Russ Parr to Host Norton's Town Hall Meeting for Black Men on Sex and STDs (5/2/07)

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and the D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys are calling the city's men to "A Frank Discussion For Men-About Men-Between Men on Sex, STDs, Responsibility and Community," from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on Thursday, May 3 at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 412, as part of her continuing HIV/AIDS town meeting series to help galvanize residents to take personal responsibility for eliminating this preventable virus, which is concentrated in Black America. Russ Parr, the popular radio personality on WKYS- 93.9 FM, Host of the nationally syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show and Black Men and Boys Commission Co-chair, will moderate the Men's Town Meeting. D.C. City Councilmembers Kwame Brown and Harry Thomas, Jr. will be special guests, but the greater part of the meeting will be given over to an exchange with and by the men who attend. Former D.C. Police Chief Isaac Fulwood will introduce the event. He also is a Co-chair of the Black Men and Boys Commission, which is co-hosting the Men's Town Meeting with Norton. Members of the Commission will be introduced at the event. Norton offers free HIV testing at all her public meetings and Unity Health Care will provide testing on-site.

Half of the HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States today are African Americans, and one-third are women, almost 70 percent of them Black. An upcoming town meeting will focus on women. In a "Letter to the Men of the District of Columbia" circulated throughout the city, Norton wrote, "We need to talk. We need to talk among ourselves about things others won't talk about unless we do. This time, the men of this city need to talk among themselves with themselves." Norton's efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS here is focusing on safe sex to emphasize prevention and on testing because 25 percent of infected Americans are unaware that they are carrying the virus.

Norton launched the HIV/AIDS series in November with a meeting of the city's clergy. The ministers agreed to take the lead in reducing the spread of the disease because it is believed that many are average residents who attend services and do not know they are HIV-positive. Among the many ideas offered were: devoting at least part of one Sunday in each month to some aspect of the epidemic here; a city-wide clergy testing event to help promote the District government's universal testing for all residents; and a city-wide day of prayer devoted to preventing HIV/AIDS. Three more forums this year will each focus on HIV/AIDS among the city's women, then teens, ending with an All-City HIV/AIDS Town Meeting to Eliminate the Epidemic. The goals of the meetings are: 1) to help residents confront basic facts about the epidemic, how it is spread, preventive measures, treatment, and recognition that HIV-positive residents are not marginal, but are relatives, friends, and neighbors; and 2) to leave the meetings with concrete actions individuals can take "to move in on HIV/AIDS and move the epidemic out," Norton said.

Norton formed the D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys in 2001, which has drawn residents to community hearings, and got a House hearing to spark discussion and action to address the critical social, economic and health issues facing African American men and boys. On the Commission are men like Fulwood and Parr who are well respected for their community work with Black males in the District.

"No activity is of greater importance to the future of the District and its African American men and families than confronting the issues facing African American men and boys in our city and in the nation, and that includes zeroing in on the tragedy of HIV and AIDS as it takes its toll on our men and their families," Norton said.