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Transcript of the video (no copyright infringement intended, posted solely for accessibility reasons):
[introductory music]
Alyona: If I named three cities, could you guess which one has the highest rates of AIDS and HIV? Just think: Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Dakar, Senegal; and Washington D.C., USA. Well the answer is Washington D.C. has the highest rate. That's right—the U.S. capital. Now the numbers are far beyond what you could even consider an epidemic, and yet for some reason, nobody wants to talk about it. But now, a new documentary called The Other City is highlighting the fact that there are two Washington D.C.s. There's the one you might see on TV, shiny and white, adorned with monuments--and then there's the other D.C., filled with crime, poverty, and a public health epidemic. Well, joining me, from our L.A. studio to discuss this film, The Other City, is the producer of the film and the B.E.T co-founder, Sheila Johnson. Sheila, thanks so much for joining me. Now I actually took that example of the three cities from the film itself. That was, you know, shown at the very beginning. And I think that’s very important because you think, Washington, D.C.—sure, it’s not supposed to be a perfect city but—that is the symbol of America—this is the Nation’s Capital. And yet I bet that nobody would have guessed that that was the correct answer. I mean, why do you think that is? Why does no one know that the rates here are so staggering?
Sheila: Because we’re not talking about it anymore. Um, while we were making this film, I was meeting with lots of people, and just throwing this issue out there. And they said, “Oh no, AIDS has disappeared.” I said, “Oh no, it hasn’t. Would you believe that Washington D.C. has the highest rate of AIDS anywhere across this country?” And they said, “No we can’t believe that. We can’t believe it.” So in the meantime, the Washington Post, Jose Vargas, the writer, was really covering these stories. Now whether people are reading them or not, I still don’t think that they really believed that this was going on. So that’s why we decided to make this documentary—to really bring it home.
Alyona: Now I want to talk about attitudes. You know, you speak about that reporter, and at the end of the film, you know he says a quote, where, you know, there were somehow—the, the HIV and AIDS are now the—that’s the worst thing that’s happened to humanity. It’s the worst example of humanity, because what happens is people look at HIV and AIDS as a disease that, well you had to do something to get it. You either had unprotected sex or you’re an intravenous drug user, so there’s this notion of shame, and that’s why a lot of people simply choose to turn a blind eye and not to care. You know what I mean? How do you—how do you battle something like that?
Sheila: Well, I think we need to start talking about it. I mean, one of the reasons, I would say another reason why I made this film, was to really erase the stigma. We have to got to start opening up our hearts and minds and start educating people about this disease. It’s not so much that people have done things wrong. I think that if we’re able to let them know what they are doing to themselves and the consequences of behaviors, then we can really reduce the rate of this disease. I mean, and it’s just so unfortunate because some of the victims that are really suffering from this are women. And these are women that are married, and the disease has been put on them by their partner, and I just think that it’s just something we openly need to talk about. And we’re also seeing an increase of women 50 and over that are going back out on the dating forest. So I think that this film is really going to highlight this issue, and I think many people are going to start talking about it. We’re trying to reignite the debate. We want to start making this issue as transparent as possible so that we can erase that stigma and make it all work.
Alyona: And how do you think about—you were just saying that, you know, the biggest victims here are African-American women ages, I think, 25 to 34, and in many ways, that’s because like you said, their husbands or partners or boyfriends are going out there. But that’s also part of culture, perhaps, where not only do men think that they can go out and sleep around, but also it’s part of Black culture where it’s very shameful to be considered homosexual. So there’s a lot of guys going out there and doing what they need to do, on the DL, on the side, and then they don’t tell women about it, so how do you go about changing that culturally, too?
Sheila: Well, I don’t—I think, yes, it is in the African-American culture. I think it really goes along all cultures. I think that people are not being honest with their partners. I think they—again, I’m going to go back to education. I think that we need to talk about it and if we need to educate women first so that they can understand that they need to ask those hard questions of their partners. And whether they tell them the truth or not, is another story, but at least they can try and take responsibility and take control of their lives so that they do not contract this disease. So many of these women, you know, are infected. When they’re infected early, they don’t know; they have no side effects of this disease, until they start getting very, very ill, and then it’s full-blown AIDS. Women are the nurturers, they’re the caregivers, and they feel as though the first things they have to do in life is not take care of themselves, but take care of their families. And that’s where they put them—they put their kids and families on the front burner, until their health starts to deteriorate.
Alyona: Yeah, and you’re right by that. And the reason I, I specifically pointed to the African-American community is because they’re the predominant majority, here in D.C., and they are predominantly the ones—
Sheila: —well—
Alyona: —infected. But I want to ask you another question. There’s—there are bus ads that I passed today, in Washington, D.C. that have a scale. And they show the amount of money that we spend on the war in Afghanistan—the scale is just completely tipped over—compared to the amount of money that this country spends on HIV and AIDS and prevention and education, and uh, medicine. And you, know, what does that tell you about this country’s priorities? I mean, it seems like we probably have the money to completely wipe this out if only we decided to dedicate it.
Sheila: Well, I think you’re so right. And you know, unfortunately, you know, I was a global ambassador for CARE for the past 5 years. And I did a lot of work for CARE. It’s a humanitarian organization. When I went over, and I saw the problem of AIDS in women, the most victimized of all people, and um, they had very little to protect themselves. And as I was working over there, and then I would come home, and I realized we have these problems right here in our own backyard. And the issue is, is the U.S. sends over a lot of money—a lot of money—for AIDS programs abroad. And I’m not saying that we should or should not do that. But I think, for some reason, people with NGOs, people within the government, they do not really want to acknowledge that we have a real growing AIDS problem right here in this country. And we need to really get our priorities straight, and start figuring out how we can start putting funds into HIV programs right here in this country. We have got to start helping ourselves so that we can help others.
Alyona: And I—I completely agree with you there. Like I said, we spend so much money on fighting war, but why can’t we fight the health issues that we have right here at home?
Sheila: Right.
Alyona: Sheila, thank you so much for joining us. It really is a great film. Like I was telling you, I watched it last night. I was crying myself to sleep because it’s so hard, but it’s the truth, and I know it’s premiering right there in Los Angeles tonight. So thanks.
Sheila: Yes, and we’ll be right in San Francisco also. So after we leave here, we’ll be at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. So if we can get everybody to come out and really support this film, I’d appreciate it. I think people will learn a lot, and we can start this dialogue.
Alyona: Great, thank you.
[end of clip]
I saw this movie last week with a friend, and some of the people featured in the film had a live discussion afterwards. One of the women talked about having unprotected sex once, which led to her becoming HIV+. Another man talked about how he was HIV+ and totally open about it, and how he had been doing work to help educate the Latino community about HIV/AIDS. Another panelist is a mother of three and had to protest in front of the government just to get housing, because she needed to keep her HIV medications refrigerated. And another panelist was from a singing group called Courage to Heal, which was featured in the film. Unfortunately, the film isn’t playing in D.C. anymore, but it was playing last week for free at the American History Museum.
I don't care where the highest rate is. I just hate to see anyone sick with it regardless of where they live.
I agree. I'm just trying to dispel some of the myths that it's just in Africa, or just among gay men, so that people realize how close to home the HIV/AIDS epidemic hits, in hopes that people will start to care more.
HIV/AIDS is blind to race, gender, and sexual orientation. It is not a "gay disease" or a "Black disease". There are other movies featured at the American History museum that discuss HIV/AIDS among various communities, for anyone who is interested.
Blaming people and condemning them for their actions does not stop the virus from spreading. Education and funding can stop the virus from spreading. It's something we need to really start doing something about.
I agree. I'm just trying to dispel some of the myths that it's just in Africa, or just among gay men, so that people realize how close to home the HIV/AIDS epidemic hits, in hopes that people will start to care more.
HIV/AIDS is blind to race, gender, and sexual orientation. It is not a "gay disease" or a "Black disease". There are other movies featured at the American History museum that discuss HIV/AIDS among various communities, for anyone who is interested.
Blaming people and condemning them for their actions does not stop the virus from spreading. Education and funding can stop the virus from spreading. It's something we need to really start doing something about.
Stopping AIDS starts with ALL of us as people: keeping it in our pants and I'm talking about men and women here. Yeah; I was pretty wild back in the day but; being an anglo white male and NOT being Gay and NOT using any needle drugs, I was real lucky and never caught AIDS. I say "anglo white" cause many of us are less likely to catch AIDS than many "people of color" like Blacks and Indians, most Hispanics are Indian. Word has it the same genes that block the Plague also slow down AIDS, Plague killed millions of white people back in the day, but a few people survived cause their bodies threw it off.
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