April 26, 2005
LIGHTS, CAMERAS...ACTIVISM!
The posters and T-shirts are designed (by no less than Avram Finkelstein, the genius behind ACT UP's famous "Silence = Death" slogan) and ready for downloading and mass-production at www.EndAIDSNow.org. The website will soon have a cool new revamp that allows people to create their own personalized home page for their state or affinity group—and to access their own fundraising and organizing toolkits. The ambitious, uncompromising platform is written...and scores of powerful AIDS organizations nationwide are signing on (and ponying up financial support!).
Best of all, countless buses, trains, cars and planes are pointed toward the nation's capitol, where—next Thursday, May 5—the long-planned Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) embarks with "Walk a Mile in My Shoes"—a street march stepping off from the Navy Memorial at 7th St NW and Pennsylvania Avenue at noon, then wending its raucous way to a 1pm rally at Lafayette Park. There, a diverse roster of PLWHAs and advocates will briefly speak, then join the expected crowd of more than 2,000 protesters in placing 8,000 pairs of shoes—to symbolize how many die of AIDS globally every day—along the march route. And within clear view of the White House.
"We pray that the thousands of pairs of shoes displayed for President Bush at Lafayette Park on May 5 will serve as an indelible visual reminder of the imperative for him to act boldly and swiftly to end AIDS," says Housing Works president and C2EA national steering committee co-chair Charles King. "Though many of us are literally sick and tired, we now rise up together in protest of government indifference and ignorance."
Contact Paul Feldman at pfeldman@napwa.org or Mike Kink at kink@housingworks.org for more information about the exciting May 5 kickoff.
New York City in da house!
Though activists from all over the country will be there for C2EA's May 5 kickoff (many will already be in town for AIDSWatch, the NAPWA-sponsored week when PLWHAs visit their reps on Capitol Hill), it's likely no surprise that many will be hailing from NYC, where clients, staff and friends of Housing Works—as well as scores from other agencies citywide—will be piling into a whopping 40 buses at 6 a.m. Thursday morning from these sites in all five boroughs:
Manhattan
Broadway & Houston Sts (south side)
Brooklyn
Flatbush & Atlantic Avenues (near Hanson Place/LIRR)
Bronx
161st St. & Grand Concourse (Bronx Borough Hall)
Queens
Queensboro Plaza/Bridge Plaza North @ 27th St.
Staten Island
Central Avenue & Hyatt St. (at the NY Public Library)
Organizations and individuals: Sign up NOW to reserve your seat(s). Call Jose Cruz at 212.966.0466 x1164 or e-mail c2eanyc@housingworks.org.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers, we're still looking for old shoes to line the street where Dubya lives! Bring yours to any Housing Works site (preferably 330 W38th St) or thrift store (make sure you say they're for the "shoe march," not for sale!). Got a realllly big load of shoes? E-mail c2eanyc@housingworks.org to arrange a truck pick-up.