Latino AIDS Group to Host Softball Game

The goal of a local organization is to erect an Eastside monument to break down the walls of ignorance over AIDS in the Latino community.

“The virus that lives within our community is ignorance,” said Paul Banke, a former World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion, at a downtown news conference on the steps of City Hall. Banke learned last year that he has AIDS.

“I was one of those people who said ‘It can’t happen to me,’ ” Banke said. “And it hit me. We need to educate ourselves. No one is promised tomorrow.”

Banke has volunteered his time to “The Wall--Las Memorias Project,” a Latino AIDS organization that is raising funds to build a memorial wall that will list the names of at least 2,000 Latino victims of the disease.

But the organizers of the project, modeled after the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C., are still short of their monetary goal--$250,000. Since the project was launched more than two years ago, $80,000 has been raised.

The group announced the “1st Annual Las Memorias Celebrity Softball Classic,” a game between the Gay All Stars and the Los Angeles Police Department Blue team, which they hope will raise $15,000.

The softball game will take place today at 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park at 6364 Zindell Street in Commerce. Admission is $10. Information: (213) 264-0048.