This year I watched in amazement
as Denzel Washington and Halle Berry both won Academy Awards.
As I sat at home on the side of my bed listening to their
acceptance speeches, I cried. For me, it was a moment of huge
historical significance. They were immediately labeled “trailblazers”
by the media.
Ms. Berry dedicated her award,
to “every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a
chance because this door tonight has been opened.” As I listened
to Berry, I thought about the other brilliant performances
given by African American women previously nominated in this
category, Angela Bassett (1993), Whoppi Goldberg (1985), Diahann
Carroll (1974), Diana Ross (1972), and Cicely Tyson (1972).
The late Dorothy Danridge was the first African American woman
nominated for best actress for Carmen Jones, 1954. Hattie
McDaniels was the first black female to win an Academy Award.
She won for best supporting actress for Gone With The Wind,
1939.
The promise (and burden)
of being a trailblazer is complex. Thurgood Marshall. James
Baldwin. Audre Lorde. Althea Gibson. Dr. Jocelyn Elders. Colin
Powell. The promise of being a trailblazer is that barriers
are being broken. To many, countless opportunities appear
endless. The burden of being a trailblazer is being pigeonholed
as the “spokesperson.”
However a larger problem
exists. What is the significance of being a trailblazer if
no one ever follows that path, or if it takes a lifetime for
the path to be blazed again? It’s been 39 years between Sidney
Poitier’s Academy Award win and Denzel Washington’s win. Will
it be another four decades before another African American
woman wins for best actress?
Is the situation different
in AIDS policy making and advocacy? Arthur Ashe. Magic Johnson.
Rae Lewis-Thornton. To some degree they are considered trailblazers
in African American HIV/AIDS advocacy. But did they simply
put a non-threatening African American face on the face of
AIDS when nearly everyone was running scared? Did they serve
a larger goal of raising the ambitions and self-expectations
of others? When I was a teenager I certainly respected Ashe’s
accomplishments on the tennis court and dreamt of imitating
him one day as a professional bowler (don’t laugh). All of
this occurred long before HIV/AIDS ever appeared on the horizon.
As an “HIV journalist” or
“AIDS activist,” in recent years I have often found myself
in an Ashe-like situation; being the only African American
(not necessarily the first) at major scientific conferences
or drug company updates. And I have to admit that initially
I was a bit unnerved by the experience. But rather than focusing
on the fact that I was the only African American at these
meetings, I looked to the positive. There was representation.
I also gained confidence from knowing that there were other
African Americans, Saundra Johnson (GMHC), Charles Nelson
(formerly with NAPWA) and Phil Wilson (AAHU), who had previously
sat in the community chair where I am now seated. But if there
is room for one, isn’t there room for four or five?
I recently had the privilege
to meet Patricia Ware and Dr. Louis Sullivan at the Presidential
Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) in Washington, D.C. Ware
is the Executive Director of PACHA. Dr. Sullivan, whose achievements
are too long to list, now serves as a co-chair of PACHA. Both
are major players in HIV/AIDS policy at the federal level.
They are also African Americans. And they are perceived as
being supportive of conservative views on HIV prevention and
care. Does it matter? No, not in terms of opening doors. Have
they raised the ambitions of others? Yes.
While at the PACHA meetings,
I also had the honor of meeting Lois Brown. I would suspect
that no one reading this has ever heard of Ms. Brown. She
is a brave and beautiful HIV positive African American woman
living in a small community in Virginia. Lois just learned
that she was HIV positive a year ago. She knew nothing about
the virus, or about AIDS. With the help of her sister, she
has spent the past year educating herself about HIV. They
drove to D.C. to attend the PACHA meetings and learn more.
She stood before the Council and spoke of the lack of adequate
care and availability of treatment information for persons
like herself. Lois Brown is a true trailblazer.
I suppose in a way we’re
all trailblazers. And we need trailblazers at every level,
from every walk of life. For us to eventually succeed in this
struggle against AIDS, it will ultimately be more important
to focus on the many things we have achieved as a community
on this path, and not on the ones we have not.
