IDEAS ON HOW BLACK PEOPLE CAN FUND A CURE AIDS
By Mark Bey


I believe that we black folk can fund a cure for aids. I have no idea how long it will take. But imagine this, what if some progressive group of black folks as well as our social organizations got together to educate black people totally and thoroughly about aids. How is it contracted and how to protect ourselves from it? For those already infected where to get treatment and medication at. Such an initiative, I hope would fall under a larger promotion or effort to improve the quality of health and life for African Americans.

As a way of raising money I’m thinking we could hold a telethon to raise money for this initiative. I’m thinking something along the lines of those “United Negro College Fund“
Telethons that Lou Rawls use to host. www.uncf.org/webfeature/Lou_Rawls_Eulogy.asp However this telethon would be aimed at raising money to find a cure for aids, getting those already infected treated as well as bringing an overwhelming focus on this disease with the goal of ending its reign of terror over the world. The black church would have a huge role to play in an effort such as this one. It will be necessary to create and develop partnerships and cooperation with churches and our other social organizations who are already working on this issue in an aggressive way. .

Now to get this ball rolling it would take a serious amount of teamwork and discipline amongst hundreds, possibly thousands of people and organizations. It will take all of these people working together to create a program that focuses on

1) Killing the stigma attached to aids and taking the shame out so that everyone will get tested and treated if treatment is needed.
2) Aggressively educating the public on how aids is contracted, who‘s at risk and how to protect ourselves. .
3) Additional ways that generate income to expedite the massive amount of research necessary to find a cure for aids.
In a perfect or even ideal world Magic Johnson would host the telethon and we would have a lineup of twelve or so prominent artist and entertainers such as.
L.L Cool J
Erica Badu
Jill Scott
Lauryn Hill
Common
Mos Def
Jay Z
Nas
Stevie Wonder
OutKast
Alisha Keys
Prince


The celebrities would perform and then say something inspirational, then Magic and the artist could explain to the audience the purpose and goals of the telethon then ask everyone to please pledge as much money as they could spare because the money would be used to search for a cure for aids 24×7. I think it would be wise to have an independent organization investigate all of our transactions and then make that investigation public in the spirit of transparency, that way everyone will know that we are sincere and forthright in how we use the funds we raise. Institutions such as Bill Clintons www.clintonfoundation.org/index.htm and the Gates foundation www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm could advise us on which studies and projects to fund using the money we have raised.

Last idea on this matter we could manufacture and sell very simple but perpetually needed products like tissue, napkins, soap deodorant, ect as a further effort to raise even more money for this project. For instance if every black person were to buy tissue or soap from a corporation that then donated all of the profits from this initiative to find a cure for aids imagine how much money could be generated. I’m thinking billions of dollars a year could be raised by simply rerouted the buying habits of black people and that income could then be used to help fund the cure for this murderous disease and I’m talking about an all encompassing effort, something along the lines of the what it took to build the first Nuclear bomb ( Manhattan Project www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/intro_3.html ) or some of that John F Kennedy America will put a man on the moon in ten years juice along with the work to back it up.

This aids project would be black folks own version of those mandates except we would be taking responsibility on our own and we don’t need a penny from anyone or group to do this. We could get this ball rolling in the next 2 years with the right amount of community support in my opinion. Perhaps if we are good enough at raising and promoting the right climate for something like this, we could get everyone in America, who needs it on treatment thus keeping millions of Americans alive until a cure is finally discovered and made available through science.


There is nothing we can do to change the past but we can protect ourselves and our kid’s futures by using all precautions to prevent any more HIV spread or infections in our communities. I think we should engage in a mass treatment and training program targeted at the black community, organized and conducted by the churches, the NAACP, ECT. I think if we focus more of our collective energy into such ideas we could move the process of finding a cure for aids along a lot faster than it is currently moving. If black folk decide to do something collectively about this issue I believe we can when this battle the same way we won the Montgomery bus boycott during the 1950’s.