Umoja And BU NAACP To Hold HIV/AIDS Vigil

The Boston University chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Umoja will host a candlelight service tonight at Marsh Chapel recognizing the effects of HIV and AIDS in the black community.

The event will show the extremity of the disease and help urge students to get tested, according to Shenique Coston, vice president of BU’s NAACP.

Coston said she hopes the first annual candlelight service will convey the seriousness of HIV and AIDS and its effect on people worldwide, particularly among minorities. The event was planned to honor both Black History Month and the second annual National Black AIDS Awareness Day.

Although the NAACP and Umoja are groups that predominately serve the African-American community on campus, Thursday’s candlelight service will focus on a multi-cultural effort to establish awareness of HIV and AIDS and allow different groups to collaborate and express concerns about the disease. The event is expected to draw students from the Boston University community as well as students from neighboring schools, Coston said.

Coston, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, expressed her desire to see a wide variety of students at the event, not just African-Americans.

“This disease hits different communities different ways,” Coston said. “A lot of people feel like they don’t have a commitment to solve a problem that doesn’t affect their group.”

The service will not follow a formal program, but will instead be an open mic event, allowing those who feel obligated to share their thoughts about HIV and AIDS awareness. Those who have friends or relatives suffering from the disease are urged to share their experiences. BU gospel choir spiritual advisor Rebecca Jackson will lead a prayer to pay respect to those who are suffering or have died from the disease.

Coston said the event would be an attraction BU could use to recruit minority students, a concern raised by the NAACP and Umoja at a meeting with admissions officers on Monday.

“If we are not active, we cannot expect to get active students here,” Coston said. “Students want to attend schools that embrace these types of issues.”

Organizers intend the candlelight service to not only increase awareness of HIV and AIDS, but also draw attention to the NAACP and Umoja, which brings forth political and cultural issues among African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and Native American (AHANA) students, which are going through a “restructuring year,” Coston said.

“People place a stigma on the NAACP, that it’s only for blacks,” Coston said. “It’s a group for AHANA students period.”