On Friday, the legacy of rap pioneer Eazy E was alive and well as his son joined a number of celebrities, political figures and community activists to bring attention to the HIV/AIDs crisis among African Americans. They got together at the Los Angeles Sentinel to mark National HIV Testing Day with a national Mass Black Response to the AIDS epidemic sponsored by the Black AIDS Institute, The Balm In Gilead, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and leading national Black Institutions.  Their purpose: to get a million African Americans tested for HIV by next year. “It’s part of getting the message out to the kids that you need to test yourself to be safe,” Eric “Lil Eazy” Wright, the son of rap pioneer Eazy E, who died of AIDS in 1995, told NPR. This is the second year of the effort, but the need is more important than ever, says Phill Wilson, the Institute’s founder and CEO. He reminded folks listening to NPR yesterday that 50 percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV are Black, and a good number of them don’t even know they have it. “They’re more likely to infect other people, but more importantly they can’t get into treatment and every day, someone in our community is getting sick from HIV, two people are dying from AIDS and we have to do something to stop it,” he says. “The least that we can do is that if every one of us knew our HIV status, we could stop it in its tracks.” Wilson, who is HIV positive, notes that people might be afriad of getting tested for a number of reasons, including the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS — ‘they’re afraid of what people will think of them’ — and people generally are unaware that advances in HIV treatment make it possible for those infected to live longer, fuller lives. “I’ve been living with HIV for 28 years. I’m living proof of what can happen when you have access to care and treatment,” he says. “My treatment right now is three pills once a day… Ten years ago I was on death’s door. Since then, I’ve run two marathons.” For more on the Test 1 Million campaign and who else is involved go to Vital Signs.

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