Tayari's Blog: Rae Lewis Thornton, Trailblazer

Posted by TayariJones on December 1, 2009 01:20 PM
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Today is World Aids Day. Last year I wrote about my experience getting tested-- which I now do annually as part of my physical. Knowing your HIV status is part of taking care of yourself.

This year, I want to turn the clock back fifteen years. I was about twenty-four years old and I picked up Essence Magazine. Back in those days, Essence was serious. It wasn't all how-to-get-a-man or celebrities-in-love. Back then, Essence was where you went if you were a black woman who was trying to make sense of the world. There on the cover was Rae Lewis Thornton.

She was gorgeous, in that way all sisters are on the cover of Essence. She looked the way I wanted to look. Underneath a photo of her wearing a tight black dress looking at the camera, was the caption, FACING AIDS. As Crystal Wilkinson said on twitter this morning, Rae turned AIDS from "their" story to our story.

In the article, she talked about being a professional woman who only dated professional black men-- the Morehouse man type, and I mean that in the historical way. At a blood drive at her very good job, she found out her status and had no idea from whom she contracted the disease. Keep in mind that this is when Aids was understood to be a death sentence.

Nowdays, there are many Aids activists and people living publicly with Aids isn't such a shocker, but Rae Lewis Thornton came out when no one was talking to black women-- or women period-- about Aids. She is a hero.

Today she is on twitter talking about the realities of living with Aids. (For example, her co-pay is $2400 a month for her healthcare!.) Read her feed to see what she has to say, but also go get tested. You need to know.

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There are 2 comments on "Rae Lewis Thornton, Trailblazer". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

Comment #1, by Jackie [TypeKey Profile Page]

Thanks for the reminder. I remember the Essence of old, too. I also remember this woman's story which was a brave thing to do during a time when people were so afraid of AIDs they believed any rumor. Do you remember in the early days when a person with AIDs in a hospital was quarantined and the hospital staff wore those spacesuits to avoid contamination? The times when people thought you could get AIDs from a toilet seat, by breathing the same air? I remember working in a government office where people would throw away an ink pen that was used by someone with HIV. Rae Thornton continues to do a brave thing.

December 1, 2009 07:23 PM

Comment #2, by oisine [TypeKey Profile Page]

I remember this too. Powerful story.

December 1, 2009 08:08 PM

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