City of Dallas holding “Hip Hop for HIV” concert September 14

by PegNews wire

Change is necessary for forward movement and growth, and next month that movement means survival as Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Dwaine Caraway, Radio One's Rickey Smiley, KBFB 97.9 The Beat, the City of Dallas and The MLK, Jr. Family Clinic launch an initiative to educate the community on the epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

The first Hip Hop for HIV concert will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 14 on the steps of Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St. The goal of the event is to increase awareness, alleviate the fear associated with HIV/AIDS, and encourage everyone to know your status and help eradicate the spread of the disease.

Knowing your status and "testing for tickets" is the core concept of this soon-to-be annual event. Testing sites will be designated throughout the Metroplex as participants collaborate with community organizations to begin confidential testing. Those tested will receive a free ticket to the concert.

"Testing for tickets is one creative way to address the disease, specifically the age group between 15 to 30 years of age," said Mayor Pro-Tem Dwaine R. Caraway. "People can learn their status, then be proactive about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, taking preventive measures, and becoming more informed about the social and medical services available for treatment. This initiative is part of our Teen Summit program that we kicked off last year."

The concert will feature international, national and local Hip Hop artists such as David Banner, Mike Jones, Bun B, Day 26, Pleasure P, Young Berg, Trap Star and more. The artists will emphasize the importance of knowing your status and encourage education and prevention.

Source: City of Dallas

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Collin Gouldin, says:

is this in retaliation to the "save the boobs with hiphop" concert?

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1 year, 3 months ago
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JW Richard, says:

I have to give Caraway props for this, especially given the continued rise of new cases in the African American community. I do wonder if the hip-hop artists chosen will so bold as to keep with "the script" on proactive health and prevention without merging into homophobic rhetoric. Now THAT would be laudable.

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Chris Kidd, says:

One thing we know about yesterdays hiphop, esp the works of PE, Poor Righteous Teachers, Boogie Down Prod. and Tribe Called Quest was that is served a purpose of education as well as social critique in the AA community. Theres still a few like Taleb Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots and Common who step up to the bat and tell the community how to act like they got some sense. Sadly, most of todays acts are still about the fools lifestyle that people like Eazy preached in the early 90's. We all know what happened to him and it wasnt pretty. I give Dwayne massive love for taking this one, as it is a difficut task with at least attempting to educate the community.

That being said, If theres going to be real headway made in the AA community with HIV/AIDS, it needs to start in the churches and homes of people. They need to talk, throw out the BS, learn all the facts and know that gays and people who share needles arent the only folks getting this disease in their community. In fact, AA women are one of the largest growing populations in this country with HIV/AIDS, that can be curbed by teaching them at a young age to be strong and demand their man to either wait or use protection everytime they have any type of intercourse. Also, some men of the community need to learn a concept called being faithful. It seems the "brothers will be brothers" mentality is whats leading to the problem. If your going to screw around, get tested every six months and use rubbers, enough said.

I apologize for going off on this, but this is a real passion for me, as one of my good friends passed from complication of AIDS some years ago.