First of all, I am LOVing this song:

Second of all, it happens to be Black HIV Awareness Day. Usually I don’t get all excited about the things we do at work, but we had an event today, and it really was refreshing and a reminder of how I can love my job, and see that we are actually making a difference, which is pretty incredible. We watched this incredible video here:

It’s a bit long, but it is seriously incredible. I think it does a fantastic job of providing some explanation about how this particular population has such a horrific infection rate, and why it is quite literally invisible at a higher political level.

I will say that one of the biggest differences between 2006, when this piece was filmed, and today is President Barack Obama.  He is part black, and that doesn’t hurt, but he has, for whatever reason, created a National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which is the very first of its kind.  We discussed today how Bush funded $48 billion toward the global fight against HIV, and any country receiving any of that funding needed a national strategy/policy in place; we in the United States never had one until 2010.  Incredible.  But really, I highly recommend the piece on AIDS in Black American–it’s really well done and informative.

Cheers!