Most of us who have been involved in New York’s politics for a while now, know that C. Virginia Fields has paid a lifetime of dues in politics and community development. She is -amongst many things- a social worker with a Master’s degree in sociology or social work. She cut her teeth in the civil rights struggles of the nineteen-fifties and sixties. She was born in the South; one time she was even arrested (and locked up) with Dr. Martin Luther King for participating in a sit-in. She was only sixteen years old then. She took her young life into her hands: talk about sacrifice and bravery.
She then headed north and eventually landed in New York. She has accomplished many good things during her lifetime. She is a true public servant. Four years ago she ran for mayor of New York City. If she had been successful she would have become the first woman to hold that position. Prior to that race she was the Borough President of Manhattan. Before that she was a member of the city council (Harlem) for about eight years or so. Today, Ms. Fields is the president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on HIV/AIDS (NBLCA). She is still around and still doing good work; in fact: great work
On Thursday 5th February, 2009, Ms. Fields will deliver the first “State of the HIV/AIDS epidemic” address. It will be done at her old stomping grounds: City Hall. It will take place in the council chambers. It will be co-sponsored by the speaker Christine Quinn and Inez Dickens (councilmember from Harlem). The event starts at 6:30p.m.
Last August, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued a report that showed 25,000 new cases of HIV amongst blacks in the USA. The report also stated that “blacks were more heavily and disproportionately affected by HIV than any other racial or ethnic group in this country”. Ms. Fields will discuss this report, and also other areas in this battle, like resource-allocations, new treatment methods, education, health-related statistics and the like. She is going to call on the Obama administration to develop a long-awaited (and long called for) national governmental policy on HIV/AIDS.
As a blogger and activist, I must say that I laud the efforts of Ms. Fields in this struggle; and I do commend her for a lifetime of community devotion. She is in my estimation, a genuine political/community activist. She could have walked away in 2005 -after losing the mayoral primary- and retired to some beautiful lil island in the Caribbean. Instead she chose to continue her work as a true social worker.
So, to Ms. C. Virginia Fields, I say: you go girlfriend. Right on. And lots of love and good wishes are coming your way from me and others. Keep up the good work (and you were a nice boss to me -even though you did embarrass me in the Labor Day parade/lol). Darryl Smart also sends his regards.
Stay tuned in folks.