Artist TikTok wants you to know the South is not a “lost cause” – Honey by Reckon Issue # 19

Each week, the Honey newsletter features a column from Southern women and LGBTQ people, in collaboration with See Jane write. We are always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published.

By Montee Lopez

In 2017, I started a project with The New Tri-State Defender in Memphis, Tenn. called “Positive While POZitive”, designed to give a glimpse into the lives of people living with HIV who live fully after learning they are infected with the virus which, if left untreated, leads to AIDS.

My original idea was born seven months after I tested positive. December 16, 2016 is a day that I will never forget. It was an unwanted Christmas present that I couldn’t redeem.

In the months leading up to the project launch, I faced my new reality mostly on my own. Receive the results. Learning of the penal sanctions attached to the virus. Access the treatment.

That first and those future doctor’s appointments – I made them on my own. I knew other people were probably going through similar things. I needed someone to talk to, someone to share their experiences with me.

Then I realized that I am a journalist. I listen to people’s stories every day. This is how I make my bread and butter.

From there I began my research on HIV / AIDS aid in Memphis. I wanted to talk to people who could connect me with others willing to share their truths and realities not only with me, but potentially with the world.

One of the first people I interviewed was Ms. Mildred Richard-Edwards, who had been diagnosed with AIDS after being infected with HIV almost 20 years earlier. Through her personal testimony and her work with HIV services, she proudly told me that she “sells life”.

That’s what she did until the end. Much to my chagrin, she passed away in May 2021.

I then interviewed several other people, many of whom were straight black cisgender women. This circumstantial detail made the project even more poignant; an illness once reduced to a homosexual problem has also clearly become a straight black woman’s problem.

Click here to read the rest