Information on AIDS Not Adequate, Students Say

Despite the fact that 40 percent of AIDS victims are minorities, federal government and Black community organizations have not adequately educated Blacks about the dangers of the disease, said participants in an Inter-Collegiate Conference seminar yesterday.

Students at the 11-person discussion group, which focused on the growing problem of AIDS in the Black community, criticized the techniques that AIDS education programs have used to disseminate information within the community about failing to acknowledge differences in the Black culture.

"The approach is only for middle class, white people. You can't approach me the same way you approach white people," said Vajezatha Z. Payne, a Cornell junior. "You have to accept the fact that there are two different cultures."

Laura I. Gerald '90, one of the seminar leaders, cited "a language barrier" as a primary factor in the failure of government AIDS information to reach Blacks. "[AIDS pamphlets] don't come out in the vernacular. But those are the kinds of words we need if we want people to understand," she said.

Other barriers to effective education about the disease are opposition from the traditionally powerful Black churches, which discourage discussions about sexuality, and a lack of Black economic resources to fund AIDS organizations, Gerald said.

Both the seminar's leaders and the participants agreed that Blacks have to promote awareness concerning the disease within their own community, exploiting television and radio with advertisements during popular shows, as well as distributing new pamphlets about AIDS prevention written to reach the Black community through churches and community centers.