The first report of AIDS appeared in the Center for Disease Control’s weekly public health digest in June of 1981 on CNN. Today, it is estimated that 39 million people are living with HIV and 1.2 million live in the United States. According to local data, in Los Angeles County, there were over 50,000 individuals living with HIV in 2022.
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On Dec. 1, an event was held at The Wall Las Memorias AIDS Monument in Lincoln Park. Although The Wall Las Memorias Project is primarily targeted for those of Latino descent, Blacks and Latinos share a mutually chilling reality when it comes to HIV and AIDs in this country.
It has been reported that although Blacks represent only 13% of the population, they account for 40% of those with HIV in the United States. Latinos/ Hispanics represent 18.5% of the population, yet are cited as 25% of those infected, according to hiv.gov. With division being a recurrent theme in society, this monument serves as a ground for cultural education, respect, and inclusion.
This annual event, honoring those who have passed or been affected by the disease, is known as “Noche de Las Memorias” (ight of Remembrance) and it is marketed as a community space for “healing, remembrance, and action.” This was the 29th year of communion.
In the center of the monument, engraved into the stone floor, lies a passage that reads: “The War Las Memorias is an eternal monument to honor our loved ones who have died from AIDS. Las Memorias is a place for family and loved ones to be joined by the community.
It is here, we grieve and restore honor to our dead. It is here, we heal and through acceptance, destroy denial and ignorance. It is here, we awaken to reclaim an understanding of self, ancestry and culture.
It is here, we free ourselves from the teaching of guilt. We unite as one people in our vision, our teaching, and our truth. Through truth we live, through knowledge we survive.” By Anna Contreras and Richard Zaldivar, 1995
The Wall Las Memorias is located at 3600 North Mission Road in Los Angeles.
