Pictured Lloyd Kelly Lloyd Kelly is definitely doing his part in the war against HIV and AIDS. Kelly worked closely with state Rep. Connie Howard, D-34th, to create an AIDS measure that the lawmaker has vowed to push through the current General Assembly. Kelly is also the director of the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation, an AIDS-related coalition of elected officials, governmental agencies, and business and community leaders. The very outspoken advocate took some moments to talk with Windy City Times about the foundation and the legislation.
Windy City Times: Why was Rep. Howard motivated to push this legislation?
Lloyd Kelly: For some people, HIV and AIDS is a singular issue. However, for African-Americans, it is representative of our entire experience in this country. We have the highest unemployment rate, the worst housing problem, and the highest percentage of people in prison. Now, African-Americans are the most disproportionally affected by AIDS.
State Rep. Howard has always been concerned about community. The bill is related to her commitment to her constituency and her district.
WCT: One part of the bill deals with the spread of HIV in prisons.
LK: People come out of prison HIV-positive after they go in HIV-negative. Rev. [ Jesse ] Jackson has always said that Cook County Jail is a hotbed for the spread of HIV—and that goes over to the state correctional system. State Rep. Howard is concerned about inmates; we have anecdotal evidence that people have gone in negative and come out positive—although we can't prove it.
WCT: She also wants to expand Medicaid.
LK: She wants to expand a part of Medicaid. She is calling for the state to apply to the federal government for a waiver of their rules for HIV-positive people.
The bill, known as the Illinois African-American AIDS Response Act, is a preventive measure. It's meant to prevent someone from become HIV-positive. If the person is positive, it's meant to prevent that person from getting AIDS. If the person has AIDS, it's meant to stop that person from getting multiple diseases and to help that person prolong his life, from a public policy standpoint.
One of Medicaid's issues is that, in order to qualify as a single individual, you have to be disabled. Under the current guidelines, a person has to develop [ full-blown ] AIDS to qualify. We want people treated the first day they find out they're positive. They also need to be educated so that they're not spreading the disease and so they don't develop AIDS.
Rep. Howard has spent at least the last six years being very concerned about HIV and AIDS. The African-American community counts for 72 percent of new infections in this state. How can our community make up 12.9 percent of the general population and be 72 percent—in any demographic—of new infections? With numbers like these, it's time to do something drastic. If it requires throwing something up against a wall and see what sticks, then we need to start flinging.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but when people think of a person with AIDS, they [ tend to ] think of a tanned, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy whose life is going to end early. They don't think of a Black woman with three or four children. They don't think of a Black kid who goes to school in Englewood. Even the vice president, in that national debate, wasn't aware of how our community is impacted.
Our point is that we're trying to bring awareness to the real issues. This problem won't be solved by Howard Brown [ Health Center ] , Horizons, or Heartland. They don't have the skills or cultural competency that is required to do it. We have to be empowered to take care of ourselves on this issue.
WCT: Tell me about Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation: how it got started, its mission, etc.
LK: I worked in Black gay and lesbian politics. However, I left to work with Rep. Howard in 1996. I convinced her to [ examine ] the HIV issue with the Black community. I've always felt that it's not a gay disease, but a sexually transmitted one.
In March 1999, we held a town hall meeting with people from the 32nd District. ( She's now with the 34th District because of redistricting. ) Well, 27 showed up out of 85,000 constituents. That told me that my work would be cut out for me in terms of reaching people. We had 400 people show up at the next one. Organizations, particularly Black ones, discovered that Howard was serious about the issue. A lot of the groups complained [ about the uneven distribution of funds ] . We started working with student groups in the City Colleges in the summer of 2002. At a meeting, I suggested that people needed to come up with a group that represented their voice.
In September 2002, she and I were talking about how to highlight the real problem. I suggested a testing event that would blow everyone out of the water. We could contact community leaders and [ administer ] 100,000 tests on World AIDS Day. What ended up happening was that people suggested a campaign called 'Let's Talk! Let's Test! 365 Days of Mobilizing our Communities Around HIV and AIDS' Campaign, which would focus on the African-American community.
We initially decided to approach the faith-based community. We asked heads of different churches to [ simultaneously ] preach about the need for compassion for those who were affected by HIV and AIDS. We got 75 churches to participate. Also, the heads of churches had to agree to talk about testing and to get tested in front of their congregations ( with swabs ) . It was a grassroots effort.
WCT: So what was the official start date of Let's Talk, Let's Test?
LK: It wasn't until February 2003. Everything snowballed [ a few months earlier ] . The chancellor of City Colleges was listening to a show that State Rep. Howard was on and asked if we had the capacity to organize an event that would test the students at the colleges and satellites by January [ 2003 ] . We tested 765 people in a week.
We then decided to have an African-American AIDS walk. [ It was Let's Talk's first event. ] It was the first annual I Need You to Survive African-American AIDS Walk; it's named after a song by [ gospel singer ] Hezekiah Walker. About 250 people participated. Last year, 1,070 participated. This year's event is scheduled for May 21 and we would love any support from anybody.
WCT: What's the mission of the organization?
LK: One of the things we're trying to do is to make sure that Black service providers become less dependent on government funding. We want the funding to be ancillary and not primary—and the goal is to raise our own money. It's definitely a long-term goal, but it's worth doing. As State Rep. Howard says, 'the government giveth and the government taketh away.' We need to become self-sufficient.
We also encourage every sexually active African American to get tested regularly for HIV. We also educate public policy makers and other people on the issue of HIV and AIDS in the African-American community.
WCT: You're also involved in the national Campaign to End AIDS, correct?
LK: Yes. There's a pre-event in May and the actual march is in October. One of the May events is called an International Shoe Drop in which we're trying to collect 8,000 shoes, which would represent the 8,000 people who die every day of HIV and AIDS.
