Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

AIDS Marchers Remember the Victims

Aired June 03, 2001 - 18:14   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington today, people marched from near the White House to the Capitol to remember those who died in the epidemic. CNN's Christy Feig takes a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are 80,000 names on the AIDS quilt, only a snapshot of the nearly 450,000 Americans who have died from the disease.

New infections aren't declining. In fact, recent reports show the disease is on the rise again in young gay men, the same group when AIDS first hit two decades ago.

CLEVE JONES, FOUNDER, AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT: Because they didn't experience what I experienced of walking out my door and seeing people dropping dead all around me, of going to funerals every day, of losing hundreds and hundreds of people, they don't understand that horror. They think it's a manageable, chronic condition.

FEIG: The development of drugs associated with AIDS took away the constant reminder that people were sick. Doctor Joel Weisman saw some of the first cases in Los Angeles. Now he's concerned that history may repeat itself in the next ten years.

DR. JOEL WEISMAN, RETIRED HIV PHYSICIAN: The virus is smarter than the drugs, and there will be an increased revolution to multidrug resistant disease.

FEIG: The types of HIV intention that are already resistant to more than one drug are also on the rise. And some who have been in medicine for years are running out of options.

JONES: Even though I, who have never missed a dose in 7 years of treatment, I've become resistant to every drug that's approved.

FEIG: The African-American community is also being hit hard. The CDC estimates that more than half of all new infections are in blacks, though they make up less than 13 percent of the U.S. population.

BISHOP KWABENA RAINEY CHEEKS, INNER LIGHT UNITY FELLOWSHIP CHURCH: We're looking at, you know, losing an entire generation of people. So the church has got to wake up, and at least begin to talk about it.

FEIG: All agree, preventing new infection is the only way to break the cycle. Now 12 AIDS organizations have joined together, launching a new national prevention campaign called "20 Years of AIDS is Enough."

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com