NAACP Encourages Black Churches To Address HIV Infection Rates As Civil Rights Issue

That’s why Shavon Arline-Bradley, Director of the NAACP Health Department, says HIV is a civil rights issue.  And the church has a role in addressing it.

(To hear the interview aired Friday on WABE, click the “Listen” icon above.)

Shavon Arline-Bradley:  We need to make sure that African-Americans look at this issue as something that can be an attainable win, that means we can end the epidemic, and so the NAACP is committed to that.

Jim Burress: You’re sending the manual to more than 20,000 churches. It’s called “The Black Church and HIV: the Social Justice Imperative.” What’s in that manual?

Arline-Bradley: It’s an amazing document. I am so excited. We focused in on not just the basics. There is some HIV 101 meaning the modes of transmission, and showing people what the virus really is, but we also highlight something that’s very familiar in the black church, and that’s liberation theology. Liberation theology talks a lot about justice and how Jesus was a man of justice. So liberation theology is connected to our community since slavery, this is work that we understand. The manual also talks about how to not only develop new ministry but how to address HIV through a social justice lens. What do I mean? Looking at health as a larger equity issue.

Burress: As we’ve seen, President Obama’s recent endorsement of same-sex marriage, followed by the NAACP doing the same thing, many within the black church feel left out, and some even say, betrayed. So how do you reach those people with this message, those who may already be skeptical?

Arline-Bradley: Well, so first of all, this message, this manual has nothing to do with the same-sex marriage conversation. And you know, one thing that I want people to understand: we’ve been working on this manual for over two years. So this is even before the president’s announcement, even before the NAACP made their stance. As an association, the purpose of this manual, and for our faith leaders, is to give them a tool to be better stewards of how to fight this epidemic. It has nothing to do with changing doctrine. We honor the doctrine of many churches, we honor their leadership, and we honor even their theology. And we have no intention of changing people’s minds about what they feel is right or wrong.

Burress: Well, it may be the case that’s the message you give to the churches, but how do you reconcile that some churches may still see HIV as linked with a moral behavior?

Arline-Bradley: Yeah, you know, that has been an area that I’ve thought about. I’m a church person. As a young woman, I grew up in church, I’m Baptist by denomination, and I’m a Christian by my beliefs and how I live. And so what I say to people is that what we are not here to do is to try to change their minds, that’s number one. But the second thing is, we cannot try to twist people’s arms, if you will. The black church knows its role. She has been at the front of justice for as long as she’s been an institution, so we’re talking about back in slavery. So what we’re doing is saying, “Listen—what we want to do is reignite the fire of churches, those churches that may be questioning, you know, I don’t even know, I don’t even know if HIV is an area for me.” What we’re saying to them: as a leader, as a pastor—this manual is for the leadership—as a leader, find out if there’s someone in your congregation, is there a family member in your congregation, is there a choir member, is there a deacon, that has someone in their family that’s struggling with HIV. We did an 11-city tour, and what we found is that pastors have been faced with HIV, doing funerals of people that have died from complications associated with the virus, but still have not had the chance to deal with it as a social issue. This manual is a tool for them, not to change their minds, but to enlighten them and to encourage them that they have a role in this fight.

Burress: Do you believe churches will be receptive?

Arline-Bradley: Yeah, you know what, I do. I think they’re gonna be receptive. Because I think they’ll get a new opportunity to address it. And this is not a threatening or a bullying of the NAACP. This is the NAACP standing with the black church and saying, “Listen, we are a force to be reckoned with together.” We can’t do this on our own. We need all our institutions to address this.

Burress: Shovan Arline-Bradley, head of the NAACP Health Department. She spoke to us from the airport in Houston, where the NAACP’s national convention begins tomorrow.