Many of those ministers have pledged to preach this morning on the topic, said
the Rev. Arthur Cribbs, pastor of the Christian Fellowship United Church of Christ
in Emerald Hills.
"The black church will not stand on the sidelines while black people are
dying," he said, reiterating a pledge signed by about 40 ministers who have
united to battle the epidemic.
The effort, which brings together black preachers, health workers and HIV and
AIDS activists, signals a change in how churches deal with an issue they have
ignored for years, in part because it is acquired through unprotected sex and
intravenous drug use, said Cribbs.
Cribbs has taken a lead in the effort, along with San Diego Urban League President
Cecil Steppe.
A key ingredient, said the Rev. Angela Ware, is for pastors and church members
to avoid judging people with HIV and AIDS. She's read the Bible through-and-through,
she said, "and I never saw anything in there where Jesus asked 'How did you
get sick?' "
Ware is part of The Balm In Gilead Inc., a New York-based organization that
helps black churches nationwide respond to HIV and AIDS.
Because the church is such a central part of African-American life, ministers
have a duty to give their congregants accurate information about how the disease
spreads and how it can be prevented, she said.
"We've got to move past this fear of discussing sexuality," she said.
Cribbs said Ware's group coordinated a June conference in Alabama that inspired
five San Diego ministers who attended to bring together black preachers here on
this topic.
Despite losing friends and family to the disease, Cribbs said he didn't realize
the virus' impact on his community until he heard about women who contracted the
disease from their husbands, and saw the statistics.
In the United States, blacks represent half of all AIDS diagnoses. Although
they are 6 percent of San Diego County's population, blacks account for nearly
16 percent of recent AIDS cases.
Pastors who believe the disease has not touched their congregations are deceiving
themselves, Cribbs said.
"We may not have the virus ourselves, but we are still affected by the
virus," he said.
For William Wright, who tested positive for HIV four years ago, finding acceptance
in a church community was a gift from God.
"Living with HIV in the African-American community often means you're
invisible," he said. "Oftentimes, it means you are alone."
Churches, he said, need to embrace people with HIV and AIDS. "Care,"
he told the pastors meeting at St. Paul United Methodist Church in the Stockton
district of San Diego. "Don't stop loving your friends and loved ones. That's
when they need you the most."
Onell Soto: (760) 476-8211; onell.soto@uniontrib.com
(c) Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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