G O D H C T WA
Concerned more than ever about the trajectory of the HIV epidemic in Black communities, the dangers of abstinence-only education programs, and the issues surrounding aging for long-term survivors like himself, Phill Wilson, founder and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, remains a vigilant force in the fight against HIV/AIDS
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Text & Photos by Sean Black
D
o you know the work of William Wegman?” asks Phill Wilson. He references the photographer known for shooting Weimaraners to help me visualize the breed of dog that he strides alongside as we speak over the phone. Now eight, Puck has been a beloved pet and companion of Wilson’s since he was just a puppy. Besides being “good for his heart,” Wilson, fit and active at fifty-seven, explains how their routine walk through L.A.’s Griffith Park, near his Loz Feliz neighborhood home, offers him the chance to clear his mind. “One of the benefits of walking Puck in the park is I get to escape for a minute. Having these minutes, helps me stay present during the hard times.” Facing his share of hard times, Wilson, like so many of us battling HIV can never fully escape the virus that he’s been living with since 1980. But rest assured; HIV is not escaping Wilson either. Not even for a minute. A watchful guardian with diplomatic finesse, Wilson has a résumé that is extensive and merits mentioning. He has served as the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles, the Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles, a co-chair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission, and an appointee to the HRSA AIDS Advisory Committee. He has facilitated the International Community Treatment and Science Workshop at a number of International AIDS Confer-
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ences and the Ford Foundation named him one of twenty award recipients for the Leadership for a Changing World, in 2001. He was a member of the U.S. delegation at the 1994 World AIDS Summit in Paris and has worked extensively on HIV/AIDS policy, research, prevention, and treatment issues internationally. He was the recipient of the Delta Spirit Award from the Los Angeles Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and awarded the Discovery Health Channel Medical Honor in 2004. He was distinguished as one of the “2005 Black History Makers in the Making” by BET. An openly gay man living with HIV, Wilson co-founded the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum as well as the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. He has been involved in the founding of a number of AIDS service and community-based organizations, including the Chris Brownlie Hospice, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Greater Than AIDS testing and awareness campaign, the National Minority AIDS Council, the Los Angeles County Gay Men of Color Consortium, and the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR) Coalition. Holding a BA in Fine Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University he has published articles in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Essence, Ebony, Vibe, Jet, as well as HIV/AIDS-specific periodicals. With this impressive record of activism and achievement, Wilson broadened his advocacy reach in 1999 by founding the
Black AIDS Institute in response to the impact that HIV infection was having among his peers. “The Black AIDS Institute was founded because we were not doing enough to change the trajectory of the epidemic in Black communities,” states Wilson. “When Black people, or any people for that matter, are not explicitly included, they are implicitly excluded. The Institute isn’t [nor was it ever] designed to divert attention away from any other community. The Institute shines a light on the disproportionate impact it was having in Black communities and tries to do something about it.” Problematic still in both magnitude and ratio, recent findings presented by the CDC reiterate the fact that African Americans continue to be the racial/ethnic group most affected by HIV. In 2010, Black people accounted for forty-four percent of all new HIV infections, despite making up just twelve to fourteen percent of the overall population. Black men accounted for seventy percent of new HIV infections among all adult and black adolescents (aged thirteen years or older) with an estimate that is seven times higher than that of white men and twice as high as that of Latino men. The National Minority AIDS Council, in which Wilson has played a key role, reports that black gay men are the only population in the country facing increasing rates of HIV infection. New infections among young black gay and bisexual men rose forty-eight percent A&U • FEBRUARY 2014