Twenty-five years after the discovery of HIV, Emerson College hosted a vigil to commemorate Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day with a procession that included former gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross and State Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) rallying to increase state funding for AIDS prevention.
Area students, faculty and politicians gathered with lit candles and balloons at the Boston Common, marching from the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets to the State House steps.
“Remember we have the power to create the change,” said Ross, the former Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate. “We have to take care of each other. It’s not okay for anyone to be left behind.”
Ross noted that Gov. Mitt Romney “cut the AIDS prevention budget a lot” upon evaluating the state’s deficit, and she encouraged the public to step up its grassroots campaign to stop the spread of AIDS in the commonwealth.
If the Romney administration’s 2007 budget proposal passes, the state would provide 38 percent less funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment than the 2001 levels, adjusted for inflation, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center website.
“We need to be the ones who come together and create the changes that we need, and the government responds to that,” she said.
“Cuts today are taking the medicines out of the hands of people here in Massachusetts,” Barrios said. “I encourage you — as you care about what’s going on in Africa and Asia — to concern yourself with the problem here in Massachusetts. You remember today that AIDS is still with us. Help your representative remember.”
Gregory Payne, an associate professor in Emerson College’s department of organizational and political communications and United Nations Children’s Fund board member, said he and a group of students began the event last year to jumpstart Boston’s involvement in AIDS awareness.
According to Beatrice Rodriguez, a member of the event’s marketing committee, as a result of Emerson’s efforts last year, the state recognized Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day in Boston. However, this year’s event saw a lower turnout because of rain.
“We just want to bring awareness and promote a healthy lifestyle,” the 21-year-old Emerson student said. “The AIDS crisis is growing every day and even here in Massachusetts the numbers of people who are affected by HIV/ AIDS is growing steadily.”
According to Franklin Hobbes, who has been living with HIV for 17 years, for the past three years, 70 percent of the HIV cases in Massachusetts have been African American women.
“We declared a state of emergency in Boston a couple of years ago,” said Hobbes, who also said the Romney administration cut a substantial portion of the state’s AIDS prevention funding.
A group of 30 to 40 people gathered around the candles placed on the steps in front of the State House and paused for a moment of silence in remembrance and respect for those living with AIDS.
“Today is the 25th anniversary of the discovery of HIV, an important year,” said Emerson sophomore Michael Hawkes, a student coordinator for the World Aids Day committee. “If we continue this effort, hopefully we truly can become the solution. That was our goal — to become the solution.”