'Family' Values: Gil Robertson

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ACCORDING TO a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, African-Americans are 10 times more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than their white counterparts.

Veteran reporter and syndicated columnist Gil L. Robertson IV knows this fact all too well: His brother Jeffrey D. Robertson was diagnosed as HIV-positive in the mid-1980s.

The people of Washington, D.C., should be intimately aware of this stat, too, but too often we're not. It's estimated that one in every 20 adults in the District is HIV-positive, with 82 percent of those being African-Americans.

D.C. also has the highest rate of new AIDS cases per 100,000 people in the U.S.

That's 10 times the national average.

It's stark numbers like these, plus his family's own story, that led Robertson to create the book "Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community" (Agate Publishing).

Robertson solicited more than 50 essays from the high-profile likes of Jesse Jackson Jr., Rev. Al Sharpton, Patti LaBelle, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Mo'Nique and more, along with testimonials and tales from the not-so-famous — including his brother Jeffrey. Together, they tell the emotional stories about how HIV/AIDS has affected their friends, family and themselves.

Express spoke with Robertson about "Not in My Family" before his Saturday book-signing appearance at the Congressional Black Caucus' Annual Legislative Conference at the Washington Convention Center.

» EXPRESS: You wrote in your introduction that it was hard to get people to talk about HIV/AIDS in their families. Why is HIV/AIDS still such a taboo subject in 2007, particularly among African-Americans?
» ROBERTSON: Fear, denial, apathy and misplaced priorities are the key contributing factors as to how and why HIV/AIDS continues to spread unabated within the African-American population. Our community will need to get beyond that before we can begin to develop strategies to deal with this pandemic effectively.

» EXPRESS: How did you go about finding which celebrities and leaders had HIV/AIDS affect them or their families? It seems like a delicate thing to just come out and ask.
» ROBERTSON: You're right. But this disease is real and present in the African-American community, so it was a necessary move both on my part as a journalist and for the contributors to give voice to this problem. A great many of the famous people who are in the book were in fact people whom I either knew or had direct contact to. Some of the other contributors are just passionate and conscious human beings who I knew would want to be a part of the project. It was a bold move for so many people — prominent and not — to be so candid in sharing their experiences and inner most feelings about this disease. Ultimately, I think it points to a good sign that a new awakening about HIV/AIDS is beginning to take shape within the African-American community.

» EXPRESS:Your brother was diagnosed as HIV-positive in the relatively early days of the AIDS epidemic. But he's living today, and thriving, using his illness to educate others. Was he able to start meds pretty quickly after his diagnosis and did he have insurance?
» ROBERTSON: My brother was extremely proactive from day one in looking for treatments and medicines to combat his illness. He has insurance, but more importantly he has been extremely aggressive in participating in trial drug programs and every other option available out there to stabilize his condition. The support of our immediate and extended family has also been a key factor to his longevity.

» EXPRESS: What avenues of treatment would you recommend to people who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS but don't have insurance?
» ROBERTSON: They need to get busy and do their homework. Resources are available that the uninsured can take advantage of. It's certainly not easy for the uninsured but what that means is that folks need to think outside the box and get really aggressive about obtaining access to the treatment options out there. The [Centers for Disease Control] is a great resource, but so are your local AIDS service organizations [D.C. Care Consortium, Whitman-Walker Clinic, Damien Ministries, Regional Addiction Prevention (RAP)]. The Black AIDS Institute and the Balm in Gilead organization also provide excellent support resources.

» EXPRESS: How did your family react to your brother's news that not only was he HIV-positive but that it likely stemmed from bisexual encounters?
» ROBERTSON: His sexuality wasn't a problem because they already knew about that for some time, However, given the era when he was first diagnosed, our chief concern as a family was living with the question of his mortality. Living with a person who is terminally ill is very challenging anyway, but when you add on the social stigmas connected with HIV/AIDS, the burden gets a lot heavier.

» EXPRESS: Am I mistaken to think that people are more willing to accept someone who acquired HIV/AIDS because of intravenous drug use or even heterosexual promiscuity versus someone with the disease who is gay?
» ROBERTSON: I don't really know if that's true, but I do believe that a big reason why the black community has been reluctant in dealing with this disease certainly centers around the extremely conservative views held by many blacks feel about homosexuality and promiscuity.

» EXPRESS: D.C. has a particularly high rate of HIV/AIDS. What are your thoughts about the District and HIV/AIDS and to what do you attribute the higher ratio of people here having the disease?
» ROBERTSON: Well, a lot of black people live in D.C. and we are the new face of HIV/AIDS. The great irony in all of this is the question of how any citizen living in the capital of the richest country on this planet could have a problem with access to information about prevention options and treatments for this disease. Unfortunately, action is not being taken quickly enough and as a result more and more African-Americans are becoming infected. HIV/AIDS needs to be a topic of conversation for every family in America, but especially black Americans. Unfortunately, until the community can get beyond the thick layers of denial the numbers will continue to rise.

To combat this problem I have put together a workshop based on "Not in My Family" to work with populations who are especially at risk within the African-American community. The CDC also recently called on black leaders to take an active role in raising awareness through a program called "Heighten National Response to HIV/AIDS in the Black Community."

It's my hope that my book and other national efforts will trigger the appropriate response among African-Americans to take real action and do what's necessary to rid this disease out of our population.

» EXPRESS: Which essays in the book affected you the most and why?
» ROBERTSON: You know, it's hard to say which essay is my favorite because each of them are so relevant in speaking to various segments of the African-American community about this problem. In many ways, "Not in My Family" represents the journey that African-American people have taken with HIV/AIDS. Each of the essays will touch readers in different ways because each contributor represents various sectors of the black community. From A to Z, "Not in My Family" provides valuable insights into the attitudes and conditions connected with this disease. The book features stories and messages that are relatable on a universal level. The project also succeeds in using language and context that is especially specific to African-Americans.

» EXPRESS: Is there anyone who you really wanted to get in the book but he/she wouldn't write something — even though it's well known that this person, or his or her family, has been affected by HIV/AIDS?
» ROBERTSON: Surprisingly, there weren't many people contacted who turned down the invitation to be a part of this effort. However, there are a few people who were not included because of time commitments and other circumstances. Fortunately, there will be a second edition of "Not in My Family" that will arrive in stores in 2008 on World AIDS Day.

» Washington Convention Center, Congressional Black Caucus Authors' Pavilion, Karibu Books booth, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW; Sat., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; 202-263-2800 or 202-249-3000. (Mount Vernon Square)

Photos by Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images (middle) and courtesy Gil Robertson