On the recordJuly 26, 2000
Mr. Chairman, for many of us, this has become an issue laden with emotional content because of its life-or-death consequences so visible where we live. HIV-AIDS has become another burden of race in our country and in this majority black and Hispanic city. Today, the disease is largely a black and brown killer because of contaminated needles. The overwhelming majority of new cases have been black and Hispanic for years now. HIV- AIDS is now a racially based public health emergency. What Congress does on needle exchange is heavily laden with racial content. The Congress allows citizen localities everywhere else on Earth to do what is safe and what works for them. The Congress must not condemn women, men, and children who live in the District to die because they live in the District. That is what we do if we wipe out the District needle exchange program in the city.
Source
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