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American Morning
AIDS Anniversary: AIDSRide USA
Aired June 05, 2001 - 09:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And also this month, thousands of people are bicycling for a cause taking part in AIDSRide USA to raise money to help people living with AIDS.
Wallace Corbett is an AIDSRide participant. He joins us this morning from Washington to talk about the ride and to help us reflect on some 20 years of AIDS and AIDS research.
Good morning. Thank you very much for coming in this morning.
WALLACE CORBETT, AIDSRide USA PARTICIPANT: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
HARRIS: Well, as I understand it, you've been through this -- you're going through this personally yourself and have been for some time. What does -- what does this 20-year, I guess, benchmark mean to you?
CORBETT: Well, it means that this epidemic is not over and that African-Americans need to realize that this is an epidemic. And they need to become, instead of victims of HIV and AIDS, they need to be architects in learning how to bridge this and to end this epidemic in our community.
HARRIS: And you mentioned the African-American community, there was a report that just came out recently from the CDC that showed that the numbers there are not encouraging at all. Why is it that African- Americans don't seem to be getting the message or taking it seriously enough?
CORBETT: Well, they need to realize that this is real and that the ages of those being infected or affected by the HIV are getting younger. And that if we don't, as a people, realize that, we'll be burying our young children other than ourselves. And that this is part of who we are and that the reality of it is is that HIV and AIDS is real and that cocktails only simply allow you to live a longer life -- that does not end the fact that HIV and AIDS -- it is a deadly disease.
HARRIS: You know what I'd like to ask you is -- this is something I've been wondering about for sometime, in looking through the African-American press or looking through -- hearing African- American voices in the mainstream press, I hear more concern about AIDS in Africa than I hear about it in African-American communities here in the U.S. which has, up to this point, been almost a silent epidemic.
CORBETT: Well, that is true, but I think we need to realize where it actually came from and that actually now in Africa it is a holocaust and that the mentality rate is unbelievable. And there's so many infants over there being left out, you know, without parents. But the reality of it is HIV and AIDS is an epidemic here in the United States and that African-American churches need to get involved in telling them -- their congregations that this is a true reality that young kids are dying.
(CROSSTALK)
CORBETT: I work in a hospital field myself, and you see young kids coming in at 16 and 17 infected, not just with HIV, but actually full-blown AIDS.
HARRIS: So what are these AIDSRides? What have they done for you in the past? And what is this one going to accomplish, do you think?
CORBETT: Well, this is my sixth ride. I do all the Washington, D.C. AIDSRide. And we have a group called Brother to Brother Sister to Sister United which is the largest African-American biking team and the only African-American biking team in the country. And the group, if we finish this year, will have raised over a million dollars. But more importantly is that the group, comprised of all African- Americans, per se, in every aspect that you can imagine, but with that you give out word to other people about HIV and AIDS. And that we, as African-Americans, are doing something about it. And to do the ride is a true sacrifice -- 364 miles in four days.
HARRIS: You're a better man than me on that one.
(LAUGHTER)
CORBETT: It's a good thing.
HARRIS: I can drive that far, that's about it.
Wallace Corbett, thanks. Good luck to you and to you...
CORBETT: Thank you.
HARRIS: ... and all the other riders. Thanks much for coming in and explaining it to us. We appreciate it. Good luck to you.
CORBETT: Take care now.
HARRIS: All right.
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