"The year was 1987. Phill Wilson was 31, a recent transplant to L.A. from his hometown of Chicago. A mysterious infection that weakened its hosts' immune systems was killing people at a terrifying rate, while the Reagan administration downplayed and openly joked about the disease. Some major news outlets initially wrote off the emerging epidemic as a "gay plague," insinuating that other Americans didn't need to worry about it."
"Instead, Wilson decided to "focus on the living." "Let's use the time I have to do something," he recalls thinking. "My life," Wilson says now, at age 69, "is that something." Wilson went on to found L.A.'s Black AIDS Institute, using the nonprofit think tank to draw attention to the lack of outreach, prevention and treatment programs tailored to Black Americans - despite the disproportionate toll that AIDS had taken on them."
Phill Wilson moved to Los Angeles from Chicago and contracted HIV in the early years of the epidemic. Doctors told him he had six months to live, but he chose to focus on living and activism. He founded the Black AIDS Institute to expose and address the lack of outreach, prevention, and treatment for Black Americans despite disproportionate impact. He survived the epidemic and led demonstrations, community education, and engagement with Black churches. Recent political moves to cut federal HIV/AIDS funding raise concerns about reversing progress and jeopardizing efforts to end AIDS-related deaths.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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