Thursday, March 20, 2014 - Atlanta, GA. Today, a group of concerned and fed up Consumers who are just sick and tired of business as usual staged a STAND OUT at the Ryan White Planning Council Meeting held at 99 Jesse Hill Dr. Atlanta. A “Stand Out” as opposed to a “Sit In” is where we stood, peacefully and obediently, outside the Planning Council meeting room door with the hopes that a quorum couldn’t be established without Consumer representation in the room and “business as usual” would cease until ongoing consumer issues with leadership were addressed. Overall, the Stand Out did exactly what it was supposed to do and placed leadership on notice that “Enough is Enough”. Going in, we knew quorum would be established because PLWHA on the Ryan White Planning Council don’t hold the majority of the votes, key positions or have the Voice. The Chair Position, Assessment, Comprehensive Planning, Council Procedures, Evaluations, HOPWA (until recently), Public Policy, Priorities, and the Quality Management Committee Chair positions are all held by Agency Representatives versus First and Second Vice Chair and Co-Chairs of each committee, which is reserved for Consumers but have very limited roles. Even Council Membership and Voting Membership itself is very heavy on the Agency Side, which brings up a host of Conflict of Interest issues…but nonetheless we knew exactly what we were up against. As Consumer Caucus Chair, a National HIV Advocate/Activist and Organizer of today’s Stand Out, I would say it was a bitter sweet success. Bitter sweet because history was actually made today as several PLWHA collectively stood up for themselves against ongoing issues within the Atlanta Metropolitan Ryan White Planning Council and Ryan White Grantees Office but instead of leadership acknowledging this as a bold action and what we called, a S.O.S., they used Patrice A. Harris, Fulton County Director of Health Services, which by the way, was a very nice lady who was off and called in today, to come into the hallway where again we were respectfully waiting to make our statement, with a Security Officer to “encourage” us to go into the RWPC meeting. Note and Question: We have/had no issue with Fulton County or Ms. Harris so why couldnt leadership address us just as respectfully as we were addressing them as they walked by??? Leadership, obviously was not willing to do their own dirty work or should I say confront the problems facing them in the hallway into the meeting that they had to walk through. The straw for me, was when a long standing HIV Community Staple and Planning Council Committee Chair began corralling folks towards the meeting room door with arms moving in a sweeping kind of fashion saying – “Come on now, ya’ll know better.” Many of the folks assembled didn’t initially move until it was stated that what we were doing was “illegal” followed shortly thereafter by a very tall Sheriff who walked through the assembled crowd. Okay didn’t expect that; so many of the Consumers quickly went into the meeting room but not because the issues were finally addressed but because many Consumers couldn’t afford any trouble with the law so the best decision was too comply. Now understanding what could be construed as civil disobedience, the rest of us stated that we would simply move to the lobby or outside, which we did without incident. Now there are a couple of reasons why I think that leadership’s handling of this situation showed a misuse of power and a frailty. 1. Typical - Divide and Conquer and we need to stop leading using fear, miseducation and intimidation. 2. If you could call the Director, Security and the Sheriff then certainly you should have been able to address the issues right there in the hallway. Without even being in the Planning Council meetings, but hearing, I already know the after conversation and how the entire event is being twisted but whatever was done did not solve the actual issue, however it did shine a bright light on it though, because: · For far too long too much has been done, or in most cases, not done with little to no regard for The Consumer Experience. · Personal attacks on consumer leadership, derogatory and demeaning comments about People Living with HIV have been made over and over by those in respected positions of leadership...without recourse. Comments as bold as: They only have a sixth grade education “Poor living conditions?…better than them being homeless” They only know about living with HIV and nothing else “They dont have the capacity to lead a committee“ And when addressed, it’s justified as never being what the person actually meant. · Rules have been bent or blatantly ignored to tilt the scales of justice to favor one side. · Lies have been told and even called out...but still no recourse. · Official meeting notes cleverly altered to accommodate an ill spoken misstep and to collude what actually really happened. · Tradition (“How we have always done things…”) has even trumped Truth“ and Roberts Rule of Order. We Stood Out of this meeting to not only show SOLIDARITY but until we are all invited to sit at the table as equals (Luke 14:1-24) then why should we even be in the room? Leadership walked right by, all of us not just me, and no one spoke or even attempted to address our concerns and for that I find leadership “in contempt.” If current leadership wont lead us, then no longer should we follow current leadership until ALL of our Voices and Concerns are Heard and ADDRESSED. The ante was certainly upped today with leadership’s blatant disregard which showed me that we too must up the ante. I hold no disregard for anyone that stayed in the meeting, or went back into the meeting because I understand that Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is sometimes more important than the cause but it shouldnt be used as a bridle either. My Grandmother used to say If you dont stand for something then you will fall prey to anything. so this is far from over - Until there is Sustained Change and Justice rolling on like a river, righteousness like a never falling stream. There will just have to be a REVOLUTION.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:38:21 +0000