National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - Action Must Replace Silence & Stigma

"When looking at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity alone, Blacks have more illness and more deaths than any other group.  Blacks represent 13% of the U.S. population and account for 44% of all new HIV infections and 46% of people living with HIV.  Survival time after an AIDS diagnosis is lower on average than it is for most other racial/ethnic groups.  Blacks accounted for 57% of HIV-related deaths in 2006."

"Why aren’t more people angry that our young people are getting minimal education/information that can prevent new HIV infections? Where has all the money for prevention interventions, treatment and care gone? Where have all the collective action and zeal from the beginning of the epidemic gone?"

" A critical mass is needed to change the course of HIV in Black America—schools, churches, civic organizations are all important partners in this effort. I’m committed to doing everything I can and encourage you to join me as we get to Zero New Infections."

Read Stephanie's full post here National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Israel, Palestine and America's Compassion

Unless you've been under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you know that there has been an ugly war going on between Israel and Palestine, possibly the deadliest since 2008/2009. In one airstrike, an Israeli bomb hit the home of Jamal Dalu killing his wife, sister, two daughters, daughter-in-law, four grandchildren and his grandmother.

As I watched the devastation of the war and the response, or lack thereof on social networks, my mind reminded me of Trayvon Martin, Hurricane Sandy and its' aftermath and how Americans rallied together to support and comfort one another; Then I wondered, where is our compassion for Palestine?

Day after day various news reports rolled in on Gaza and I could not understand how people weren't moved by this war. One would think that the loss of lives is reason enough to be concerned, but, perhaps it's different when the lives lost aren't those of American citizens.

How can we live in America and see abuse, poverty, and injustice in other countries and be indifferent about it? Have we become desensitized to the ills of this world or is it that we just don't care until it directly affects us? Are our minds so narrow that we only focus on what's directly in front of us, making us incapable of being concerned with the sufferings of others?

We talk of being a great nation, but how can that happen if we fail to look beyond our own backyards.
To be this great nation, our compassion must extend beyond America and to our brothers and sisters in, what we may consider, foreign lands.To be a great nation, we must truly care for our neighbors, for all of humanity, all of the time; not just when wars or natural disasters happen. To be a great nation, our hearts must be in tune with the broader concerns of humanity and not just our individual concerns. 

We cannot prosper as a people, nation or world when we see people dying and we choose to look the other way because it doesn't 'concern' us. We must start caring enough to care for others.

America, put humanity at the forefront of your mind and let's see how far we can go, together.

Kim Moore
Email: Kim@soulrevision.org
Twitter: @SoulRevision

What About November 7, 2012 ... The Day After The Election

What you do tomorrow, matters!

A couple of weeks ago I tuned into The League of Young Voters event and the most profound thing I heard came from a powerful activist, Rosa Clemente. The statement was a simple, thought-provoking call to action, "Voting is in 12 days, but what are you going to do on the 13th day?"

Well, election day is here. You went to the polls, you cast your vote, great! November 7, 2012 comes, now what will you do?

Veterans will still need jobs, students will still need financial assistance to go to college, what are you going to do to ensure that this can and will happen?

That change that we so desperately seek, the change we have so desperately longed for; it happens as a nation working together. What you do or don't do tomorrow, matters. The work doesn't stop at the polls; the work cannot stop today. The campaign for jobs, change, women's rights, veterans, college students, immigrants and other social issues must go on.

We have an individual responsibility to challenge our elected officials and see to it that they keep their word. It is our accountability that helps make our leaders great. But it is not the President alone that we must hold accountable; our local officials, as well as ourselves must be held to that same standard.

Your candidate will either win or lose today, but regardless of the outcome, what will you do tomorrow?

If we should see tomorrow, what will you do to ensure that our new President, whether he was your choice or not, upholds the promises he's made to America? What will you do to ensure that the Mayor of your city acts in your cities best interest? What will you do personally to implement the changes you would like to see on a local level?

If November 7th comes and we go back to doing nothing, we will have defeated our purpose at the polls today. Remember, change is an ongoing process that requires constant and consistent action from the collective!

Let's maintain continuity by continuing tomorrow what we started today, because the day after the election matters just as much as election day.

Kim Moore
Email: Kim@soulrevision.org
Twitter: @SoulRevision

The Bystander Effect

Bystander: One present but not taking part in a situation or event; a chance spectator

The Bystander Effect: A phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress. When an emergency situation occurs, observers are more likely to take action if there are few or no other witnesses.

In 2010, a good samaritan saved a woman from a mugger with a knife, he (the good samaritan) was then stabbed multiple times in the chest and collapsed on the sidewalk. Within an hour and 20 minutes more than 25 people walked by and did NOTHING and in one case a man took a picture with his cell phone. 

The bystander effect is more than just standing around watching as someone is hurt and not offering assistance; it's also about watching injustice happen and choosing to remain silent, it's about driving past the homeless and feeling 'sorry' for them but never being compelled to act on their behalf, it's about knowing that someone is suffering from an addiction and choosing to say 'that's their problem'.We, as a nation, have in some ways become apathetic to the issues of this world, and our apathy is killing us!

I am of the opinion that if you see wrong, injustice etc and you willing choose to do nothing about it, you are guilty of inaction.

The Bystander Effect

The next time you see abuse happening, the next time you see a poverty-ridden community, or even if you hear about the famine in Somalia, or the lack of resources in Haiti... DO SOMETHING! There are victims that are depending on you to be a voice for them when theirs has been silenced. Make the conscious decision not to standby any longer. ACT, and act now!

As of August 2011, 29,000 kids under the age of 5 have died in Somalia due to the famine

Our action doesn't always have to be money oriented. I personally believe it's the accumulation of a large amount of small acts of kindness that will help to change this world. It doesn't cost any money to stop and help the elderly woman you see struggling with her groceries, nor does it cost any money to sign a petition to protect funding for clean water, but yet, we don't do these things.

All it takes are a large number of small acts of kindness

My ongoing question for 2012 will be, 'What role will you play?'. We spend too much time standing by and complaining about our current state of affairs but not enough time DOING something about it. If your community is infested with violence, what role will you play to make your community safe? If programs are being cut at your local schools, what role will you play to save or create new programs for the students? If the parks in your community are unsafe for your children, what role will you play in helping to clean them up?

Stop watching while people around you are hurting. Don't be a bystander, get involved!

World AIDS Day 2011: What Role Will You Play?

One million people are living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and one out of five of those living with the virus are unaware of their status. We are now in our 30^th year since the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported - which has claimed nearly 30 million lives to date. Thankfully, with time, researchers and doctors have been able to study the virus and develop medications to combat HIV at various stages of its life cycle, which has led to more desirable outcomes in individuals infected with HIV which include: prolonged life, HIV virus suppression and an increase in CD4 cells (cells that help fight off infection).

While medications have helped in the fight against HIV, there are still many obstacles that we must overcome. The epidemic has changed drastically since its discovery; what once was seen as a “gay, white man’s disease” has come to be a global disease that has infected everyone from our most precious babies to our most delicate, senior citizens. Even more-so, there have been particular ethnic groups that have been hard hit by this epidemic.

African Americans make up a mere 12% of the U.S. population but account for almost half (44%) of all new HIV infections. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that 1 in 16 black men and 1 in 32 black women will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lives, and as a black woman I can tell you, that, is one too many! For this reason I decided to join the fight six years ago because I refused to sit back and watch my peers become infected.

We’ve done an excellent job of talking about the medications and stressing the fact that people are living longer than ever with HIV, but we’ve forgotten to mention that people are still dying from this disease and it’s happening daily.

The CDC along with many other local community based organizations have made great strides in fighting HIV, and for the first time ever, a president, OUR president, has created a National HIV/AIDS Strategy to proactively address the epidemic. Many of us that work in the field have been tasked with finding innovative ways to implement the strategy in an effort to reduce new HIV infections, increase access to care for those living with HIV and reduce the number of HIV related health disparities.

All of the paid work that we do around HIV has been great but some of the most amazing work has happened at the grassroots level from concerned individuals who have simply cared enough to act. That being said, I am making a plea to everyone who reads this…

I urge you to get involved on any level! We can all be advocates and fight for those who are not quite ready to fight for themselves. Your voice matters, it always has, and always will! Use it to educate yourself, friends, family and associates, use it to reduce stigma, and use it to help prevent another infection from happening. Take to your respective platforms, be it your social networks, community groups, churches and other faith-based institutions or school body associations, and join me in being a voice for the voiceless!

Take responsibility, take control of your health, be proactive! Ask your partner what their status is and get tested together and if you are engaging in sexual activity, use a condom! From this day forward, I ask you, what role will you play?

For more information about HIV and AIDS, visit www.aids.gov and for free and confidential testing sites throughout the U.S. visit www.hivtest.org