The Black Community's Most Powerful Voices Speak Out About HIV/AIDS

To measure a person's heartbeat, you take their pulse. To take the pulse of a community, you ask its leaders the hard questions. That's just what The Body did with a host of movers and shakers in the African-American community, and from the halls of power on Capitol Hill to the mean streets of South-Central, one answer rang out loud and clear: The state of HIV/AIDS in Black America is a state of emergency.

But the good news is, there are bold ideas and brave action on every front. Hear from pioneers like Brooklyn's Dr. Beny Primm, who has been advocating for clean needles and treatment access for injection-drug users for more than 20 years; Us Helping Us' Ron Simmons, who was running a "down low" hotline years before Oprah had even heard the words; and Women Alive's Carrie Broadus, who has empowered HIV-positive African-American women to fight for their rights, including the right to have a healthy, HIV-negative baby. Listen to experts like Harvard's Dr. Alvin Poussaint on how the legacy of slavery and lynchings makes itself felt in the decisions African Americans make every day about HIV risk. Check out Illinois Senator Barack Obama's five-point plan to combat HIV/AIDS and see why Beltway insiders are betting on him to be the nation's first African-American president.

Are these leaders worth following? In a heartbeat. If "Dreamgirls" diva Sheryl Lee Ralph could get her Hollywood church to do HIV testing and ex-gang member Victor McKamie could get the Los Angeles gangs, Bloods and Crips, to use red and blue condoms, then HIV/AIDS is one more burden African Americans shall overcome.