LEVY ON AIDS

HOW I CAME TO DOUBT HIV=AIDS=DEATH!

I found out I had the so-called HIV virus in 1991. After the initial shock, I tried to live with the dogma that HIV=AIDS=DEATH. It wasn’t easy especially for an addict. I relapsed like most addicts do after discovering they have an incurable fatal disease. The drug abuse lead to crime and I ultimately got busted in 1992. I did some time in jail. I got a first hand view of AIDS in prison. Prisoners thought AIDS could be transmitted by touch. AIDS is called the ‘monster’. ‘Monster’ is an apt description of AIDS considering that ‘monsters’ are figments of ones imagination. Indeed, I believe that the AIDS crisis is over in America. But in the early 90s, I still believed the accepted dogma. Upon my release from jail, I read everything I could get on HIV/AIDS. I read books by activists, doctors, social works, people living with HIV/AIDS, and others that were very informative in understanding the AIDS epidemic. I became a self taught AIDS Educator and activist. In 1996, I founded the BLACK AND LATINO AIDS COALITION, Inc. (BLAC). BLAC was a not–for- profit voluntary organization. BLAC’s mission was to slow and/or stop the spread of HIV in communities of color particularly among heterosexuals. The old-line New York City AIDS organizations like Gay Men Health Crisis, Bronx Health Force, Body Positive, and Momentum embraced us. We were ‘grass roots’ and ‘militant’ some said. They hadn’t seen anything like us since Act Up, the militant gay AIDS organization. The feelings were mutual. We adopted the most popular beliefs that ‘everyone is at risk for HIV, that testing HIV positive meant we would soon get AIDS and die, and that our only hope was to take ‘AIDS drugs’ without question. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta said AIDS was the leading cause of death among heterosexual women and men of color between the ages of 24 and 40 in 1995. This fact was frightening at the time. We got busy. We educated hundreds of people to practice safe sex or abstinence. Our efforts were recognized when we won a City One Award that praised our efforts to get people to test for HIV. However, two events changed my beliefs about AIDS. First, I discovered the ‘AIDS Industry’. It’s about greed and money. It’s survival of the fittest in New York City where the older financially and politically connected AIDS Service Organizations unfairly compete for AIDS dollars against the smaller organizations who don’t have expertise, money, or connections. You must go along with the big AIDS Organizations on policy and methodology to get them to O.K. funding for your organization. Supporting unpopular political policies or alternative AIDS theories can not only prevent your organization from getting funding. It can end friendships and create lifelong enemies. I got into trouble on both points. I supported the New York HIV Surveillance and Partner Notification Legislation and advocated that Abstinence for teenagers is HIV Prevention that works. I was blacklisted. I felt alienated and not part of the AIDS community so I joined Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in 2000. I served on his cabinet as Chair of the Health Committee. At our weekly meetings with Rev. Sharpton, my view point returned to other pressing problems in the Harlem community like police brutality, substandard housing, unemployment, drug abuse, particularly the rising use of crack, unequal health care, and a general sense of alienation. Rev. Sharpton and some old timers in his organization put together an AIDS Conference to examine alternative HIV/AIDS theories. The events open my mind to alternative theories about HIV and AIDS. Afterward, I spent two years doing independent research. HEAL in New York City was a major source of information that questioned the basic beliefs of the AIDS establishment. I began to understand that the so-called HIV virus was one thing and AIDS was another thing. Furthermore, I came to believe that HIV did not by itself cause AIDS. At that point, I decided to disband BLAC New York. I became totally turned off with the AIDS establishment. I began looking for other people who questions the AIDS dogma. It didn't take long to see the real people at risk for HIV: Homosexual people, IV drug users, and poor black and Latino heterosexual women and men. HIV does disproportionately affect poor people of color i.e. HIV does discriminate. I began to question the effectiveness of the chemotherapy after my brother died from liver cancer caused by the toxic drugs. He had an undetectable  viral load at his death.  I never took the chemotherapy. And, I have been in good health since testing positive in 1991. The gay community in the 80s created the politics of fear and desperation that shapes our policies today. But today, the AIDS crisis is over in America and there is no need for the fear. Unfortunately, the gay community has become inflexible, non-inclusive, and unequal when it comes to sharing AIDS power, money, and politics with anybody who disagrees with the ‘AIDS dogma’. More important, the AIDS Community has become a partner in a ‘HIV=AIDS=DEATH’ hoax. Some Activists and professional social workers spread fear each year based on the old 80s reality of the AIDS crisis. The goal is to get more money for old prevention efforts that have failed to slow the spread of HIV in communities of color. The people financially benefiting by the prevention hoax are the usual suspects. They have been around since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic saying the same old things. Just as important, the AIDS community is unwilling to question the old HIV=AIDS=DEATH dogma and thereby stop unnecessary suffering and death. Last year I discovered Alive and Well, a Los Angeles based organization that introduce me to hundreds of scientists, researchers, and activists who do not agree with the AIDS establishments view on HIV and AIDS. Today, I am on the 'other side of AIDS'. My views get me called a denialist. That is ok with me. I would much rather be called names than to be a part of what might be the greatest medical fraud in history.

COMING OUT OF THE SHADOWS!
SEXUAL ADDICTION: THE ENGINE DRIVING HIV AMONG D & L BLACK AND LATINO MEN

My friend says 'gay' and 'bi-sexual' labels have cultural and social meanings that are restrictive and bias. They come with too much emotional baggage attached, he says. "I am metro sexual," Nicky says "I  date  men or women depending on my physical attraction to them and to the degree they fit my other dating criterion.  I date a person without regard to their gender or sexual orientation, he said. Yea. Sure. My friend Nicky is a bi-sexual black man living with HIV. Period. A horse by any other name ?  He is addicted to drugs and recently he recognized his sex addiction. First things first. He has a primary relationship with a woman. She has been with him for twenty years. They are separated but it is a typical heterosexual relationship. He has occasional sex with her and they enjoy being together. They have two kids. She doesn't know about his bi-sexuality. Nicky is on the D and L.  'Down Low' is a term used to refer to 'straight' men who have sex with men. A few years ago D.L. King wrote the book 'On The Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of 'Straight' Black men who sleep with men." King exposed a closeted culture of sex between black men who lead straight lives. King all but blames D L men for the abnormally high rate of HIV infection among straight black men. I believe anal sex is an important ingredient but the book was very helpful in giving other D L men an opportunity to let go of the lies. But, the book does not explain what drives D L men to hook up with other brothers in the first place. King said 'It's like something that overtakes you. It's insanity."  Another D L brother agrees. "It's like a demonic spirit has come into both of you, and that passion is not who you are." It's the 'Devil made me do it' excuse.  Bullshit. Nicky grew up with the traditional macho belief systems and bias against gay men. Many Black men are blocked by racism from taking on the traditional roles of manhood, i.e. they are not able to compete fairly in the job market, to be the provider for their kids, and many are not able to be the kind of man society says they should be. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a black writer says:
"Many of them, mostly young black and Latino males, have become especially adept at acting out their frustrations at white society's denial of their "manhood" by adopting an exaggerated "tough guy" role. They swagger, boast, curse, fight and commit violent self-destructive acts. The accessibility of drugs, and guns, and the influence of misogynist, violent-laced rap songs also reinforce the deep feeling among many youth that life is cheap and easy to take, and there will be minimal consequences for their action as long as their victims are other young blacks or Latinos. And as long as the attackers regard their victims as weak, vulnerable, and easy pickings they will continue to kill and maim with impunity.

The other powerful ingredient in the deadly mix of youth violence is the drug plague. Drug trafficking not only provides illicit profits but also makes the gun play even more widespread. Gang members use their arsenals to fend off attacks, protect their profits from hostile predators, and to settle scores with rivals. Many drive-by shootings have been directly traced to busted drug deals, and competition over markets and disputes over turf. Often innocent victims are caught in gang shoot-outs thus further fortifying the conviction that inner city streets are depraved war zones.

It's not just drugs and hopelessness that drive young men, especially young black men, to kill and dodge bullets. The huge state and federal cutbacks in job training and skills programs, the brutal competition for low and semi skilled service and retail jobs from immigrants, and the refusal of many employers to hire those with criminal records have sledge hammered black communities. The unemployment rate of young black males is double, and in some parts of the country, triple that of white males. Their high unemployment rate is made worse by Bush's retrograde tax cuts, and budget slashes."

There is one other ingredient Mr. Huchinson didn't mention. Many young black and Latino men seek sexual conquest as a way of achieving manhood. Our macho society 'perceive men with unending string of lovers' as an indication of a man's machismo. This ability to seduce more and more women may be envied or, at the minimum, regarded as normal. It controls young black and Latino men. In other words, their sexual addiction is the engine that informs their beliefs and guides their life.  Let me explain.
Sexual addiction is a hidden and little understood addiction in the black and Latino community. It is not my purpose to discuss in full sexual addictions but it is important to understand some of the behavior. "A way to understand sexual addicts is to compare them with other types of addicts. A common definition of alcoholism or drug dependence is that a person has a pathological relationship with a mood altering chemical. The alcoholic relationship with alcohol becomes more important than family, friends, and work. The relationship progresses to the point where alcohol is necessary to feel normal. To feel 'normal' for the alcoholic is also to feel isolated and lonely since the primary relationship he depends upon to feel adequate is a chemical, not other people. The sexual addiction is parallel. The addict substitutes a sick relationship to an event or process for a healthy relationship with others," says Patrick Carnes, Ph. D in the book 'Out Of The Shadows…Understanding Sexual Addiction'. "Addicts progressively  go through stages in which they retreat further from the reality of friends, family, and work. Their secret lives become more real than their public lives.  Only the individual addict know the shame of living a double life - the real world and the addict's world." Dr. Carnes describes how an addicts core belief system is faulty and leads to distorted views of reality. Nicky like other sexual addicts uses many devises to deny to themselves and others  that there is a problem.
"Sexual addiction can manifest itself in a heterosexual relationship in a number of ways. Some addicts seek refuge in multiple relationships." Nicky has several relationships outside of his primary one. They are heterosexual and homosexual. "Cruising is one of the ultimate activities for the desperate addict. Hustling in bars, streets, and parties is characterized by the contrast of excitement and loneliness," Dr. Carnes  explains.  Nicky, for example, was a addict whose cruising was fused with his other life as an AIDS Educator.  His knowledge of HIV and his ability to communicate it made him a outreach worker in high demand. This served as a cover for his other life. 'I cruised at GAY MENS HEALTH CRISIS', MOMENTUM, and the BI-SEXUAL, GAY, LESBIAN, AND TRANS GENDER CENTER," Nicky says, "All the time." One day some guy and me connected with our eyes at the GMHC lunch. I whispered to him to meet me in the bathroom on the 10th floor. We met and engaged in unprotected oral sex in the bathroom. Nicky's addiction is even more complicated for him because he, like many other men, consider themselves heterosexual, but are sexually compulsive in homosexual ways.  Nicky, for example, saw himself as happily married.  After finding out he was HIV, he went through a particularly stressful period that triggered his sexual addiction.  He got involved with a man in a restroom in at a big retail department store. He repeated the experience a couple of days later. Within a few months, Nicky was a regular in the 'pick up bars'. In time Nicky expanded into xxx porno shops, meeting men at the AIDS Service Organizations. The fact many black and latino men and women are sex addicts and drug addicts is not known in our community. We need to address the sexual addictive behavior. Many men self identified as heterosexual, compulsively cruise gay men to satisfy their sexual addiction. Lets talk about it.

NYC's NEW AIDS CZAR UNROLLS CONDOM PLAN!
Can distributing condoms slow the spread of HIV?
                                                                              
(Harlem,NY)  In this hot Mayoral election year, a New York City Newspaper reported last week that the Bloomberg Administration is launching a major program to distribute free condoms 'to prevent the spread of HIV'. Back in early January, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden named Dr. Scott Kellerman as the point man of the newly revamped bureau of HIV and AIDS prevention. "We need to cover this city in latex,' said Kellerman, a noted HIV expert from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  He called it "ridiculous that condoms aren't available in places where alcohol is sold and where people may meet and take drugs before heading off to have sex." I agree with him 100%.  But do we need to blanket the city with condoms? What message will this wide spread condom distribution effort send to our youth? Shouldn't we offer black and Latino youth another choice in addition to safe sex and condoms like abstaining from sex until marriage? I think so.  As a matter of fact, it's strange that President Bush is promoting faith-based abstinence but Kellerman hasn't said much about it.

Is everyone equally at risk to get HIV?  I don't think so. Contrary to popular belief, the populations most at risk for HIV are the same ones who got HIV at the beginning of the epidemic: gay men, poor black and Latino men and women, and drug users. And, let's not forget the high number of Caribbean and Africans at risk for HIV in New York City. I am sure Kellerman knows that many HIV activists including myself have worked in the black and Latino community for years to educate the at risk populations about HIV. We distributed millions of free condoms in our neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the rates of new HIV cases in communities of color continued to climb.

Truth be told, many black men most at risk don't and won't use condoms regardless of their availability. We should keep targeting condoms to at risk people of color but a new and additional approach is needed. What if we focus extra attention on the people living with HIV?  What if we go to the AIDS clinics, AIDS organizations, and drug treatment programs and target prevention education to HIV positive people, educate them to be responsible and teach them how to use condoms? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been promoting an initiative to educate positive people about safe sex at the AIDS clinics. Couldn't we also use the 'HIV Stops With Me' project as a model for reaching more HIV positive people?

Kellerman says that the message of safe sex continues to be an important tool. "The messages are pretty simple and always have been," he says, "If you have sex and you don't know the status of your partner use condoms. I think we need to sit back and think why aren't these messages getting through now." I agree but Mr. Kellerman is a gay white man. Does he have a particular insight or marketing strategy for reaching the mostly poor black and Latino heterosexual and homosexual men and women most at risk?  Is he reaching out to the on the ground HIV leaders and minority marketing agencies for help?  I haven't heard he was at community meetings in Harlem, the South Bronx, or Bed-stuy explaining his HIV Prevention strategy to the grass roots folks.

Back in 1998,  Ravinia Hayes-Cozier from the Harlem Directors Group (a past Assistant Commissioner of the NYC Department of Health  HIV and AIDS  Prevention Department), Sunni Rumsey, a prior director of prevention from Health Force, a major peer driven HIV organization in the Bronx,  and  I met with Dr. Neal Cohen,  the Health Commissioner at the time and discussed an media based HIV prevention/health promotion campaign targeting New York City black and Latino communities. The meeting established the need and we gave them general ideas about how to develop a media campaign based on black and Latino cultural and community images. But, the white gay dominated HIV prevention department decided to mostly target the gay community with a media campaign. The ultimate campaign was highlighted by posters in bus stops depicting two gay black men advising the 'straight community' to use condoms. The black community did not like or support the effort.  Was the apparent refocus on targeting the gay community with our media campaign ideas based on HIV surveillance data or the result of the gay communities powerful influence over AIDS prevention policy and their reluctance to relinquish control? Whatever the case, over the following five years, HIV in the black community among heterosexuals has exploded. In 2005, it doesn't look like Kellerman will focus the proper attention and resources on communities of color either.

Kellerman has been talking about HIV in the gay community and not enough about HIV in the black and Latino community. He said at a press conference, "Among gay men there are some alarming trends. The number of infections are starting to go up a little bit because of certain behaviors and the use of crystal meth." He was talking about the use of crystal meth in the downtown Manhattan gay community and unsafe sexual activities (insertive and receptive anal sex without a condom). Kellerman believes meth use is a topic that needs to be discussed more openly. Obviously, the gay community must be included in any citywide HIV prevention effort. But, doesn't crack cocaine and other substances popular in communities of color need to be discussed more openly too?

Marjorie Hill, who is black, was the city's commissioner of AIDS services before Kellerman. Her policies were more of the same failed prevention efforts of the past. Nevertheless, she was a woman of color who was sensitive to issue of HIV and AIDS in communities of color. She resigned in November of last year amid rumors about tension between her and Mayor Bloomberg. At the time, many activists, particularly those working in communities of color, were concerned at her departure. Housing Works, a major HIV housing organization in New York City, said in an open letter to Commissioner Friedman that four white men, HIV status unknown, " serve as the primary decision makers on AIDS policy and funding for a population where over 75 percent of men and 90 percent of women living with AIDS and HIV here in NYC are people of color."  Is Commissioner Friedman aware of the facts? If he is aware, why did he hire a gay white man to head up his HIV prevention effort?

Kellerman also wants to focus some of his $200 million dollar a year budget on people who do not know their HIV status. "About one in four of people are walking around and don't know they are infected," he said. "We would really like to focus in on those people so they can know their health status and get some treatment."  I agree. In 1998, I was a One City Award recipient by the Citizens Committee for New York. I won the award for organizing the first annual 'Staying Alive' HIV test day in the Bronx .We tested hundreds of people of color at risk for HIV. Obviously, New York City can do a better job than me of coordinating a citywide testing day using the rapid HIV test that has become widely available.  We should set aside one day of the month for citywide HIV testing. How about declaring the last Monday of each month HIV testing day?   Will black and Latino political and religious leaders seriously get behind a citywide effort to test as many people as possible for HIV?

Last but certainly not least, shouldn't Kellerman get behind partner notification?  In 1998, the New York legislature submitted a bill I supported to encourage newly diagnosed HIV positive people to notify their sexual partners. The gay community vehemently opposed the bill. Nevertheless, the bill became law. The health department has not put a serious effort behind communicating the importance of partner notification. As a matter of fact, some insiders with personal agenda's at the health department have undermined the partner notification law. Indeed, you don't hear any media effort to educate the public about the partner notification law and the need for people to cooperate. I have said time and time again, we need to design our HIV prevention strategies based on a serious rethinking of the HIV=AIDS=DEATH dogma.  You 'heard'?

Changing from Democrat To Independent to win the war against HIV

(HARLEM, NY) I have taken a closer look at where we are today after years of supporting the national and local HIV prevention effort. New York City is my focus. It is the epicenter of HIV so my findings have relevance to other urban communities of color across America.  From the onset, lets be clear and truthful. An entrenched gay dominated 'network' of powerful AIDS administrators from the 80s create and control AIDS policy in New York City and the Nation.  Their primary prevention strategy is safe sex education and condom distribution. We've put over 20 years and $118 billion into their present HIV strategy. We've got no cure, no vaccine, and very little progress on prevention.  Nevertheless, the Democratic Party has been blindly supporting this failed HIV prevention effort for years. Their refusal to seek out new and inspiring ideas in HIV prevention from on the ground HIV leaders is why I began looking more seriously at the Republican and Independent party.

First, I looked closely at the Republicans HIV prevention strategy.  Nationally, the Republican Party is promoting faith based abstinence programs. I have publicly said many times that abstaining from sex until marriage is teenage HIV protection that works. In 2003, the Bush administration awarded more than $1 billion to hundreds of faith based groups, some of which hadn't received such public funds in the past. For anyone living in another part of the country, a billionaire Democrat turned Republican named Michael Bloomberg is Mayor of New York City. Regardless of his Republican affiliation,  I can't find any press release or policy statement giving the Mayor's  position on faith based initiatives. The Mayor's health department is largely silent on the faith based initiatives too. Whatever the Mayor's position, I realize abstinence by and of itself will not stop the spread of HIV in urban communities of color. Much more is needed. However, a faith based teenage abstinence program does challenge our teens to a higher standard.   

The New York City Mayor in 2003 put together a commission of 'diverse individuals' to provide him with guidance on how to improve HIV prevention.  For reasons beyond my understanding, the members selected are the same individuals responsible for the failed prevention effort of the  Democrats.  Not surprisingly, I could find no fresh ideas or policy that came from the 'Commission.'  They primarily sought more money for the safe sex programs of the past. They also pushed the Mayor to launch the 'Faces of AIDS' awareness campaign. Is there anyone in New York City not aware of HIV and AIDS today? And how have these efforts fared? At the recent 2005 international AIDS conference, it was revealed that nearly three-quarters of the reported cases were from New York City. Among those cases, a striking 81% of new HIV infection were among black and Latinos. Shockingly, the HIV infection rate among African-Americans has doubled.  Without a question, the data says the current HIV prevention effort has failed. 

It is unfortunate that the Republican Mayor gets his advise from  the same 'network' of AIDS administrators responsible for the Democrat supported  prevention efforts that have failed so far to stop or slow the spread of HIV in communities of color. Clearly, the Mayor needs to hear from new  'independent' black leadership  on stopping the spread of HIV in communities of color. People who think 'outside the box'.I attended two community forums in Harlem to hear the Mayor's most vocal supporter Dr. Lenora Fulani, a founding member of the New York State Independence Party.  She talked about her support for New York City's Mayor Bloomberg's re election campaign and his plans. I listen without taking a position but one thing Dr. Fulani said resonated with me.  She pointed out the fact that grass roots leaders like myself 'on the second and third rungs of politics' are largely ignored by the Democrats. She said 'the 2005 political season has set up an important opportunity for Black and Latino activists to 'create a new and independent leadership coalition that can take our communities and the city as a whole beyond the compromises and constraints of the old guard leadership.'  She spoke directly to me when she said getting Mayor Bloomberg reelected in New York City 'with a big vote on the Independent Party's Column C means that my political clout grows for the second term and beyond.'

I have joined the Independent party based on that hope and vision.  If Michael Bloomberg wins a second term as a result of independent supporters like me, I want to set at the table with the HIV leaders from the 80s and promote a complete accounting of their HIV prevention efforts from top to bottom. I  believe the evidence will show that mistaken beliefs, wrong thinking, and inflexibility has contributed to our present situation. In other words, let's rethink  HIV prevention by questioning all the old assumptions about HIV and AIDS. Yes, it is time for a change. Peace out.

PROFESSOR WANGARI MAATHAI

The first black African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize gets attacked by AIDS Establishment

The March 2005 POZ magazine, the gay lifestyle magazine that claims to be the premiere HIV magazine in America, carried an article by Lucile Scott accusing the first black African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize of preaching AIDS conspiracy. Professor Maathai found herself in a controversy after a Nairobi newspaper quoted from a talk she made to a group of constituents, in which she appeared to say that AIDS had been intentionally created by "evil scientists" to kill black Africans. The AIDS establishment and other supporters of the 'green monkey' theory of the origin of HIV went ballistic. Apparently, Ms. Scott was angry with Peter Piot of UNIAIDS for enlisting Sister Maathai to help reduce African HIV rates. Before I respond to this obvious attempt to discredit Professor Maathai, let me introduce her to some of us who don't know this exceptional black woman. She was born in 1940 and has three children. Her former husband, whom she divorced in the 1980s, was said to have remarked that she was "too educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn and too hard to control." In the late 1980s, she became a prominent opponent of a skyscraper planned for the middle of the Kenya capitals main park, Uhuru Park. She was vilified by President Daniel arap Moi's government but succeeded in thwarting the plans. Wangari Maathai rose to prominence fighting for those most easily marginalized in Africa, poor women. A pioneering academic, her role as an environment campaigner began after she planted some trees in her back garden. This inspired her in 1977 to form an organization, primarily of women, known as the Green Belt Movement. It aimed to curtail the devastating effects of deforestation and desertification. Her campaign to mobilize poor women to plant some 30 million trees has been copies by other countries. More recently, she evolved into a leading campaigner on social matters. Fast forward to March 2005. It didn't take a second for the powerful AIDS establishment to jump on this black woman. Let me respond to the accusation first and then the AIDS establishment’s opposition to any difference of opinion or theory about AIDS. In a Jan. 25, 2005 interview with Jeffrey Brown on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Professor Maathai was asked about her alleged remark. She said, "I want to clearly say that I was completely misrepresented, that I didn’t say that and I don’t believe it. There are people who are experts. I would, I should really leave the discussions of the nature of the virus, where it came from, how it behaves, to the experts. I’m not an expert. I do not claim any knowledge whatsoever. But I was completely quoted out of context, trying to respond to questions that people ask as you try to tell them how they should protect themselves." So, there you go. She didn't say it although I wish she had said it. I would be the first black man to come to her defense if she did. The AIDS establishment has a history of beating up on African people who disagree with the HIV=AIDS=DEATH dogma. Remember when South African's President Thabo Mbeki dared to question the AIDS dogma at the International AIDS conference in Durban? The South African president said that AIDS was a disease caused by poverty, not by HIV. There seemed to be a worldwide outcry at the time. Lately, President Mbeki stepped up the emotional controversy over his country's response to AIDS, saying Africans should chart their own course on the disease with help from, among others, scientists who dispute the prevailing views in the West on the causes and treatments of the disease. Avowing skepticism about the relevance of Western medical models to the "uniquely African catastrophe" of AIDS, Mbeki wrote in hand-addressed letters that it "would constitute a criminal betrayal of our responsibility to our own people" to mimic foreign approaches to treating the disease. He insisted on South Africa's right to consult dissident scientists who deny that the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, causes AIDS. And he accused unnamed foreign critics of launching a "campaign of intellectual intimidation and terrorism" akin to medieval book burnings and 'the racist apartheid tyranny we opposed." I wholeheartingly agree. I can't add anything to what Mbeki said except to say that the powerful AIDS establishment is based here in the U.S. and contrary to what we might be told by them, there is growing opposition to their AIDS dogma by scientists, experts, and activists. Let us be open minded in the black community and not inflexible to different theories and beliefs despite the threats from those who are bought by AIDS money. Professor Wangari Maathia said, "No one can underestimate the challenge that the tragedy of HIV/AIDS puts before all countries. Nowhere is the devastation been greater than in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods to alleviate the suffering and, hopefully, find a cure require our full commitment. For too long, discussing HIV/AIDS in our communities has been taboo. This must end." Right on sister.

He Made A Difference!

Harry was a great talker. He would always share a funny common experience that would bring everyone closer together. He was like that.  But, he was inflexible about some things -- like the need to abstain from drug use completely. Harry died on September, 1999, at the age of 53.  He died of liver cancer. The toxic effects of the mutilple diseases of Hep C, addiction, and AIDS, multiplied by that of the new AIDS drugs, finally destroyed his liver. The cancer sapped his strength, his fire, but never his determination to survive. He struggled to get up from his sickbed right until the end. Finally, he fell into a coma for the last few days of his life.

It was painful for me, but this is not a story of Harry's last days. This is a tribute to Harry's triumph over drug use and AIDS. It's one man's story of living life on life's terms.                        

Drugs

There were ten of us kids. Harry was the second oldest. Next was me, then Dot, Rick, and so on, with a couple of years between.

Harry, Rick and I were close. When Harry was 17, he started hanging out in the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, and experimenting with alcohol and drugs. Heroin was his drug of choice. Harry became a white-collar criminal, specializing in stolen check and credit cards to support his heroin habit. Three stays in prison sharpened his forgery skills, and he traveled across the country living off forged checks. In 1977, Harry moved to New York City because "it was the drug capital," he said. He spent years in a drug-crazed blur with nameless women.

One day in the early 1980s, Harry met a woman and fell in love. He got married and became the father of a daughter who changed his life. Harry loved his daughter, and he wanted her to be proud of him. He worked as a luxury car driver for many years.

At some point -- nobody knows exactly when -- something went wrong in Harry's life. He returned to drugs and women. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1987. Doctors put Harry on AZT, but he said the HIV drug interfered with his drug high, so he stopped using it.

In 1993, Harry came down with a disease the doctors couldn't recognize. He was hospitalized. The physician in charge said, "Mr. Levy, if you believe in God, it's time for you to pray to Him, because we have done all we can do." My grandmother, a pastor, prayed with Harry day after day, and, miraculously, he got better and eventually made a full recovery. "I wake up in the morning and just feel like, 'God, I'm glad to be alive,'" he said afterward on many occasions.

Sobriety

Harry became a member of Narcotics Anonymous and a regular at NA meetings in the Bronx. In 1997, Harry became a self-taught HIV treatment educator, with firsthand experience taking many of the new AIDS medicines. He co-founded the Black and Latino AIDS Coalition with me, and we began speaking to people living with HIV around New York City. I can testify that Harry was my strongest supporter. He stood with me regardless of the issue . . . if he agreed. We argued endlessly if we didn't agree, and many times we would stop speaking to each other for weeks. But we always got back together. Best friends as well as brothers!

Harry also wrote when the spirit moved him. He wrote one of the first articles about the silent epidemic of hepatitis C among substance users in the black and Latino communities, and he fearlessly addressed the need to educate recovering addicts in NA about HIV. Harry educated many people in the AIDS community, and it wasn't until after his death, at his tribute, that I fully discovered how he touched the lives of people.

Farewell

At Emmanuel Pentecostal Faith Church in the Bronx, Bishop Betty Middleton hosted a tribute for Harry that drew a hundred people; the small chapel couldn't hold more. One after another, ex-drug users, HIV-positive people, ex-cons, and just regular folk came forward and told stories about how Harry had touched their lives. Some credited Harry with helping them stay off drugs. Others spoke about Harry's compassion and sympathetic ear when they were confronted with a crisis. A lady with tears in her eyes remembered how Harry always listened to her no matter what time of day or night she called. Another said Harry helped her to build confidence in herself. "He taught me how to drive a car," she said. "Nobody ever believed enough in me to teach me anything except Harry!"

It was very moving to me, and a revelation. I suddenly realized that it's the small, personal things, like Harry did, that sometimes make the big difference in someone's life. We don't have to be a big star, celebrity, or millionaire to make a difference. All we need is love. It's simple. Love is the answer.

Interestingly, everyone fondly remembered Harry's 1985 beige Cadillac. It was clean. He bought the car in 1997, from money he saved by not using drugs. He never hesitated to give someone a lift or carry another one to the hospital or shopping. Harry loved that car. You could find Harry nearby if you saw his Cadillac. Last year, someone stole his Cadillac, and he never got over it.

A brother of mine in Cincinnati, who couldn't make the tribute, said he had a dream a couple of days before Harry's death. He said he was riding down a highway on a bike, and suddenly he saw a car approaching from the other side of the highway. As the car got closer, he recognized a beige Cadillac, and as it sped past him, he saw Harry at the wheel. Harry turned with a smile on his face and waved at him. As fast as my brother could turn around, Harry and his Cadillac were gone! Well, it might have been a dream my brother remembers, but I like to believe it was Harry saying goodbye.

For the record, goodbye, Harry. I'm going to miss you!

FRONTLINE HIV/AIDS REPORTS

AIDS experts ended the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference in Boston the last weekend of February. Two reports are troubling to me as the former E.D. of the Black And Latino AIDS Coalition (BLAC) and a poor black man living with HIV in New York City. First, most of the experts said they believe the so-called virulent, potentially new HIV strain found in New York City is most likely an anomaly. They said New York health officials might have overreacted by issuing a public health alert Feb. 11^th. I thought so right from the beginning. It was irresponsible that the New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden and CEOs of the old line multimillion dollar AIDS organizations would put out this frightening information without being absolutely sure it was a health emergency. The so-called health alert caused fear and panic among many poor people of color when the New York Post sensationalized the unproven facts. ‘AIDS SUPER BUG’ last Saturday’s New York Post headline screamed. "Nightmare strain shows up in city," it continued. Pa-leeze. The story was a variation on the old AIDS game of scaring the public by exaggerating AIDS death numbers to get more funding. This time instead of juggling the AIDS data to show more AIDS related deaths, the usual suspects actually presented old data in frightening new ways. They knew HIV could mutate into another strain each time a person starts and stops their powerful AIDS drug regiment and then starts it again. They also knew that anal sex with multiple partners and heavy drug use can produce new HIV strains. In this case, the so-called new HIV strain was discovered in one gay male who admits to heavy drug use and sex with hundreds of partners. Under the circumstances, it is proper to inform at risk drug using gay men to be careful and practice safe sex techniques. That is standard policy. But, much more investigation and research is needed before public officials scare the daylight out of everyone by implying we might have a ‘new’ AIDS crisis. Trust me. This is not the resurgent of a new AIDS crisis.