I still can't forget one of my favorite singer of all time, Annie Lennox when she performed during American Idols Gives Back week. She sang Universal Child while wearing a "HIV POSITIVE" T-shirt which of course caused a great hiatus in the internet on whether she's really HIV positive. This is the message taken from her official site:
The HIV POSITIVE T shirt is such a strong and simple tool.. It works on so many levels at the same time..
1. It challenges whoever sees the wearer of the T shirt into responding in some kind of way..which could range between....
”Oh my God, the person wearing this T shirt is HIV positive..Should I attack them, run away, feel sorry for them, or ask them why they’re making such a provocative statement”?
2. If I ask them if they’re HIV positive and they say that they are..Should I... “Shuffle away as quickly as possible”? “Commiserate with them, and shuffle away as quickly as possible”?
“Ask them where they bought the T shirt, and buy one immediately, so I can wear one too”? Ignore the whole thing, and regard it as a bizarre fashion statement.
She is correct of course. The HIV positive shirt was the number one most discussed topic on Yahoo and Myspace. Just a plain simple shirt can generate that much interest in a topic as heavy as HIV. I did a few research just to know more about Annie Lennox and her HIV awareness campaign and really amazed by what she has done. Do you still remember the Young, Beautiful and HIV Positive that I talked about in Without Hope and Dream, the World is Nothing? This kind of campaign definitely help in creating awareness and not just shove the black sheep of the family, which is HIV under the rug.
The stigma that accompanies HIV is truly profound, for many reasons, and the problem is that it is so stigmatised that it walks into a closet, and shuts the door behind itself, thus creating and re creating paranoia, fear and discrimination.As a woman and a mother I intend to keep sending out the message...even if it often feels like I’m the little Dutch boy with my finger in the dam...
Annie Lennox, I wish one day I could be that little boy too. Enjoy my selection of this week Music Monday: Annie Lennox - Universal Child.
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