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Guess what? AIDS may be a global problem, but it still happens here in the United States, too. And if you're person of color, it happens a whole lot. African Americans may represent 12 percent of the total U.S. population, but we were estimated to account for 50 percent of the HIV and AIDS cases diagnosed among adults in 2003.
Think that's bad? Well, if you're a woman of color it gets even worse: black women account for nearly 66% of HIV cases amongst women despite being only 12% of the US population of females.
Stunned? Me too. Want more information about the realities of the disease in the US, and how some pretty remarkable young African Americans are dealing with the epidemic? Check out this program on NPR featuring super-fly journalist Michel Martin. Her guests have a lot to share, and may just convince you that when it comes to HIV, it's not just folks in the third world who are continuing to suffer.
Want to be a journalist? Apparently all you have to do is make shit up.
Alexis Debat, a consultant to ABC News and, until yesterday, a senior fellow at the Nixon Center (counterterrorism is his specialty), has been found to have fabricated a whole host of interviews he claimed to have done with esteemed public figures like Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Alan Greenspan. Though his veracity was challenged before, none of the publications printing his work seemed to take it too seriously until Barack Obama came out swinging over a faked interview that ran in the esteemed French mag, Politique Internationale.
Looks like Jason Blair's bench is getting deeper by the minute.
Most of us think of FGM (female genital mutilation) as a procedure that happens only in darkest Africa. And though its popularity on that continent dwarfs its impact in the west, it remains true that many, many young women who are citizens and residents of non-African nations continue to find themselves at the mercy of this culturally popular but medically unsafe (and unnecessary) procedure.
Given that as many as 66,000 British women are estimated to undergo the procedure this year, it makes all kinds of good sense that the British government would attempt to take action to end the insanity... and that is exactly what they have finally done. A campaign to highlight the problem in Britain will supposedly launch this week; and rewards of 20,000 pounds ($40,000 US) for the capture of suspected FGM practitioners are also on the table.
All of this is good news for the women of Britain--and, with any luck, Africa too... eventually. One thing I learned during my time in Ethiopia last summer is that this is an issue that comes down, quite simply, to education. When women practitioners learn the dangers and the lack of necessity in what they are doing, almost all of them are willing to curtail the practice. But until they are educated, they know no better or different. What would be great is if some of these efforts in Britain (which will mostly target immigrant women and communities) also included some bone fide educational outreach--not only to communities in the UK, but also to encourage sustained dialog on the issue with the home communities back in Africa. The is is a case where thinking globally, and outside of the "standard (punitive) solutions" box, could really save millions of lives.
Last summer, when Jess and I spent about 10 days in Ethiopia with the organization AMREF, we came up with a little joke to make ourselves feel better about our status in a country (nevermind a continent) where our relationship is illegal. We took to calling each other "Criminal Smallz" ("smallz" being our most common nickname for each other), and it's a moniker we still volley about in jest from time to time. For us, by now, it's become a somewhat quaint reminder of our time in Africa; it's an inside joke--but one that's funny, of course, precisely because it's not our daily reality. We got to come home, to New York, where things are (relatively) safe for ladies like us.
Today's article from ColorLines reminded me of just how bad life might be if we had no such home to cling to. I won't enumerate all the terrible things that happen to gay folks in many parts of Africa, but suffice it to say, life is no bowl of cherries. The one ray of hope that activists point to, however, is the rise rise of the Internet, and the sense of community that can provide for isolated gays... Thank God for small favors.
...to give you more information today about the Minnie heiress and her challenge to us all, but that takes a little time to explain and I'm running out the door to a staged reading of a play called Walmartopia, here in NYC. So in the meantime, take a look at my friend Eva's blog post on child soldiers in Sierra Leone. She's a producer for World News Tonight and had the opportunity to interview Ishmael Beah, author of that book you've seen for sale in every Starbucks across America. Amazing what life can be like for folks. (More on the philanthropy stuff on Monday, I swear it.)
My neighbor, who works with UNIFEM, let me know about an event taking place this coming Monday, March 5, at the UN. The panel, entitled "Stop Rape Now" will take up the issue of what the UN can do "to intensify its efforts to end sexual violence in conflict." Panelists will include: Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; General Daniel Opande, UN Force Commander, Liberia and Sierra Leone; Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues; Sapana Pradhan Malla, Director, Forum from Women, Law and Development; and will be moderated by CNN anchor Isha Sesay.
The event is scheduled to take place in Conference Room 4 of the General Assembly Building at UN Headquarters in NY, and will run from 1:15 to 2:45 pm. Guests who do not have a UN pass must pre-register for the event by emailing: gaella.mortel@unifem.org.
Take the time to lend the folks at UNIFEM your support on this important issue.
Last night after getting our Heroes fix, Jessica and I watched Oprah's prime-time special on the founding of her new Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Call me predictable ('cause I am), but I was utterly and profoundly moved by what Oprah has done in giving these girls nothing short of the education they truly deserve. The lives of each of the girls she selected to attend the Academy is a lesson to each of us about all that we take for granted, and Oprah's generosity in providing for the well-being of their bodies, minds and souls is, simply put, awe inspiring. To be able to change lives on such a grand level is clearly rewarding for Oprah, but I imagine that the bigger reward--for her and for humanity--will be seeing how many other people of privilege (which means most of us in the Western world) will be moved to be generous as well, thanks to her own good deeds.
So Oprah is my hero for today. Anybody who chooses to do, and inspire, that much good, definitely deserves our applause. The special will be airing again this Saturday, March 3rd at 8pm EST--check it out, and keep your Kleenex close at hand.
Good thing I don't live in Egypt: According to this column in The Washington Post, a 22 year old blogger named Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman is sitting in an Egyptian prison as we speak, all for the crime of "expressing his opinions on a blog." He's due to be sentenced tomorrow, not that he's had any reliable access to his lawyers during the time of his imprisonment (he first appeared in court on Nov. 7). He's been accused of a number of things since being ordered to court, including "spreading information disruptive of public order", but his great sin, in the eyes of the Egyptian government is most likely connected to the fact that Soliman is well acknowledged as a champion of the rights of women and religious minorities. He has also denounced religious extremism, and in certain places in this world, it turns out (and we should remember) that is enough to justify terminating your freedom.
To learn more about Soliman's case and how to speak out in support of him, visit: http://www.freekareem.org
Guess what? AIDS may be a global problem, but it still happens here in the United States, too. And if you're person of color, it happens a whole lot. African Americans may represent 12 percent of the total U.S. population, but we were estimated to account for 50 percent of the HIV and AIDS cases diagnosed among adults in 2003.
