OXFORD, Miss. — Beloved mother, daughter, and sister. Treasured brother, son, husband, and father. Valued co-worker and trusted neighbor. Cousin, friend and significant other.
This week, 268 people died of AIDS. They would not have been taken so early if HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and research were a national priority.
A mock funeral, staged by the national Campaign to End AIDS, was held Friday, Sept. 26, at 3 p.m. at Oxford City Hall, located at 107 Court Square, Oxford, Miss. to raise awareness to the need for a solid AIDS strategy plan from the nation’s future administration.
Numerous activists in Oxford for the funeral and the Stand Against AIDS demonstrations came from across the country in eight automotive caravans and a march from Jackson, Miss., covering 10,851 miles through 47 states. In honor of those who have died, they are demanding that the next president begin developing a National AIDS Strategy in his first 100 days in office.
“I have a daughter who has been living with HIV for 11 years,” said Marsha Jones who traveled with the Texas caravan. “She was infected in ’96 and being a mother, my thing is to make sure no other mother has to go through what we went through, including the indignities my daughter had to go through and the cloud of stigma she has to live under. That’s why I’m participating in this effort.”
Those who have died of AIDS are often ordinary people who lived in small towns, suburbs, and cities, and they were from every racial background. A disproportionate number of them were African Americans, women, and young people. They worked in factories, restaurants, hospitals, government agencies, and corporations.
Some of the 268 lived with HIV for years or decades, while others never knew they were HIV-positive because they never had access to testing. Dozens of them did not have adequate healthcare and struggled with illness alone. Many of them know how they contracted HIV, and some never learned how the virus spreads or how they got it.
They are survived by parents, children, spouses, partners, siblings and friends who will miss them deeply and never be able to fill the void their loss creates.
Valencia Robinson, AIDS Action Mississippi traveled by foot from Jackson, Miss. through the Delta to emphasis the importance of this issue. Although very exhausting, Robinson feels the walk was a success. “The walk was very interesting, we got a lot of support from places I didn’t think we would get support,” she said. “There were no negativity or actions towards us. They were very inviting and very open toward getting information regarding AIDS. We had people throwing money at us versus throwing bottles [as they did during marches of the 60’s].
Zechariah Moore of Greenwood was in attendance at the mock funeral. He joined the Stand Against AIDS marchers when they arrived in Greenwood on their way to Oxford. “I joined the walk, because I felt that it is a good cause, and I was just trying to help them get the message out,” said Moore.
The group stood on the steps of City Hall, singing, speaking, waving signs and sharing heart-felt stories about victims of AIDS.
The key scripture for the service came from the book of Proverbs, which says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” In light of that, the demonstrators advocate that where there is no national AIDS strategy plan, the people perish.
The Mississippi NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights Activist James Meredith were among the entities and individuals supporting the Campaign to End AIDS.
Robinson pointed out the HIV/AIDS look like “me and you.” “You don’t have to engage in deviant behaviors to get it,” she said.
In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to join the call for a National AIDS Strategy to honor and respect the hundreds of thousands of people who have died of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and the tens of thousands who will die in the next four years.
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