(CNN)Arthur Ashemay be best known for tennis success But that was his activity, which pulled him out of court.
Ash has become one of the most famous HIV-positive persons
Ash has been infected with HIV by blood transfusion for open heart surgery and eventually It is believed that he knew his condition in 1988.
"He was a pretty squeaky person, so it was difficult to look at him and think," Oh, X, Y, Z, so he deserves it. " For example, let's find out that some gay people have AIDS and that drug users have AIDS, "Hall said. "He was the ideal person to blame the illness."
But apartheid Some people wanted him to come out sooner, Hall said. He revealed his condition that he could do more to help the cause, as in apartheid and civil rights.
Ash's disclosure was made shortly after Magic Johnson announced his own HIV diagnosis in 1991. Of the Department of Political Science at Howard University.
"Two major black international figures have emerged to not only deal with the fear of being infected with the virus, but also to use their platform to tell stories about the virus. It was important to keep changing, "Perry said.
Ash used his fame to advocate recognition of HIV / AIDS
Changing the story about HIV / AIDS is that Ash is sick and public I started to concentrate after becoming.
His approach to HIV / AIDS was no exception. Mr Hall said Ash sometimes jumped into complex scientific medicine literature and became an expert in AIDS, AIDS treatment, and the healthcare system.
One of his greatest impetus at the government level was health care reform. He was open about the difficulty of procuring early AIDS medicines like AZT, and how expensive and unavailable their treatments are. He decided to make AIDS and other people easily able to get the coverage they needed with as little red tape as possible.
"Many athletes were activists, but I don't think any athlete was as well read and informed as he was," Hall said.
He went on to establish the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the defeat of AIDS. Hall said he promised 50% of the money to countries other than the United States to fight AIDS.
Throughout, he wasn't afraid to talk about illness. Hall said several events were a combination of tennis instruction and a message about AIDS prevention, discussing safe sex and other ways to live a healthy life.
And the fact that both Ash and Johnson, the two most famous AIDS people, were also sports stars, Perry said.
"After both of them issued their diagnosis, it became a federal agenda in the 1992 presidential election; a key issue that helped Clinton advance the first. "It became," he said. "And certainly, the impact of Arthur Ashe was a big part of what we saw when it came to investing in HIV policy and policy reform."
The most endangered people did not have an audience around the world like Ash. Many were dying in New York, a few blocks away from him, but they couldn't get the media attention like him.
"I think he felt obliged to continue," Perry said. "He has been a pioneer of race and social relations for decades."
And there is still ignorance about the disease among medical professionals, Perry said.
HIV-positive Perry has lived in Starkville, Mississippi for three years, and he said he had to drive for two hours for better care. He said that this privilege is not available to everyone in the area.
"We need to continue working in urban and rural areas to get rid of the disease, but at least we hope we can commit to closing the gaps that exist between racial groups." He said. ..
To do so, we need to hear from black people and activists who are still alive today, Perry said-people currently standing on Ash's shoulders.