I always look forward to spending a Saturday in the area of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Malcolm X Avenue. I have to admit I meet the most wonderful people, some of the saddest of situations that people are in but I absolutely LOVE being on the “street” talking to
people. I think the people that our group talks to enjoys seeing us. Jimmy- a master of advocacy in the area- typically leads a group of us ladies around the neighborhood. (Elena and I posed with the goods) I will say that it still makes me angry to the amount of liquor stores, marketing for Kools/Newports/Black and Milds (the picture was so ironic- it was a poopy diaper next to an empty box of blacks) and fast food establishments I see on every corner. The number one topic of conversation that came up during “Condom Day” as I refer to the outreach day from literally ever single man that we spoke to- when we asked “Would you like some free condoms?” Every man replied with “Are they Magnums?” For those readers that are not familiar with the Trojan Brand of condoms- Magnum size condoms are larger in size. Even though we were giving out D
urex XXL condoms (which are the same thing) the choice preferred was Magnum.
(click on the images to get a better idea of the size)
Clearly Trojan has done a fabulous marketing job to the black community, but when I spoke to the DC Health Department they said that it was hard to get Magnums because they are simply more expensive. So with that said we are
grocery stores, drug stores
(not CVS- due to conflict of interest because of stores locking up their condoms),
Walgreens, Rite Aids, or any connections to help us (MWPHA) be able to provide protection that no one can refuse! Feel free to leave any information in the comment section.
I think one of the hardest things for me is when I come back to the foggy bottom area- where there is basically no garbage on the streets, not too many liquor stores, no cigarette marketing flashing in my face and in general I have feelings of anger and sadness. When I talk to other students at GW, outside of the school of public health and try and promote awareness about disparities in DC- I hear statements like “if it is not affecting me then it does not concern me” or “if it does not have anything to do with my people that I am not concerned.” It is interesting how comments like the above affect me in a way like they may not have 4 years ago. We as public health practitioners/activists should always do our best to tell the stories of the people we meet and put a face and name to a statistic.