Black churches will host vigil on AIDS awareness

When the Rev. Mary Diggs-Hobson looks over her life, working as a corporate trainer, going into ministry, serving as a chaplain for people with AIDS, finding out her own son is HIV-positive — all those experiences "have led up to this."

"This" is her work teaching people about AIDS, a role the Seattle woman is playing in part through the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, which starts today.

As part of the event, black churches across the country, including at least 17 in the Seattle area, will host AIDS-related educational events, talks and prayer vigils.

The prevalence of HIV infection is a particularly pressing issue in the black community.

A recent federal government survey found that over the past decade, infection among blacks doubled while holding steady among whites. In King County, the rate of blacks living with HIV/AIDS is 2.6 times that of whites, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County.

"It's time the pulpit made its voice heard and sound the alarm and tell folk we can no longer be uninvolved," said the Rev. Amos Landry Jr., who participated in his first Week of Prayer last year.

Landry said he used to be among those who believe that AIDS is "a curse on people for homosexual practices, and I was afraid to be around people with AIDS for fear of catching it." Meeting Diggs-Hobson, "who armed me with lots of information," changed that.

Now, "I think we have to surround ourselves with people who have AIDS and hear their stories."

Diggs-Hobson is executive director of African Americans Reach and Teach Health (AARTH) Ministry, a Seattle organization that helps black churches develop their ability to educate the black community about HIV/AIDS. She knows the numbers of blacks with HIV/AIDS are alarming, if not overwhelming, so she focuses instead on the people.

"You have to personalize it, humanize it," she says. "Touch a person's heart." That's why she and her son, the Rev. Reginald Diggs, speak often to groups, telling their story.

Diggs has hereditary kidney disease. While undergoing tests for that condition about 10 years ago, he was shocked to learn he was HIV-positive. When he told his mother, "I just hugged him and we cried," she said. "There wasn't a whole lot to say."

Church "a place to share"

Diggs said he contracted the virus from unprotected sex during a time when he had bisexual encounters. He is willing to talk about it — and believes churches should also talk openly about sexuality. He remembers looking to his church "for sanctuary, a place to share where the walls wouldn't come down on me."

That he didn't find it, and instead felt judged, is one of the reasons he and his mother founded AARTH in 2002. The organization offers services such as HIV/AIDS training for black clergy, AIDS-prevention training and a video in which Diggs and others tell their personal stories.

"The role of the church in African-American and African communities is so key," said Shelia St. Sebastian, with the Northwest AIDS Education and Training Center, one of the groups that funds AARTH. "In order to change the rates of infection in the African-American community, we need to bring in the support of the churches and the faith-based organizations."

There are barriers to overcome, Diggs-Hobson said. "HIV/AIDS still has such a stigma, much of that fueled by lack of knowledge as well as personal, cultural, social and religious beliefs."

Among the biggest barriers are a belief that AIDS is primarily a disease affecting gay white men and a reluctance to talk about homosexuality.

It is easier, Diggs-Hobson says, to talk about HIV/AIDS in the context of its rising rate among heterosexuals. In King County, for instance, the rate of black women living with HIV/AIDS is 13 times greater than among white women.

The community needs to talk about how poverty and poor access to health care contribute to the problem, and about patterns of transmission that might be particularly relevant in the black community, Diggs-Hobson says.

For instance, she says, "There's such a large number of black men who are in prison. Many of them contract AIDS there and then when they get out, they spread it within the community."

Other groups involved

To be sure, AARTH is not the first organization to take on such issues — organizations such as People of Color Against Aids Network and Multifaith Works have done so for years.

Public Health — Seattle & King County has a bus-ad campaign and a Brother-to-Brother program that focus on HIV/AIDS education and prevention in the black community.

One of its programs, called The Barbershop Project, trains neighborhood barbers to become AIDS educators. This summer, some of those barbers will go into black churches to recruit people to attend workshops.

And, over the years, more churches have begun talking about how to support those with AIDS and prevent its spread. First African Methodist Episcopal Church, for example, formed an HIV/AIDS care team around 1999, working with Multifaith Works to provide companionship for those with the virus.

"AIDS still has stigma"

The Rev. Gwen Hall, of Sojourner Truth Ministries, has seen the ebb and flow of such efforts.

"AIDS still has the stigma that causes people not to be as on-point as they would be as [for example] our people being shot in the street," Hall said.

But she points to encouraging signs, such as when the Rev. Jesse Jackson came to town about five years ago, galvanizing some 50 African-American ministers to talk about HIV testing and prevention.

"Sometimes the church has been slow to rise, but at times, they've been right on-point," Hall said. "The bottom line is there needs to be more. The central prevention message needs to be stronger. People are still ashamed to admit: 'I have the virus.' "

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com