Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Cashman. We have a couple of birthdays this week. Thursday, March 8th is Councilwoman Black's birthday. So happy birthday, Councilwoman. And Saturday, March 10th is our council president Brooke's birthday. So if you're watching on TV, council president, happy birthday. Tonight, we have no presentations and there are no communications. We do have one proclamation this evening. Councilman Lopez, will you please read Proclamation two, four, one.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. President. Proclamation 241 Series of 2018 in support of National Native HIV AIDS Awareness Day and National Women and Girls. H i. V AIDS Awareness Day. Whereas more than 1.2 Americans are living with HIV and more than 50,000 become and become infected with HIV every year. One in four are between the ages of 13 and 24. Female youth accounted for nearly 2000 of all youth living with HIV. And. Whereas, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment at the end of 2015, more than 13,000 people were reported to be living with HIV in the state of Colorado. And. Whereas, HIV and AIDS has affected the city and county of Denver more than any other area in the state of Colorado reporting the most persons living with the disease, most HIV or AIDS related deaths, and 36% of HIV infections in 2015. Excuse me. And. WHEREAS, the continued spread of HIV in the American Indian and Alaska Native communities poses a significant risk to the public health and well-being of these communities. They've had the third highest rate of new HIV infections in Colorado from 2011 to 2015. And. WHEREAS, when compared to other ethnic groups, American Indians and Alaskan natives are ranked fifth in estimated rates rates of HIV diagnoses and have poorer survival rates after an HIV diagnosis. HIV infection was the ninth leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native youth, aged 25 to 34 in 2014. And. WHEREAS, American Indian and Alaska Natives also have one of the lowest awareness rates. One in five who live with HIV are unaware of their status, causing them to go without treatment and may unknowingly pass the disease onto others. And. WHEREAS, approximately one in four people living with HIV in the US are women, cases disproportionately affect African-American and Latino women, who represent 29% of all women in the U.S., but account for 78% of HIV cases among women. And. Whereas, the city and county of Denver recognizes the continue to work to bring HIV and AIDS awareness by groups such as Cafe Cultura Children's Hospital in Immunodeficiency Program Services, de la Raza, Sisters of Color, United for Education, Ergo. Yosemite Prep Prado. Mariposa at the Althea Center. Sorry. That threw me off right there. Embracing wholeness and arts. Addictions. Research and treatment services. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council, the city and county of Denver, Section one. The Denver City Council proclaims March ten, 2018, to be known as National Women and Girls, HIV AIDS Awareness Day and March 20th as National Native HIV AIDS Awareness Day. Section two at the Clerk of the City and County of Denver shall test and affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that copies be transmitted to Café Cultura, Denver, N.D., and Family and Resource Center and Sisters of Color. United for Education.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman Lopez, your motion to adopt.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. President. I moved that proclamation to 41 series of 2018 be adopted.
Speaker 0: It has been moved and seconded comments by members of Council Councilman Lopez.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. President. I I think it was five years ago where we first had this proclamation, and it was it was imperative that we read this, and it was imperative because we have to get the word out in our communities. It's not although this this proclamation is geared and specifically towards national native HIV, HIV AIDS Awareness Day and National Women and girls, HIV AIDS Awareness Day. It it really is a message for everybody. Right. It does not discriminate. And the more education that we have in our community, the best that we can actually prepare for it, educate our communities, understand how to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, and know that there is testing. There's free testing. A lot of folks, just the first the just the walking in the clinic is scary enough. Being able to ask the questions is scary enough, making that easy in our community, making it a conversation that people can have in the community in so many different languages, but especially especially in the native and indigenous community. Right. And so I you know, I can go on and on. We all you know, we've made some progress in the country. We made some progress in the world. But it's just not. It's not enough. And that's why we have to make sure that we have proclamations like this, that the message is spread throughout our communities and to really honor the people that do this on a day to day basis. Right. Those folks who are in our community, in the grassroots. And there's going to be some individuals that can speak a lot better than I can on this. And I do want to bring them up after we have our. I mean, I support this absolutely whole heartedly. Happy to sponsor this. I know we have some co-sponsors on this that that you'll see. I know. Maybe speak up and ask my colleagues to support this with me. And let's brings these speakers up.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Lopez.
Speaker 7: Councilman Flynn figures for president. I would like Secretary to have my name as a sponsor. I didn't get back in time last week to put my name on this, but I would like it on. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Flynn. And thank you, Councilman Lopez, for bringing this forward. Madam Secretary, roll call.
Speaker 3: LOPEZ All right.
Speaker 2: New assessment. Black Eye. Espinosa, I. Flynn. I. Gilmore. Herndon. Cashman.
Speaker 8: Can each.
Speaker 2: Mr. President.
Speaker 0: Please close the voting and announce the results?
Speaker 2: Sorry. Whoops.
Speaker 8: Sorry.
Speaker 3: And you know I mean this president when.
Speaker 2: 11 Eyes.
Speaker 0: 11 eyes proclamation to 41 has been adopted. Guzman-Lopez. Is there someone you would like to invite up to receive the proclamation?
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely. So there's Joy Lynch and Brenda Negrete, then the Youth Council members of a café called Dura and anybody. So if you want to come up. Introduce yourselves and your words. And then. Just the council. If you want to ask anybody up to come up, you're welcome as well to.
Speaker 8: Yet they shared Joy Lynch in a snap to cheat in a nurse that not Ginny Stein has klipsch need ascertained Beth login into Hello, my name is Joy. I'm 17 years old and I'm currently a senior at East High School. What what really stood out to me in this situation was the is just native women as a native woman. You know, I come from a tribe that's mostly matriarchal. So I understand the importance of my being the importance of being a woman. And, you know, just to protect yourself spiritually, mentally and physically, you know, that's what really stuck out to me. And just the idea that, you know, we need this awareness. This isn't our conversation that happens in our communities a lot. This isn't a conversation that I have a lot, you know. So just having the National Native HIV Awareness Day, as well as the National Women and Girls HIV AIDS Awareness Day, is such a such a relief. And I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to speak in front of you. And I'm so grateful that you guys were here to support this proclamation as you head. Hi. I'm Brendan Margaret. I'm a senior at early college Ramada, and I wrote a little something just to show my feelings towards the situation and how important it is to have these acknowledgments of these concerns in our communities and to be spoken about. So. I mean, de la la salud de la muerte. Spinning the pendulum between my fingers and feeling my face turning bright red while the boy in the back of the classroom continues to speak about how nice my breasts look with my new bra. Yet not understanding the original use of my breasts rather than being here for the older men in the corner of the streets to ogle over my hormones hovering in the air while the teacher at the front of the room says, Young women never have sex, never understand these concepts, and if they do, they will be an outcast . But she failed to tell me that the truth powers in my body. Her true powers with my emotions and energies seeing to know about your body and to love it is one of the most beautiful things that could happen. How am I supposed to know about my body when you sweep it under the table like dirt floating around in the air and sweeping a low, hushed voice to settle the dust, as you have tried to settle my calls for help. How are we supposed to keep silent when 77% of Latino women go through workplace sexual harassment? Native women are three times more likely to be sexually abused in their lifetimes when more than one in four trans women are living with HIV. When the HIV diagnosis among African-American women fell 20%, but it's still at the highest compared to other races and ethnicities. They keep our knowledge and ways away from us, slowly depriving of our self-love and care in order to keep the hierarchy up and keep us down. But as we hold our hands together, bloody and torn, hearing the whispers of our ancestors, we slowly remember. Once we acknowledge these ways, we will use the dirt swept under the table and plant a bright red flower so pure that even we will get the recognition one day.
Speaker 0: Thank you so much. Councilman Lopez, did you want to jump back in for a second?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I forgot to introduce. This is my college buddy, Manny. He's going to give me a scolding, but I forgot to bring out our crews as the director of Cafe called to the to the to the microphone. And I just wanted to say something. Those two young women want the ones about to graduate in. Graduate, right. So what are you gonna do? What college are you going to go? I don't know. We got you on the record. You're going to get you're going to go to college, right? All right. That's on the record. Anyway, I just wanted to keep it. That was beautiful. And if, Mr. President, we can have our crews come. Q Thank you, Paul.
Speaker 6: So as Paul has mentioned, we've done this several times and it's always a good thing to come here and and bring this awareness. We have an event this coming Friday. It's called Rise Up. It's a free.
Speaker 9: Event, free food, free HIV STI.
Speaker 6: And Hep C testing. We're partnering with Sisters, of course, United for Education. As was mentioned, Chip, the Children's Children's Hospital Immunodeficiency Program, as well as Servicios de la Raza, a bunch of other organizations.
Speaker 9: And so last year we, I think, tested close to 60 to 65 people. And we actually.
Speaker 6: Had one person who was tested positive and was able to get the kind of services that they needed and support and that direction. So in actually the first year that we had this event, a young man, 18 years old, found out he was HIV positive. So it was it was good for him to be able to have that knowledge and be able to get the resources that he needs.
Speaker 9: So I would encourage you on this Friday.
Speaker 6: 6:30 p.m. at the.
Speaker 9: Althea Center, we're going to have a singer.
Speaker 6: Rapper from California named Jessica Calderon, indigenous hip hop artist, as well as Native Maxim magazine, doing a fashion show. And so I encourage people to attend. So thank you very much.
A proclamation in support of National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.