Rally Launches AIDS Awareness Month

Los Angeles political leaders and activists have kicked off AIDS Awareness Month by calling on area residents to become better educated about the deadly disease and more supportive of those affected by it.

“We must realize our best defense is education,” Mayor Tom Bradley told about 200 people at a rally at the Civic Center Mall on Monday. “We must call on the entire community to help us generate enthusiasm in fighting the lack of information, in fighting the tragedy of this disease.”

Stephen Bennet, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, said he felt that he was “preaching to the saved here.”

“If we were educating, I feel the mall should be filled with 10,000 people and we should be storming buildings,” he said. “I feel very frustrated. . . . I feel the people who need to be educated are not just in the high-risk population, but are elected officials.”

Cynthia Davis, program director of the National Organization of Black County Officials, said the norms and values of communities need to be changed for AIDS education to be effective.