>> Please welcome members of the
Gay Men's Chorus of Washington,
DC, performing Seasons of Love.
[ Applause ]
[ Humming ]
>> Gay Men's Chorus:
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred moments
so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure,
measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in
midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles,
in laughter, in strife.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure
a year in the life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love.
Seasons of love.
Seasons of love.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand journeys to plan.
Five hundred twenty-five
thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure the
life of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned
or in times that he cried,
bridges he burned or
the way that she died.
It's time now to sing
out the story never ends.
Let's celebrate and remember
a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love.
Remember the love.
Remember the love.
Measure in love.
Measure, measure
your life in love.
Seasons of love.
Seasons of love.
[ Applause ]
>> Please welcome Librarian
of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden.
[ Applause ]
>> Carla Hayden: Good morning
and welcome to the Library
of Congress on this
very special day.
It is an honor to welcome
Speaker of the House,
Nancy Pelosi, along with
several members of Congress,
including members from the
Congressional HIV AIDS Caucus.
And another warm welcome
to our partners today
from the NAMES Project
Foundation led
by President and
CEO Julie Rhoad.
The team from the
National AIDS Memorial led
by Executive Director, John
Cunningham and the founders
of the Quilt, Cleve Jones,
Mike Smith and Gert McMullan.
Also, thank you to the Gay
Men's Chorus of Washington DC
for their wonderful
performance of Seasons of Love
from the musical Rent.
Please, one more.
[ Applause ]
That song has a strong
connection
to the Library of Congress.
The papers of Jonathan
Larson, the writer and composer
of Rent are housed here in
the Library's Music Division.
And in the collection you
will see a sheet of paper
with Larson's handwritten
notes in long math,
calculating the 525,600 minutes
that you hear in those lyrics.
The song though,
Seasons of Love,
reminds us of the preciousness
of life and living it with love.
And that's why we're
here today in Washington
to remember the tens of
thousands of people we love,
who died from AIDS,
and the profound impact
that they've had on our lives.
Tragically, since 1981, close
to 636,000 people have died
from AIDS in the
United States alone.
One of them was my first
cousin from Chicago.
He was a vibrant young
man who loved life
and enjoyed every
minute of meeting people
and performing as an actor.
We were so proud of him.
And he died in the mid-'80s
during the early years
of the pandemic.
Another was a student of
mine in Library School
at the University of Pittsburgh.
He was working
at the Smithsonian before
I recruited him to work
at the Chicago Public Library.
He was young and handsome
and debonair and said, Carla,
Dr. Hayden, don't
dress like a librarian.
[Laughter] And he created some
of the most beautiful
exhibitions for the library.
And he died and I spoke
at his memorial in 1993.
And sadly, there are too many
similar stories like these
from men and women from San
Francisco to New York City,
from Seattle to Miami.
And for more than 30 years,
the AIDS Memorial Quilt has
become a beautiful symbol
of hope.
healing and remembrance.
The patchwork of
photographs, clothing
and flowers will forever honor
the thousands of lives lost.
And each stitch of every fabric
sewn represents the heartbreak
and social conscious
of the impact
of the AIDS epidemic
on this nation.
And serves as a reminder
for the rest of us,
of our responsibility
to continue
to tell their personal stories.
And that's why today we
are honored to announce
that the National AIDS Memorial
will become the new caretaker
of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and
the NAMES Project Programs.
And as part of the transition,
the Library of Congress's
American Folklife Center will
become the new home for the
National AIDS Memorial Quilt
Archive Collection.
[ Applause ]
This collection of more
than 200,000 items includes
personal handwritten letters,
photographs, biographical
records, tributes, epitaphs,
news clippings, and
even a sewing machine
that stitched together
a panel of the Quilt.
These archives will be preserved
here at the Library of Congress
and made available to the
public and researchers
for generations to come.
But most importantly, it
will help humanize and bring
to mind the scale of the AIDS
pandemic through the words
and voices from the
people we've lost
and the families
they've touched.
This includes our colleagues
here at the Library of Congress
who passed away from AIDS,
and who are remembered
on the library panel
of the Quilt.
In the archives received, a
story is told of a small group
of Library staff members
who got together in 1992
to stitch together this panel.
They learned how to sew and use
a sewing machine during their
lunch breaks and
staying late after work.
And 27 years later, eight
of them still work here
at the Library in our
here this morning.
And I'd like them to
stand or raise your hands,
and I know that the people
immortalized [Applause]
are here.
[ Applause ]
And that is just one of
the thousands of stories
that are part of these archives.
The story of 36 year old Tom
Buscato [assumed spelling]
of Chicago whose home on Orchid
Street was called by friends
as "The haven for every
lost artistic soul
that passed through Chicago".
Or the story of 33 year
old actor, Marvin Feldman,
who was the inspiration for
the very first quilt that is
on display here today.
His family is here
and his friends.
Please give them a hand.
[ Applause ]
There's a tribute by students
of West Arundel Middle School
in Statesville, North
Carolina --
Carolina remembering
Ryan White, who touched
and helped educate the students
and the world about the disease.
And there's a beautiful
letter from the sister
of Ernesto Lopez Morello,
Jr., of Huntsville, Alabama,
thanking quilt organizers
for helping her heal.
And the moving letter from
the mother of Ted and Tom Bow,
who lost both of
her sons to AIDS.
And in the letter she
writes: On January 5, 1992,
I was in Florida when his father
called me from Ted's bedside.
Much later they told me
that when he heard my voice,
a tear came from one of his eyes
and within the hour he was gone.
This is just a very small
fraction of the stories
that need to be told
and remembered.
And the Library of Congress
is proud and honored to serve
as the home of the National
AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive
to preserve its legacy and
give the Memorial a home.
These powerful archives
will continue to be a source
of healing, comfort
and awareness in memory
of those we have lost.
As Jonathan Lawson wrote in
Rent, it's time now to sing out,
though the story never ends.
Let's celebrate.
Remember a year in
a life of friends.
Remember the love.
And we promise we
will always remember.
The Library of Congress
Panel of the Quilt and items
from the AIDS Memorial Quilt
Archives will be on display here
in the Great Hall until World's
AIDS Day on December 1st,
and we hope you will
come back and visit.
Now. I'd like to welcome
the President and CEO
of the NAMES Project
Foundation, Ms. Julie Rhoad.
[ Applause ]
>> Julie Rhoad: Thank
you, Dr. Hayden.
Madam Speaker, Congressman
Lewis, Congresswoman Lee,
Members of the HIV and
AIDS Caucus, my colleagues,
my friends and other
dignitaries that are here today,
I am thrilled to be here with
you and tremendously honored
to be able to share
our stories with you.
I would like to start with
a little personal story.
Begins in 1982 when I graduated
from college and began my career
as a professional stage
manager in the theatrical arena.
And I didn't know, at 22, that
what I had learned in theater,
which was you work together,
you rehearse together,
you spend your time together
doing eight shows a week,
you dine together, you go
out after shows, and yes,
you have cocktails together,
and you become a
family in that process.
And what happened for me and
so many of my friends was
that we were faced
with an epidemic
that was tearing
our community apart.
And it was a crisis
that we didn't know
if we were going to survive.
Instead of going out
for drinks after a show,
we were splitting
up into care teams.
And I remember calling my
mother and saying, you know,
Mom I need to tell
you what's going on.
And first she was concerned
for me and concerned
that I was going to get
sick because it was early.
And then she was
concerned for my friends.
And she said, you know
dear, just the simple act
of being human means
that somewhere
in your life you're going
to be faced with a crisis.
You're going to be faced
with what you think
is the insurmountable,
the unsurvivable.
And the question is not
whether you will get through it,
but how you will get through it.
And I'm honored to be able to
stand in front of this quilt
as one of the finest examples
of how we began to get
through this, and
work through this.
Because you know 32 years
ago this quote was founded
by a group of strangers.
They gathered to remember
the names and the lives
of the loved ones that they
feared history would forget.
And with that seemingly simple
act of love and defiance,
the first panels of
the Quilt were made,
and the NAMES Project
was founded.
That same year, those first
memorials traveled here,
along with 19 others,
1,900 others,
where they made their first
appearance on the National Mall.
And in doing that they made
it impossible for the world
to dismiss or deny AIDS.
And they made it impossible
for us to look at this
without looking at
the human toll.
In the years since that first
display, this quilt has grown
to over 50,000 panels,
and the names contained
in its stitches to over 105,000.
This morning we've come to our
nation's capital once again
to announce our plans
for the future
of the AIDS Memorial Quilt
and the NAMES Project.
And we are here with some of
the most powerful ambassadors
and envoys to the cause of human
rights that we've ever known.
And they are the panels of
the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
They are our guides.
They are our navigators.
They are our teachers.
They stand ready
to remind us all
that we are connected
one to another.
And if we're connected
one to another,
then indeed we must be
responsible one for another.
They call on us.
[ Applause ]
Thank you.
Embedded in their
stitches is a call to us
to pinpoint what really matters.
They're here for me.
They're here for you.
And they're here for
people from all walks
of life, all around the globe.
As Dr. Hayden stated,
and on behalf
of the NAMES Project Board
of Directors, our staff,
our friends, and our family, I
am thrilled to formally announce
that in 2020 the National
AIDS Memorial will become the
caretaker of the
AIDS Memorial Quilt
and the NAMES Project Programs.
The Quilt will return to San
Francisco to where it began more
than three decades ago.
[ Applause ]
And as you know, part of
this transition we link DC
and San Francisco and Atlanta,
but we link DC and San Francisco
in telling our stories
for generations to come.
This is the culmination of
what I would call chapter two
in the story of the
NAMES Project.
It is the realization
of a long held plan
to secure new institutional
partners in order
to secure the legacy of this
AIDS Memorial Quilt and ensure
that it will be here to teach
for generations to come.
This second chapter
began 18 years ago
with a move to Atlanta, Georgia.
Congressman Louis,
we are honored
to have spent 18 years
in your district.
Your leadership, in the cause of
human rights and social justice,
your service to our city and
to our nation is unparalleled.
You are a hero to us all.
And you are a reminder
of what's possible.
You're a reminder of what
good trouble looks like.
[Laughter] And you challenge us.
[ Applause ]
Thank you.
You challenge us every
day to participate,
to act in the face of injustice.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I'm proud to live in
the fifth district.
Just thought I'd share that.
[Laughter] Before we turn to
our next chapter, I would love
to thank some of the people
who over this last 18 years has
made this transition possible --
have made this transition
possible.
The first one's Brian Holman.
Brian, you transformed
our display program.
You took it from 50 displays
a year to a peak of 450.
You made sure that the
Quilt was on hand, wherever
and whenever it was needed.
You restored and you
grew our relationships
across this nation.
And because of you, and because
of, of course our warehouse team
and other staff members, today
there are over 200 block --
200 displays that are about to
take place for World AIDS Day
in cities, in towns, in
small places, in libraries,
in all sorts of institutions.
And the truth is that
when those panels return,
their return address,
John by the way,
they're coming to your house.
[Laughter] OK.
And we're thrilled about that.
Thank you Brian.
[ Applause ]
Jada Harris and Aida
Rentus [assumed spelling].
Thank you.
For spending hours and hours
and hours in church basements,
in HBCU students' centers, in
community centers and clinics,
building the Do Lord Remember Me
and Call My Name
Workshop Programs.
Your work fulfills a
promise that we made in 2001.
A promise to be intentional in
our efforts to create a safe,
loving space, and give
power to those in need.
To give a voice to
the AIDS crisis
that was finding its epicenter
in the African American
and Latinx communities.
You helped establish
an authentic response,
created specifically
for people of color.
And like every single
story found on this quilt,
these newest stories
have opened hearts
and opened minds
in profound ways.
Board Member and
colleague Billy Planar.
Thank you for making NAMES
Project an important stop
on your organization's
civil rights journeys.
More than 30,000, middle and
high school students, rabbis,
Jewish educators, and others
spent time in our midst
in Atlanta learning
about the epidemic
and the contemporary social
justice issues that continue
to fuel this epidemic.
I'm grateful for the time
spent with each and every one
of these people in a
conversation that speaks to,
there is no other, only another.
Gert McMullin.
You remain for so many.
[ Applause ]
You are the woman whose soul is
stitched into the very fabric
of this handmade treasure.
Thank you for never
leaving the Quilt's side.
Hum. And Roddie Williams.
Where are you Roddie?
You have been the glue.
The glue that has helped me
make and keep the doors open.
Your years of service to donors
and display hosts, the staff,
the board, the volunteers,
and your devotion
to the Quilt is the
very definition
of servant leadership.
[ Applause ]
Words will never
convey my gratitude.
Harriet Sanford, Amy
Stone, and Tracy Newton.
As board chairs you
challenged me.
And you reminded me
of my mother's words.
You challenged me to focus
on, not whether we could get
through the difficult times, but
how we would get through them.
Thank you for helping
me stay the course.
[ Applause ]
I'd also like to thank
our founders, Cleve Jones,
Mike Smith and Gert McMullin.
You wrote chapter
one in our history.
You armed us with
a beautiful idea.
And you allowed us to find a way
to express our pain, our anger
and our love in three foot
by six foot pieces of cloth.
And then you fought to
bring the Quilt here
to our nation's capital.
And you made AIDS real
and immediate for us all.
And now it's time.
[ Applause ]
And now it's time
to pass the torch.
You know, I remember
my first call it was
about six years ago I think, to
Betsy Peterson and Nicole Sailor
at the Library of Congress.
Betsy is the Director of the
American Folklife Center.
And Nicole, Nikki, is
the head of the archive.
I was calling them for advice.
I wanted to know about
how we could begin
to frame the dialogue around
who would be the next home
for these collections, and
how would they be managed,
and how would they be organized?
And Betsy chimed
in, and she said,
well you know that's what we do.
[Laughter] I'm telling
you, I had this moment
where I might have squealed
and cried at the same time,
because I thought this is it.
You know, in a time when we
were originally not welcome
in our nation's capital, where
many of the people who are
in this room today fought
to have us represented here.
Isn't it lovely that we
are coming full circle,
and we are being invited
into our nation's library
and into our nation's
capital, with vigor as it were.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
Finally, absolutely none
of this could have happened
or would have happened without
the National AIDS Memorial
stepping up.
You stepped up, you stepped
in and you made a commitment
to care for the NAMES
Project, to care for the Quilt,
and to care for it
in perpetuity.
Because of you the NAMES
project's taking a giant
leap forward.
And I know it's ironic
that we're going back
to San Francisco in our leap
forward, but I think it's more
than appropriate for the
Quilt to reside in the home
that gave birth to it.
And in the city that gave
life to the AIDS movement.
The NAMES Project and the
National AIDS Memorial we share
a rich history.
It is linked through time,
geography and mission.
We share a vision
for the future.
And that vision includes the
National AIDS Memorial leading
an effort to create a
center that is dedicated
to telling the story of
life in the age of AIDS
for generations to come.
I am now proud to introduce the
man who will lead this effort.
He is indeed one of the finest
humans I have ever encountered.
I've had the privilege
now to work with John
for clearly close to a year.
And I am proud to
call him colleague
and honored to call him friend.
Ladies and gentlemen,
please join me
in welcoming the
Executive Director
of the National AIDS
Memorial, Mr. John Cunningham.
[ Applause ]
>> John Cunningham: Age.
I would like to open
my remarks today
by remembering Jack Porter,
who left the Grove Family
last Friday evening.
Jack was a testament to the
true goodness of humanity.
Jack was the partner of Stephen
Marcus, who was the visionary
of the AIDS Memorial Grove
and who died of AIDS prior
to the breaking of ground.
For 30 years, Jack could
be found in the memorial,
sweeping in the circle of
friends, sharing stories
with those who visit the
Memorial from around the world.
Jack always ensured that we
stayed true to our mission
of healing, hope
and remembrance.
I visited Jack two
weeks ago while he was
in a skilled nursing
facility and he was so pleased
about what is taking
place today.
May we all remember the
memory of Jack Porter,
a life well lived,
and may we strive
to live as well as he did.
[ Applause ]
My name is John Cunningham,
and I'm the Executive Director
of the National AIDS Memorial,
and I am a man living with AIDS.
I would like to invite anyone
here in the room with us today
who is living with HIV or AIDS
to stand and be acknowledged.
[ Applause ]
Julie, thank you
for your kind words.
I would like to thank our
dignitaries that are here
with us today's, Speaker
Pelosi, Congressman Lewis,
Congresswoman Lee, Dr.
Hayden, thank you all
for your leadership, for
your steadfast commitment
and for your unwavering
support for those in need
and fighting against AIDS.
I would like to express my
deep and sincere appreciation
to Julie and her dedicated team
from the NAMES Project, Brian,
Roddie, Gert, Tracy, thank you.
Over the last nine months
I have had the opportunity
to develop a partnership
with you, Julie.
And today, that partnership
helped make this a reality.
I would also like to thank
the Board of Directors
of the National AIDS Memorial,
as well as my amazing team
consisting of Steve Sagas,
Matt Kennedy, Kevin
Herglots [assumed spelling],
Pete Tyrone Smith, Tina
Garda, and Deb Dennison.
Without your dedication and
commitment to our cause,
and our effort nothing would
come to be today as it has.
[ Applause ]
I also want to thank my
dear and loving husband,
Joel for his support, because
this job can take a lot of time.
And I couldn't do
it without you.
To Cleve Jones and Mike Smith,
thank you for your vision
of the Quilt and for helping
to establish the
first AIDS Memorial.
Gert McMillan, what can I say?
You've been with the Quilt
since the very beginning,
and you moved from -- to
Atlanta with your boys.
And I am pleased to announce
that Gert will be returning
to the San Francisco
Bay area with her boys.
[ Applause ]
And our beloved quote.
[ Applause ]
I want to express my deep
and sincere appreciation
to our long standing
partners at Gilead Sciences,
who stepped up when
asked to help
to not only return the Quilt
to the San Francisco Bay Area,
but also to help to
secure its future.
With us today is Former
Director of AIDS Policy
for the White House
under President Obama
and the Current Executive
Director of Community Engagement
for Gilead Sciences,
Douglas Brooks.
[ Applause ]
I also want to express my
deep and sincere gratitude
to DeCorba Zuka [assumed
spelling], Vice President
of Public Affairs for Gilad,
who has had faith in our ability
to accomplish this
monumental task.
We gather in this majestic hall
which has seen so much history.
Today we mark another historic
event, not only in the story
of AIDS, but also in the
story of social justice.
For the story of AIDS is
a story of social justice
or perhaps a story of injustice.
We are here in the
Library of Congress,
as the American Folklife Center
will ensure the vast collection
of archives which
tells the story
of not just those lives
memorialized on the Quilt,
but also the broader
story of AIDS,
will be available
for the public.
This collection will now be
accessible to the public,
through this, the
world's largest library.
We are so pleased that this
partnership will tell the story
in perpetuity.
Thirty two ago, I'm sorry 30
years ago, just a short distance
from where the early panels
of the Quilt were arriving
from around the nation,
and were hoping --
were being sewn together,
a small group
of San Franciscans gathered
in a neglected, forgotten
and abandoned dell
within Golden Gate Park.
As with those who were
sewing together the panels,
these individuals were
devastated by the magnitude
of loss, but together
found solace.
They sought to create
a space in nature
where a community could
gather to heal and find hope
for a brighter future.
Today, this space is our
nation's only federally
designated memorial to AIDS.
Thank you, Speaker Pelosi,
for your steadfast support
and vision of making this happen
through the National AIDS
Memorial Act of 1996.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
Today the National AIDS
Memorial is squarely positioned
and prepared to accept
the awesome responsibility
of stewardship of the
AIDS Memorial Quilt.
And as we write this next
chapter, we are prepared
to work together with
the Library of Congress,
the founders and leaders of the
NAMES Project Foundation and all
of you to ensure the
next chapter is vibrant
and tells the story.
I see it as two siblings, reared
in the early days, together.
Instilled with the same
values and priorities,
who went their own ways and
barking upon similar work.
And today they're
reunited together
to ensure all lives
lost are never forgotten
and that the story
will forever be told.
The Quilt's new home will reside
in California District 13,
Congresswoman Barbara
Lee's District.
The National AIDS
Memorial is committed
to building upon
the rich history
and to honor its programs
and its traditions.
We will continue
to work together
to ensure our shared mission and
values will be the foundation
from which the future is built.
As our nation's only federally
designated memorial to AIDS,
we are the keeper of
our nation's story.
For a memorial is about
memory and memory is
about never forgetting.
[ Applause ]
Both the Quilt and the
National AIDS Memorial have
since their founding
been truth tellers.
As we look to the future, we
must tell the entire story
and never forget that
there in the early years
of the epidemic, it
was a dark story.
One of hate, prejudice,
neglect, discrimination,
rooted in ignorance,
and other-ism.
This dark period empowered and
emboldened a community to act,
generating love, compassion,
action, care and hope.
This is our story.
As the National AIDS
Memorial looks to the horizon,
we envision, a National
Center for Social Conscience,
and the Quilt will
play a central role
in telling the story
and in so doing,
it will inspire the next
generation of leaders
for social change,
justice and human rights.
[ Applause ]
I would like to leave you
with a quote from film story
and an AIDS activist
Peter Russo.
Someday, the AIDS
crisis will be over.
Remember that.
And when that day comes, when
that day has come and gone,
there will be people alive
on this earth, gay people,
straight people, men and
women, black and white,
who will hear the story
that once there was a terrible
disease in this country and all
over the world and
that brave people --
that a brave group
of people stood up,
fought and in some
cases gave their lives,
so that other people might
live free in the future.
[ Applause ]
Thank you.
It is now my distinct honor
to introduce Congresswoman
Barbara Lee.
Congresswoman Lee has
stood shoulder to shoulder
in the fight against
AIDS with all of us.
She is the founder and
cochair of the HIV AIDS Caucus.
Please help welcome my
Congresswoman, Barbara Lee.
[ Applause ]
>> Barbara Lee: Good morning.
First of all, thank you so
much for being here today.
And let me just say
what an inspirational
and resounding performance
by the Gay Men's
Chorus, just thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We need this.
[ Applause ]
And also let me just recognize
the founders of the Quilt,
Cleve Jones, Mike Smith, Gert
McMillan and honored Tina Crosby
and the Feldman family and
all the family and friends
who have lost loved ones.
And I want to also to our
phenomenal Library of Congress
with Dr. Carla Hayden.
I just want to thank you
so much for your leadership
and for really hosting
us this morning
for this really beautiful
ceremony.
And of course, to Julie and
to John, thank you so much.
Thank you for your leadership.
Thank you for really making sure
that this beautiful
event is put together,
and really highlighting the
memories of those we lost
but also where we need
to go as we move forward.
Thank you so much.
And thank all of you.
Let me take a moment to
recognize our speaker,
Nancy Pelosi and Congressman
Lewis for their tireless
and extraordinary efforts
in work to end the epidemic.
Also, was at 23 years
ago, Speaker Pelosi,
when President Clinton actually
signed your legislation,
designating the AIDS Memorial --
23 years ago, the AIDS Memorial
or the Grove in elevating
this place really,
not only of grieving
but of healing,
elevating this to
a national level.
And of course, she continues to
be extraordinary and steadfast
in her leadership to end AIDS
and has never lost sight,
never lost sight from day one
of this very noble effort.
And so yes, I'm proud to stand
here with you today as co-chair
of the Congressional
HIV AIDS Caucus
and a proud representative
of California's 13th
Congressional District.
We stand here in remembrance of
the lives of the people who died
from AIDS so that they
will never be forgotten.
Their stories will be known
by future generations.
Thanks to you.
Also, today's historic
announcement honors the more
than 30 years of stewardship of
the Quilt by the NAMES Project
and celebrates the awareness,
and it really has helped
raise the awareness
of the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
I know the presence of the
archives at the Library
of Congress here and
the permanent home
for the Quilt will forever honor
the history and make the story
of life in the height of
the AIDS epidemic accessible
for generations to come.
And so yes not only is the Quilt
coming home to the Bay Area,
but also the International
AIDS Society,
2020 Conference is returning to
Oakland and to San Francisco.
Yes.
[ Applause ]
Thank you.
And I could not be more pleased
and prouder for the Quilt
to come to my district in
the City of San Leandro.
And I hope that at the
Conference attendees from all
over the world will be
able to visit the Quilt
and the National AIDS Memorial.
Since the Quilt first started
raising awareness over 30 years,
we have made tremendous
progress in our work
to achieve an AIDS
free generation.
Thanks to programs like
the Ryan White Program,
the Minority AIDS Initiative,
PEPFAR, the Global Fund,
thanks to Speaker Pelosi, we
have saved over tens of millions
of lives, and helped millions
of children be born HIV free.
Almost every day now there are
new scientific breakthroughs
in treatment and
prevention of HIV and AIDS.
But we still have
much work to do.
My district in Alameda
County, the 57 jurisdictions,
among Alameda County as one,
still disproportionately are
impacted by the HIV epidemic.
Here in the United States 14%
of the 1.1 million positive
Americans are unaware
of their status.
And as we know, vulnerable
communities, Black,
Latinx and LGBTQI communities
are disproportionately impacted.
We've made great
strides, thanks to you,
over the past four decades, but
still have a lot of work to do
to end stigma and
discrimination.
So make no mistake,
this is still a crisis
and we will fight
to end the epidemic.
Many of my friend's lives
were taken away much too young
and too soon by AIDS.
My first year as a member
of Congress in 1998,
I worked with my
colleagues in Alameda County
to declare a state of emergency
in my district regarding
the epidemic.
So the National AIDS
Memorial Quilt you made
such a tremendous impact
in telling the story
of the AIDS crisis.
And we will never forget
the lives that were lost
and what you have done.
We owe it to everyone whose
name is on it, to keep fighting
until the number of new HIV
AIDS cases drops to zero.
Zero.
[ Applause ]
So thank you all for your
incredible work and activism.
This truly is one of the most
important issues facing our
nation and our planet.
And I am proud to
stand alongside you
until we have a world
free of HIV and AIDS.
Thank you again.
[ Applause ]
Whoa, let me take this
moment of privilege and honor
to introduce our great warrior
for human and civil rights,
our colleague, our
friend, someone who has led
on so many fronts so that
there can be true equality
and justice for all.
Congressman John Lewis in
the great State of Georgia.
[ Applause ]
>> John Lewis: Thank you.
Barbara Lee, I thought
you were my friend.
[Laughter] You just
forget about a poor child.
[Laughter] You're a
good looking group.
You're beautiful,
handsome and smart.
You're never given up.
You're never given in.
You have kept the faith.
You have kept your
eyes on the prize.
Now is not the time to give up.
But to stand up, to
speak up and speak out.
And get in the way.
Get in good trouble,
necessary trouble.
[ Applause ]
Over the course of his life,
Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. often spoke of
the beloved community.
A society at peace with
itself and its neighbors.
That recognized the dignity and
the worth of every human being.
From the earliest days of
the AIDS crisis there was
for similar communities.
This community provide for each
other for society denied them.
Brotherhood, sisterhood, human
decency, and unconditional love.
Unconditional love.
[ Applause ]
In the height of the Civil
Rights Movement we spoke
of love.
Love your brother.
Love your sister.
Love your mother, your father.
Love your friends.
We can see love in each other.
This quilt is the family home
for the countless men and women
who lost their lives
and to those
who love and remember them.
So let us keep it for all time
and never give up on any soul,
for we all are human, and
we must respect the dignity
and the worth of all human.
On one occasion, Dr.
King said to some
of us, just love everybody.
Love those who fail to
love you, just love.
Just love the hell
out of everybody.
[Laughter] You know, thank
you, you're an Atlanta girl.
Thank you.
Thank you for being you.
[ Applause ]
It is my honor to be with you,
to be here in this
beautiful, wonderful place.
I remember when I was growing
up, I was denied a library card.
Simply because of
the color of my skin.
But now I could come
to this beautiful,
wonderful place and be inspired.
And when people come
and visit the Quilt,
they will be inspired, not
to give up, not to give in,
but to learn to stand up,
to speak up and speak out.
And so I said from time to
time when you see something
that is not right,
not fair, not just,
say something, do something.
You cannot afford to be quiet.
I'm going on for a while.
But my responsibility
is to present a friend.
An unbelievable committed,
dedicated woman,
who is so human, who is so
smart, and who works so hard.
She is my friend.
She is my sister.
And I want to thank the Speaker
of the House of Representatives,
Nancy Pelosi, for being
here and for all her work.
Thank you Nancy.
[ Applause ]
>> Nancy Pelosi: John Lewis.
[ Applause ]
Thank you John Lewis for being
here, being there for all
of us over and over again.
And may I say that as John pays
tribute to the NAMES Project
and the Quilt and extending
hospitality to the Quilt
in Atlanta for all of this time,
let me say that what you know,
but I will reinforce
that John Lewis was there
when we introduced the
Equality Act last year.
It was a bill to open
up the Civil Rights Act
to include LGBTQ community and
ending discrimination in the --
[ Applause ]
John is very proprietary
about the Civil Rights Act,
very careful about how we
amend it, we don't except
with John's blessing
standing right there,
we made that announcement.
The Equality Act.
Thank you, John Lewis, for
this, for your kind words,
for being you and
for being here.
Thank you, John Lewis.
[ Applause ]
He's a master of words, but he
always acts upon those words
and his beliefs as
he expresses them.
What an honor for all
of us that he was here.
When I was looking
forward to this day.
I was -- I knew it was going
to be an emotional day.
I didn't realize though,
John that we would have lost
Jack Porter just a few days
before this momentous occasion.
He's a dear, dear friend.
I loved him dearly.
He made me think I
was his best friend.
Did he make you think that too?
[Laughter] He had
a way about him.
I don't think I'll ever have a
birthday, a holiday of any kind,
or any -- anything
that I've done
that I would not hear
from him or see him.
For 30 years, we've been
going for a long time going
to the Grove, and he was
always -- always there.
He just remarkable
and we'll miss him,
we'll miss him terribly.
So that made it more
emotional, then to be introduced
by John Lewis, oh my too much.
In any event, Julie
Rhoad, thank you.
Thank your mother, thank you
for your leadership
of the NAMES Project.
John Cunningham.
Getting ready to -- Barbara
I know it's in San Leandro
but getting ready to welcome
it in a few years back
to San Francisco, but the Bay
Area feels very, very welcoming
to the NAMES -- the
Quilt coming home.
Steve Cleve Jones -- Cleve
Jones I'm going to talk
about in a moment, but Cleve and
Mike Smith and Gert, thank you,
thank you, thank you for being
so masterful in making all
of this happen over time, Dr.
Hayden spoke so beautifully
about having the Library of
Congress receive, not the Quilt,
but all of the memorabilia
associated with it.
And in doing so it raises the
profile of it, the opportunity
for others to see it,
the visibility of it.
But in return all
of this information
about the NAMES Project
brings luster
to the Library of
Congress as well.
This is a beautiful
gift to our nation.
Beautiful gift to our nation.
[ Applause ]
The Gay Men's Chorus, I love
numbers, I love to count,
votes and other things,
days, whatever.
Thank you so much
for making this
such a joyous occasion
springing from our grief,
but giving us hope,
thank you so much.
You made it lovely
for all of us.
Here we are, let me
just tell you this.
First this is, in some
ways self-deprecating
in other ways self-serving,
so I put up those.
[Laughter] So a long time
ago, 1987, Cleve Jones comes
to my home and says -- tells me
in advance what it's
going to be about.
But he comes in, we want
to take some pictures
to announce a new
project, the NAMES Project.
Now I am a mother
of five children.
And I'm just newly elected
a member of Congress.
And I say to Cleve, Cleve
a quilt, nobody sews.
I have -- [Laughter]
Isn't that right Cleve?
I said I have five children.
I went to school in a convent
from the earliest days.
I know how to sew, I know how
to darn, I know how to knit,
I know how to crochet, I
know how to -- I know it all.
I don't sew.
I have a sewing machine,
I don't sew.
So if I don't sew, a mother
of five, a sewing machine
and all of that knowledge.
Nobody sews.
That was my wisdom at the time.
[Laughter] I guess as a mother
five you don't have time
to sew, but, nonetheless.
So I said, Cleve I just don't
know about this project,
can't we do something else,
like I don't know what.
And he said, no this is it.
We're sticking with this.
And of course, look at this.
So a couple years
later, Cleve says,
we want to bring the Quilt,
now it's almost 2,000
panels, to Washington DC.
Now I'm in Washington and it
wasn't that long -- later --
matter of months it seems to me.
So he comes to me and he says we
want to display it on the Mall.
We're getting some resistance.
So I said well, that
can't be, right.
So I go to see the
National Park Service.
They say oh yeah we can give
you a corner, a little space
on the corner some place.
I says, you're not
hearing this correctly.
[Laughter] That's not the ask.
We have a big ask.
[Laughter] So and I, earlier
than maybe I should have spoken
for all the Democrats in
Congress [Laughter] to say
that this was our request,
no was not a possibility,
how are we going to
get from here to there.
One thing and another
much resistance as I said,
this is self promoting so.
So they said, well
we can't do it
because you're going
to kill the grass.
I said, we can handle that,
we're not going to
kill the grass.
So if -- the way we can handle
this is you're going to have
to get the Quilt lifted
up every 20 minutes.
This Quilt has to be
lifted up every 20 minutes.
And I said, well you understand
we have volunteers from all
over the country, that's
easiest thing in the world.
[Laughter] We will lift up
the Quilt every 20 minutes.
[Laughter] And you
can check on us after.
[Laughter] So I said, but you
don't understand we have all
these volunteers because people
in America are sewing their
hearts out, they're just sewing,
everybody loves to sew.
[Laughter] This is to
the heart of who we are.
Sewing, sewing class, sewing
quilts and the rest of that.
Don't you understand
what sewing means to us?
[Laughter]
[ Applause ]
So anyway, with the promise
that we would lift the
Quilt every 20 minutes,
you remember all of this
Cleve, he was my hero.
I just like, every time I see
him I think what a miracle he is
and Mike and Gert.
So I have mine, Susie
[inaudible] Rocio.
Flower girl in my wedding.
So many others, but every
-- every quilt, a story,
every quilt, every panel from
the heart, it was so beautiful.
So that Friday night after that
week of the quilting there,
who is the newsmaker
of the week?
Cleve Jones.
And they had helicopters
all over the Mall showing.
It was a triumph.
Thanks to you, thanks
to Mike, thanks to Gert.
[ Applause ]
It may not have been
every 20 minutes.
[Laughter] And it might
not have been every panel.
[Laughter] But whatever,
whatever.
[Laughter] They can come see me
if they have a problem
with it now.
[Laughter] In any
event, it is --
this beautiful manifestation
of love.
This beautiful manifestation
of love.
So Barbara Lee is welcoming
this to San Leandro.
Barbara Lee has, from day
one, she came to Congress,
she had an amendment on the
floor successfully on the floor,
right the first day,
it seems to me.
Then she got on a plane
went to Durban, South Africa
to be part of the AIDS come.
She has been relentless,
persistent, smart.
And I was honored to be
with her when we announced,
or I don't know if that was
an announcement, but a tribute
to the Conference
coming to the Bay Area,
the AIDS Conference
coming to the Bay Area.
This is a very resilient
-- resilient virus.
It keeps mutating.
Every time we think we
have it in its grasp,
it does something different.
So we have to be resilient
in the fight as well.
But our spirit about it, our
love, our memory of it all.
So when we going -- when we were
doing the AIDS Memorial Grove
and Jack Porter, so many --
That his partner, Steve Marcus,
this was again a labor of love.
When we we're doing that, I had
some resistance from my friend,
colleagues in Congress saying,
we shouldn't be just
having a memorial
to one disease, AIDS
Memorial Grove.
I said, well we are.
[Laughter] No.
No, no, now you have
to hear the rest of it.
We shouldn't be having it.
But if we have it should
be in my city, their city.
They didn't want it
except if we had it,
it was going to be
in their city.
But we thought we were
proprietary about it.
And so when John talks about his
leadership there and he's been
such a tremendous leader.
Thank you, John.
He doesn't talk a bit, its
grand design, renewal, nature,
community, all the rest.
But most -- a lot of time
we spend weeding, all right.
We spend weeding and
planting and all the rest
to make it so beautiful.
And now they will have a
physical structure to house some
of the history of it all.
And then eventually, the
NAMES -- the NAMES Project.
So this is something really
spectacular in this fight.
All these years.
And later we'll be reading
names of some other folks
that we, whom we have lost.
But in the meantime, we
will continue our efforts
to find a cure and achieve
an AIDS free generation.
Again, I thank all of you.
I do want to say when
everyone stood up to --
whose living with HIV
and AIDS, he didn't stand
up because he was
already standing
but Dan Bernall [assumed
spelling],
my District representative
from San Francisco
is included in that.
[ Applause ]
So this is very personal
with all of us.
Thank you Julie.
Thank you John.
Thank you Cleve.
Thank you Mike.
Thank you Gert.
Thank you all.
And again, this Library of
Congress is a better place
for what is going to be coming.
It's a fabulous place.
Carla Hayden is wonderful.
She came from Baltimore,
Baltimore [inaudible]
[Laughter].
So I take special pride in her
and praise her for the wisdom
of enhancing this magnificent
historic collection already
present in the Library
of Congress.
Greatly enhanced by the
NAMES Project memorabilia.
Thank you all for
what you have done.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> John Cunningham:
If I may briefly.
[Laughter] Thank
you Speaker Pelosi.
Thank you Congresswoman Lee.
May today you being, Nancy, with
your family with your people,
may we energize you, may empower
you as you return to the den.
[ Applause ]
>> Julie Rhoad: Is it
appropriate to say ditto?
I'm not sure.
As we begin to wrap
up our program today,
we'd like to blend a
couple of our traditions
that are rooted in
the very same era.
And that is the notion
of when I pray for you,
I will call your name.
Today we have a tradition that
when we read names at the Quilt,
the first reader is always
our founder, Cleve Jones.
And shortly you will hear from
Glenn Rainey, who will lead us
in -- well who will
sing, Call My Name.
And then we will begin a reading
of names with our dignitaries.
Thank you all for being here.
[ Applause ]
>> John Cunningham:
As Julie said,
Glenn will sing, Call My Name.
Then Cleve will come up, and
he will introduce the sister
of Marvin Feldman
for a few words.
Right.
[ Applause ]
[ Music ]
>> Glenn Rainey: Call my name.
Picture me there
like a photograph.
Cause wherever you're standing
I'm standing there too.
Imagine me and I'm
right next to you.
When you call my name, think
of please for another day.
Every time you remember
it summons me back,
wherever, whenever you do.
Just a single day at a carnival,
was it two years ago last May.
And then we got stuck
on the Ferris wheel.
What I'd give to
relieve that day.
[Humming] I embrace every
moment; I hope you do too.
Call my name, hold me
again in your memory.
Just remember the weekends,
the dancing till dawn,
the first morning star
we made wishes on.
Just call my name, don't
let my memory fade away.
All the mornings together,
the nights I'd hope.
Remember and don't be alone.
Remember you're never alone.
[ Applause ]
>> Cleve Jones: Hi,
I'm Cliff Jones
and I have a couple
things I'd like to say.
First of all, we killed every
blade of grass on that Mall.
[Laughter] So oh no.
So thank you so much.
She's known to the world
now was Speaker Pelosi.
Where we live we call her Nancy.
And she's been there from
the beginning for us.
She hosted the first
fundraiser in her home
and convinced the Park
Service we were going
to fluff the Quilt.
[Laughter] For the
last 13 years,
I've been continuing
the struggle
for access to healthcare.
I work for Unit Here
International Union,
which is the Hospitality
Workers Union.
And we fight for the dignity
and rights of working people,
especially immigrant women,
who work in the hotels
that you stay in.
And I'm proud to be a
part of that struggle.
I want to acknowledge
Tim Barnes,
our political director,
who is here today.
I also want to introduce
you to somebody you're going
to be hearing more
about, Mike Gifford,
who runs the AIDS Resource
Center of Wisconsin where people
with HIV, like myself
live longer
than anywhere else
in this country.
They're expanding
their services.
And I'm looking forward
to seeing a partnership
between them and the
National AIDS Memorial
to send the message
of the Quilt.
Because one of the single
greatest obstacles to our fight
against AIDS, remember
-- remains stigma.
And we have to continue
to address that.
The stigma of homophobia
and racism
that have combined together
in such a horrible way.
I'm deeply grateful to all
of you who are here today
from the Chorus, Dr.
Hayden and your staff here,
Representative Lee,
Representative Lewis,
amazing heroes.
But I want to tell you about
my friend Marvin Feldman,
and how this Quilt began.
This Quilt came to
be on November 27,
1985 at our annual
tribute in San Francisco
to Harvey Milk and
George Moscone.
Who are so important to
all of us in the Bay Area.
They were murdered
on November 27, 1978.
And every year we reenact
the candlelight March
that occurred that night.
However, in 1985 the news
had just come out that we
in the Bay Area,
particularly in Oakland,
and San Francisco had already
lost 1,000 of our friends
and neighbors to
this new disease.
I was overwhelmed
by that statistic.
And so many of those people
were my closest friends
and neighbors.
It seemed to be like everybody
I knew was going to die.
And so that night at
the annual tribute,
I had Harvey Milk's old
bullhorn and we had some stacks
of cardboard and magic markers.
And we asked everybody
to write the names
of one person they knew who
had been lost to this disease.
At first people were reluctant.
And then finally they
began to print those names.
And we marched in
silence with our candles,
down Market Street to City Hall.
We filled Civic Center Plaza.
Then I had everybody
walk a couple blocks
to the old federal building,
and we'd hid in some shrubbery
and some ladders in
the shrubbery outside.
And we climbed up with big
rolls of tape on our wrists,
and we covered that
gray stone facade
with the names of our dead.
And as I looked at that, I
thought to myself it looks
like some kind of strange quilt.
And I thought of my grandma,
back in Burridge, Indiana,
and the quilts that
she had sewn.
One of them is on
my bed tonight.
That was such a powerful
symbol, and such a warm,
comforting middle American
traditional family values sort
of symbol.
And I said, yes that's
the symbol.
And for a year I talked about it
and everybody said it was the
stupidest thing they'd ever
heard of.
And then I met Mike
Smith, who had a degree
in business from Stanford.
And he knew how to
make this happen.
And we had our first
volunteer meeting.
We put up posters everywhere.
Only two people showed up.
Jack Caster, and Gert McMillan.
And we lost Jack a long time
ago, but Gert is still sewing.
So Gert, Mike, I love
you, both, thank you.
[ Applause ]
I could not be happier and
more grateful for this outcome.
There is no scenario
I can imagine other
than this never having
to have happened,
that would bring me a
greater sense of peace,
to know that this
extraordinary work
of art is going to be preserved.
And thanks to Dr. Hayden and
her colleagues it's going
to be available.
There's enormous lessons to
be learned from this pandemic.
It's important that we
not allow those lessons
to be lost in time.
They will be relevant,
unfortunately, again
in the future.
But it might be good to look
back also to 30 years ago,
to what happened
when a bipartisan Congress
passed the Ryan White Care Act,
which brought millions
and millions of dollars
into those communities that were
hardest hit by that pandemic.
This summer.
we've got the International
AIDS Conference coming
to Oakland in San Francisco.
We've got the Democratic
and Republican Conventions.
We've got an election season.
It's a good time
to remind people
of the important
legislation that can happen
that will do good for
people who need it the most.
That was signed --
that was introduced
by Senator Ted Kennedy.
And it was signed by
President George HW Bush.
So we can get things together
and we can save lives.
I think I'm just about
done, but I do want
to express my gratitude
to everyone in Atlanta
who has kept this Quilt.
And I am so happy and
grateful to bring it home.
And now I need to tell you that
my best friend, Marvin Feldman,
has many panels in the Quilt
because he had many
friends who were artistic.
I made the first
one in his honor.
And I will say that there
are several quilts for him.
All of them are beautiful
except for one.
[Laughter] And Marvin
would, I think,
hate it because he would want
something that could be in the,
you know, the front window
of Barney's, or the Museum
of Modern Art and
I didn't do that.
I can't sew, but I believe that
Marvin's mother, Esther Feldman,
is watching this live
stream in Florida.
Esther, I love you.
I promise you I would
keep Marvin's name alive.
And I'm so grateful that
your family is here with you.
Please welcome Marvin
Feldman's sister,
Tina Crosby and her family.
[ Applause ]
>> Tina Crosby: My being here,
I guess is an accident of birth.
But I'm very, very proud
to say that I am --
that my youngest
brother, Marvin Feldman,
the man whose death
compelled Cleve Jones
to make the first panel of the
AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1987.
I loved my brother very much.
Marvin was funny, fun
loving, creative and clever.
He had a biting wit
and loved dark humor.
He was a joy to be around
and people were drawn to him.
Marvin wanted to be famous,
which is partly why
he became an actor.
But he never found
fame through his craft.
It's ironic, he became famous
because his dear friend, Cleve,
chose to memorialize him
by creating the Quilt
after Marvin died at age 33.
Quilts feel like home.
They are warmth and
comfort, handmade,
unique and full of stories.
To me, this quilt holds love,
anger, sadness and loss.
It is a perfect way to wrap
up the people we have lost
and to show that they
will not be forgotten.
Every color, every shape,
every stitch that is part
of this Quilt is full
of love and memories.
On behalf of my still very
sharp 97 year old mother,
Esther Feldman, who wanted to
be here today, and I'm going
to say hello, mom, but couldn't.
My younger brother, Bob,
who also wanted to be here,
but deals with Parkinson's.
My late father, Sydney,
and the rest of my family,
we say thank you to everyone
who invested their time and love
into this amazing
legacy, for those lost
to this horrific disease.
And finally, we can't convey
how grateful we are to Cleve
for envisioning this remarkable
project, sparked by love
for Marvin, whom we all
adored, and we miss.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Cleve Jones: Marvin
Feldman, John Hall, Nick Paris,
Scooby Bowman, Rick Claflin.
>> Nancy Pelosi: Susan Paraki
[assumed spelling] Rocio,
Scott Douglas and his
partner, Michael McCaul,
Neil David Kelsey, David
Smith Fox, H.M. Sanchez,
Bill Brailey [assumed spelling],
Terry Sutton, John Johnston,
Marvin Feldman, Marvin Feldman,
how many quits, many, many.
And then one more, Bill Krauss.
Bill Krauss.
[ Applause ]
Bill Krauss worked
for the Burton Family
which succeeded me --
preceded me in Congress
and his panel was
what was visited
so much when the Quilt here.
Bill Krauss.
>> Glenn Rainey: Jose Ramirez,
David Thompson, Todd Coleman,
Jonathan Halpern, Jerry Dandler,
Scott Lago, Jack Caster,
my friend Jeff Phillips,
my friend Peter Anson.
>> Female Speaker: Roger Lyon,
David Calogero [assumed
spelling],
Joey Van [inaudible],
Neil Lewis.
>> Female Speaker:
Curtis Robinson,
Robert Wade Edwards,
Jeffrey Nyland.
Michael Dennis White,
John Paul Warren.
Chad Ed Sully, Serge
[inaudible],
Dwyane Seanburt [assumed
spelling], William L. Norris,
Michael Matthews, Wade Landreth.
>> Barbara Lee: Dr. Robert
Scott, James Ferguson,
John Iverson, Roger Gayle
Lion, Jack Caster, Scott Lego.
Steve [inaudible],
and Neil Lewis.
>> Female Speaker: Patrick
Doyle, Robert M. Dunn,
Grady Michael Evans, David
M. Green, John R. James,
Bruce Langdon, Patrick
R. Mahoney,
Jim Mannion, David S. Misler.
Kenneth M. Moomey, Patrick
Koons Ragland, Steve Johnson,
Thomas Blake Blakeslee,
Ron Clements, David.
>> Tina Crosby: Orion Riley,
Larry Lois Lane Casper,
Harvey Wang, Michael
Hatmaker and Tom Wright.
>> Julie Rhoad: Jim, John
Brown, Glen Klein, Ron Lindsay
and my friends, Martin Walsh,
William Roehrig [assumed
spelling], Greg Mariner,
Ron Dodge and Adam Mussie.
>> John Cunningham: My first
husband Tony Lavek [assumed
spelling], Grove
Visionary Steven Marcus,
Steven Coucon [assumed
spelling],
Sergio Anguiano,
Guy Low, Ryan White.
As is the tradition at
the National AIDS Memorial
at the conclusion
of every workday,
I would now ask anyone here
that has a name in their heart
that has not been spoken to
now speak aloud that name.
And at the conclusion, feel free
to lay your rose upon the Quilt
and then join us
for the reception.
Please speak aloud the names.
[ Background chatter ]