In a town hall meeting held Saturday as part of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, local leaders spoke about the impact of the disease on Peoria's African-American community. "This has been viewed historically as a white, gay disease, but statistics are increasing among blacks," said Rhonda Holley, community outreach director for the Minority AIDS Awareness Council, the meeting's organizer.

In Illinois, 12,486 HIV cases have been reported among non-whites since 1999, compared to 5,788 cases among whites. "It's alarming how many people in our community have HIV/AIDS," said the Rev. Calvin McLemore of Breath of Light Ministries, who was a panel member at the town hall discussion.

McLemore said the figures do not tell the whole story since many people do not get tested. Some in the community practice risky sexual and drug-using behaviors that increase their risk of contracting HIV, he noted.

Churches should play a stronger role in educating and preventing HIV in Peoria, said the Rev. John Wright of Liberty United Love Ministries. Instead of shunning people with HIV, churches should encourage discourse and provide community outreach to those at risk or who have HIV.

More than 20 Peoria churches were invited to take part in the forum, but only McLemore and Wright attended. Wright said the low church participation at the meeting is a sign of how some in the religious community view HIV. "The reality is that sex is happening around the world, and we need to understand that, not hide from it and its consequences," said Wright.

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