21,000-Panel AIDS Quilt Revisits Capital
As rain dripped from umbrellas and soaked the ground near the base of the Washington Monument on Friday, relays of volunteers read the names of thousands of Americans who have died of AIDS.
Nearby, laid out over nearly 15 acres of the grassy monument grounds, a grid of walkways awaited the unfolding of the 21,000 panels of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, each decorated panel representing a person who has died of the disease.
Organizers said they expect more than 300,000 people to view the quilt during the weekend. They said 3,000 volunteers would unfold it as soon as the weather cleared. Until then, bystanders clustered near a tent where readers intoned into microphones a roll call of those memorialized by the quilt.
“There are a couple of panels of mine in there,” said Roberta King of Muskegon, Mich. “My first boyfriend and a co-worker at the American Red Cross.”
The AIDS quilt was first displayed in Washington in October, 1987. At the time, it had 1,920 panels. It returned to the capital in October, 1988, and October, 1989, each time expanding rapidly. Now it has 21,000 panels and weighs 26 tons, without the walkways.
About 152,000 Americans had died of AIDS as of June 30, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
AIDS activists plan to link hands around the White House on Monday in a demonstration against Bush Administration policies.
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