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The AIDS Memorial Quilt leaves San Francisco. >>
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In March 2001,
the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt left San Francisco for its
new home in Atlanta, Georgia. Invented by activist Cleve Jones in 1985,
the quilt became a 54-ton weapon in the fight against AIDS. As the epidemic
grew in the '80s, nothing personalized the toll of the disease for a global
audience like the panels of the quilt, each fashioned by loved ones in
memory of someone who died from AIDS. At emotional farewell ceremonies
here, Jones said he was gratified that the quilt would be based in Atlanta,
where it can be used to educate African-American communities and others
that are being particularly hard hit with new HIV infections. Emphasizing
that the war against AIDS is a political one as much a health crisis, Jones
denounced governments for allowing the disease to infect 40 million people
world-wide as AIDS enters its third decade. Jones, Congresswoman Nancy
Pelosi, Supervisor Mark Leno, District Attorney Terrence Hallinan and others
folded the final section of the quilt to be loaded onto a moving van. Each
spoke of people they loved who were lost to AIDS, from friends and lovers,
to brothers and sisters, even the flower girl at Pelosi's wedding. Many
of the original volunteers who created panels for the quilt were on hand
to say good-bye.
Three years later, Jones was fired
by the quilt organization after clashing with its board on issues of diversity
and how best to use the quilt in the continued fight against AIDS in the
21st Century. Jones sued to get his job back. His attorney was Angela
Alioto. Detail
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