Black History Month 2021

Yvonne is an HIV activist and volunteers at George House Trust.

I was thrilled and honoured to be asked for my contribution to Black History Month. 

Being “a woman of a certain age”, there were lots of heroes and sheroes that ran through my mind when I thought about the contribution of people of colour, but for me, particularly those from Africa and the Caribbean.  This knowledge has kept my faith, strength and resilience whilst growing up.

The image of the defiant Black Panthers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King also remind me that any goods and services that I enjoy today were hard fought for and won by my forefathers and their allies.

However, our gains have also been about living the proof of our humanity in arenas where we were, or were not, expected to be seen. So, I’m proud of Mae C. Jemison as the only black female astronaut that I know of, the hidden figures of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Johnson Vaughan and Mary Jackson. 

As a young girl, I was hungry for characters that were like me, particularly women; yet I clung to every victory and achievement that black men also achieved.  They were the thin edge of the wedge that was being pushed through the locked gates of society.

So, it wasn’t such a stretch for me to want to see people like me, people living with HIV.  Sadly, at the time of my diagnosis I knew none and consequently lived with fear, shame, and isolation. However, since coming to terms with my diagnosis, I have found people from all walks of life who are HIV positive including people like me, whom I wished I had known about much, much earlier. 

There is a strength in knowing you are not alone, that there are people out there who understand the highs and lows of both racial and HIV discrimination. 

For me, like all the heroes and sheroes before them, this particular group show me how to live my best life. In the HIV arena, they stand as very visible icons continuing the tradition of fighting for the rights of black people to step into their humanity. 

They remind me that I have a right to live and that HIV is just a long-term medical condition. 

I have learned that we are still resilient. I have learned that all the skills I used to overcome racism, I will use again to fight HIV discrimination. 

More importantly, I see that black people are still contributing to the larger collective fight against HIV discrimination whilst demonstrating the breadth of the things that we do as people of colour. 

Lastly, they help me to keep my faith, remain strong and resilient and remind me that I can be if I believe in myself - just as I am.

Eternally grateful for this group of people, I’d like to introduce you to some of the people who remind me of my HIV heritage and hope that you enjoy discovering and celebrating them as much as I have...........

18th October 2021

Black History Month Celebration Event

Robert's Black History Month Blog

Black History Month 2021

Robert is a volunteer at George House Trust and has written a four-part blog for Black History Month 2021. Here is part 2......

My early years of teaching were far from easy as the stereotype mentality of some parents and visitors to the different schools where I taught was quite embarrassing. On numerous occasions I was mistaken for the care-taker or some kind of “handy-man” so when I said I was a teacher, you could see the surprise on the person’s face as if to say; shouldn’t you have a broom in your hand?

I saw myself repeatedly passed over for promotion and even though I was almost a straight “A” student and was awarded a distinction for my teaching. I was scrutinised much more than my white colleagues. When my students did well in exams, no one mentioned good teaching, as their success was because they were bright and capable. When they failed it wasn’t due to their laziness or that they hadn’t applied themselves, no it was down to bad teaching. It was my fault!

I had a break from teaching and went to work as Cabin Crew for a few years and it was noticeable on how few occasions I got to work at the front in Business Class. I can only assume that cabin crew managers did not feel that a slightly older man of colour should be serving in this particular cabin on the aircraft. Yet in training school we were told that we must work in all cabins on a regular basis.

I guess some sociologists might call this a type of “Hidden Apartheid”. When I was given an award one month, for having the most letters of commendation from passengers on my flights by my Fleet Manager, one crew member was heard to remark “I bet he has his friends on his flights and gets them to write in to praise him”.

Looking at the funnier side of things, I remember a teacher at one school stating that she was sick of people stereo-typing her as since she came from Wales everyone seemed to think her father was a coal miner and he was called Taffy.

Then I looked at her and said now you know how I feel as people seem to think because I’m from Jamaica my father was a bus driver and my mother a hospital orderly because those were the predominant roles that West Indian immigrants took on arrival in the UK. 

So, when she enquired what jobs my parents did and I mentioned that my dad was an electrical engineer with his own company and that my mother was a trained pharmacist with her own business, she seemed surprised!

Read part 1 here

Part 3 coming later this week......

Black History Month Celebration Event 

11th October 2021

It’s 8pm on a Wednesday night in September 2021, and I have just finished my final official meeting – the Annual General Meeting – and now my time as Chair is over.  As I leave the building my thoughts go to the first time I stepped through this door…

Like most people, I can remember my first visit to George House Trust as though it was yesterday.  It was a cold, dark winter evening and I was incredibly nervous - I was desperate to make a good impression, and for them to like me.  The lady I had spoken to when I arranged my appointment had sounded nice over the phone, and explained things really well, but I still didn’t really know what was waiting for me on the other side of that door.

Like everyone else who steps through that door, what I found was a warm and friendly group of people who are passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination facing people living with HIV.  Unlike everyone else, I then experienced possibly the longest and most thorough interview of my life. 

You see, I wasn’t there as a new service user, I was there to be interviewed for the position of Chair of Trustees.  The successful candidate would be the first Chair who wasn’t a current service user or volunteer (a bold decision for a member-led organisation) hence the thorough selection process.  Far from putting me off, the interview process made me want the role even more.  That might seem strange, but I had my reasons.

Firstly, any organisation putting that much effort into recruiting a Chair obviously cared deeply about their services and service users.  Secondly, member representation on the three interview panels was clearly not just a “tick box exercise” – evidence that George House Trust truly was a Member-led organisation (something that is really important to me). 

And last, but by no means least, everyone I met that evening was warm, friendly and passionate about the work of George House Trust.  I was hooked - everything I’d read, and heard, was true – I wanted to be part of this!  Needless to say, I was over the moon when I was offered the position.

Seven years later, as I open my car door, I catch a glimpse of the tattoo on my wrist and smile. Now anyone who has met me knows that I do like my ink, but there is a special reason why this tattoo makes me smile.  Partly it’s because the tattooist kindly donated 20% of the proceeds to George House Trust.  But mostly it’s because it reminds me of the advocacy work George House Trust undertook to ensure that every tattooist within Greater Manchester understands that to refuse to tattoo someone based on HIV status is unlawful.

And then I think of the formula milk scheme, and smile again - HIV positive mothers across Greater Manchester are offered free formula milk for their babies because of George House Trust!  Both of these things may seem fairly insignificant, but for me they represent what George House Trust is all about – challenging stigma and discrimination every day, and making a real difference to the lives of the people we support.

George House Trust has been a huge, and varied, part of my life since that night seven years ago. 

I have met Bishops, Lord Mayors and Drag Queens (sometimes at the same event!); thrown myself out of a plane to raise money; danced the night away at Drag Balls (why did I choose to wear a pleather dress on the hottest day of the year?!), and cried silent tears at Candlelight Vigils; attended award ceremonies and many, many Board meetings (some of which I even managed to keep to time!). 

I consider myself so lucky to have been able to play a small part in some of the amazing things it has achieved such as joining the U=U (U Equals U or Undetectable=Untransmittable) campaign, and award-winning writer and producer Russell T. Davis agreeing to be our patron.

As I drive away for the last time I am still hooked! I will never cease to be amazed by the impact that the organisation has on the lives of people living with HIV, and I will be forever grateful to have been part of it.

Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me.  And to all the staff, trustees, members and volunteers (past and present) it has been a privilege to know you and work alongside you!

Background

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is a precious artefact. Each of the panels commemorates lives lost to the AIDS pandemic during the 1980s and 90s. It is a public naming of loved ones lost, and a memorial for the many who died and went unnamed too. 

It is part of an international movement that sought to raise awareness of the impact of the AIDS pandemic and ensure that these lives would never be forgotten.

The quilts remind us how far the UK has come in the fight against HIV but how much there is still to be done to tackle stigma, reduce new infections, particularly in vulnerable communities, and support those living with HIV to lead long and healthy lives.  

Reflections Of The Launch Event from Our Chair, Jo Hancock

The UK AIDS Quilt Partnership was in the early stages of development when I began my first term as Chair for George House Trust.  I remember the panels being packed up ready to be transported to their new home, and the determination that they would not stay locked away. 

It is therefore fitting that one of the last “official” events I attended as Chair is the largest display of the UK AIDS quilts in London since the early 1990s. The launch event on 3rd July 2021 was both a celebration of how far we have come, and a protest at the stigma, discrimination and needless loss of life. 

It was loud and passionate - the energy in the room was palpable.  As we moved to view the panels silence descended. 

The quilt is a poignant piece of social history. But more than that, it is a very powerful reminder of the personal loss felt by so many.  Each panel celebrates and commemorates the life of a loved one – named or unnamed. To view it is both challenging and uplifting, the experience public and yet so very private. It is a reminder that HIV is still with us and that lives are still lost.

It is a call to action to challenge HIV stigma, support those living with HIV today, and create a future free from HIV.

The AIDS Quilt Exhibition was organised by The Food Chain, George House Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust, Positive East, Positively UK, Sahir House, Waverley Care and Fast Track Cities London.