Source: thedailyaztec.com<\/p>\n
On Feb. 7, the Black Resource Center at San Diego State commemorated National Black HIV\/AIDS Awareness Day by hosting a lecture with activist and best selling author Marvelyn Brown.<\/p>\n
Diagnosed with HIV at 19 years old, Brown spoke to SDSU students to promote her new book, \u201cThe Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful, and (HIV) Positive,\u201d as well as to raise awareness on the importance of sexual awareness.<\/p>\n
Brown said her experiences speaking at numerous events in the past have culminated into three main messages she spreads to her audiences regarding HIV.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne would be to get tested,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI also tell people to be educated because (at that time), I still haven\u2019t seen anyone who looked like me that had the virus \u2026 My last one is to be responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Africana Studies lecturer Dr. Bonnie Reddick helped coordinate the event with the Black Resource Center and said a prior speaking opportunity for one of her classes led to a chance to speak to a bigger audience outside the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was teaching a black women\u2019s studies class and I saw her on MSNBC, so I emailed her,\u201d Reddick said. \u201cShe hit me back up, emailed me and gave a talk to my students which was great. So I hit her back up and said, \u2018I\u2019ll pay the director of Black Resource Center, I\u2019d really like to bring you back again,\u2019 and she\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown said winning an award at the Ryan White National Youth Conference in the past, a national event on HIV care and treatment, helped give her nationwide exposure in spreading HIV awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere at this conference there were over 1,000 youth from all over America who had HIV at this conference,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI was given an award at the conference for my courage. I had no idea that by putting the story in the paper I was doing what so many people are scared to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown also said the experience gave her connections that allowed her to elevate her platform and activism to the next level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember there were people in the audience that completely changed my entire HIV activism career,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBefore you know it I was traveling, doing TV shows and it was a whirlwind of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students who attended the lecture said the informative lecture opened their eyes on the risks of contracting the disease, especially in a college campus.<\/p>\n
Finance freshman Natalie O\u2019Neal said the event enforced a difficult point to come across for younger generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it was really informative and also needed because a lot of people in our generation don\u2019t understand the risk (of contracting HIV),\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cI feel like having Marvelyn come talk to us showed us just how real it could be for us as it was for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biology freshman Amber Davis said the lecture gave her a new sense of awareness about contracting the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that\u2019s not really talked about and is taboo,\u201d Davis said. \u201cSo having her debunk it for us is just really good to hear and to take that step to be educated.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal said the most important lesson she gathered from the lecture is that communication is key, especially when it comes to sexual health.<\/p>\n
She also said she is now more aware of who she trusts.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of us don\u2019t really think that it could be people that you trust and love and care about so I feel like that was really important that she said that,\u201d she said. \u201cShe brought up a very important question for us to ask in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3029,3030,2337,693],"class_list":["post-4557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aids-hiv","tag-black-resource","tag-health-awareness","tag-hiv-aids-3","tag-sexual"],"yoast_head":"\n