?We?re calling for a mass mobilization to end the AIDS epidemic in the Black community, calling for the testing of 1 million Black Americans by the end of December 2008 and calling for a national AIDS plan for the United States.? ?Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)

“We’re calling for a mass mobilization to end the AIDS epidemic in the African American community, calling for the testing of 1 million Black Americans by the end of December 2008 and calling for a national AIDS plan for the United States,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif).

Congressional leaders and representatives from the Black AIDS Institute, The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and the National Medical Association and the AIDS Council made the announcement during a Sept. 26 news conference on Capitol Hill. Representatives of The Balm in Gilead, which is part of the effort, could not be present.

The new level of action is part of the Center for Disease Control’s “Heightened National Response” to HIV/AIDS in Black America.

Rep. Lee continues, “African-Americans are getting infected and developing AIDS in a disproportionate rate and it continues. The unfortunate reality is that to be Black in America is to be at a greater risk for HIV/AIDS.”

Also at the new conference, Hazel Trice Edney, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), announced that the news service will begin a series of 25 op-eds to be distributed to its 200 Black weekly newspapers beginning Oct. 1.

“When you write about AIDS, you save lives. When you write about AIDS, Black people go get tested. When you write about AIDS, Black people seek treatment. When you write about AIDS, you prevent Black families from being fractured by the debilitating stigma,” said Phill Wilson, executive director of the Institute, at the BAI/NNPA “State of AIDS in Black America” breakfast, held during NNPA’s annual September board meetings.

The Black AIDS Institute also recently released its third report on the state of AIDS In Black America. The report, “We’re the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For,” details the disease’s impact on Blacks and compares the lack of national support with the response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Among the statistics, Black women are now 67 percent of the female population with HIV; Black men are 43 percent of the male population with HIV; Blacks, who make up 12 percent of the American population, make up 48 percent of Blacks living with HIV/AIDS.

“While we have come a long way dealing with this epidemic, we are no where near were we ought to be,” said Mr. Wilson.

Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Calif.), said she is sponsoring a bill that would ensure paroles are tested once they leave the penal system and that they receive proper treatment upon their return to their community.

Launched last fall by Black leaders representing elected officials, civil rights, faith, media and entertainment and business, this on-going campaign and Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) is committed to ending the AIDS epidemic in Black America by 2012 by: Cutting the HIV rates in Black America by 50 percent; increasing the number Black Americans who know their HIV status by 50 percent; increasing the number Black Americans in appropriate early care/treatment by 50 percent; and reducing HIV/AIDS stigma in Black America by 50 percent.

“It is time now to call on this administration and successive administrations to find a vaccine and to find a way an immunization against the disease, not to affirm behavior we should not support,” Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said.

“We know the devastation that we are in with the Iraq War,” Rep. Jackson Lee said. “No one has to ask the questions of why we cannot address domestic issues when $120 billion is being spent on the Iraq War that is causing us to lose our way. So I must say, let us end that war and begin to address domestic issues such as research on HIV/AIDS and the cure for saving the lives of our young people, our families and our women.”

Rep. Jackson Lee, who has been encouraging the hip hop and gospel community in her district to get tested on a regular basis, said she didn’t want to get into a conversation on which diseases are more worthy, but she says she questions why some “comfortable” diseases garner so much money and research time.

“What is the Centers for Disease Control doing? The National Health Institute? And why are they not engaging the Black physicians in order to find a cure or vaccine for HIV/AIDS,” she asked.

Dr. Mohammad Akhter, executive director of the National Medical Association, which presents 30,000 Black physicians, agreed, saying it was time for a new strategy to fight HIV/AIDS.

“What is it that reassessment means? Since 50 percent of the new cases of HIV/AIDS are in the African American community, where do you think the resources should be going? Shouldn’t they be focused on the African American community?” he questioned. “We think it is time for us as a nation to reassess the HIV/AIDS strategy to redirect resources to focus on where the problem is and to work with our community to make sure we solve this problem.”