Obama urges black Americans to address AIDS openly

Jun 29, 2007, 3:47 GMT

Washington - US presidential contender Barack Obama urged fellow African-Americans to talk openly about AIDS prevention, raising a touchy point during a Democratic Party debate that focussed on domestic problems such as drugs, crime and health care.

In contrast with three previous Democratic debates, the war in Iraq was hardly mentioned Thursday as the eight candidates discussed themes seen as relevant to blacks, who are a key voting bloc for the centre-left party.

Obama, the lone African-American in the US Senate and the only one in the 2008 presidential field, candidly addressed HIV/AIDS, then got a laugh during an exchange about a public AIDS test he and his wife Michelle took in Kenya.

'One of the things we've got to overcome is a stigma that still exists in our communities,' Obama, 45, told the audience at Washington's historically black Howard University.

Homophobia was one reason why African-Americans 'don't address this issue as clearly as it needs to be,' he said.

Talking about the importance of AIDS tests, US Senator Joseph Biden pointed out that he took one - and that Obama had, too.

Obama jumped in with a friendly but firm elaboration.

'I've just got to make clear, I got tested with Michelle when we were in Kenya, in Africa' he said to laughter from the audience. 'I don't want any confusion here.'

Obama's father was a Kenyan goat herder who went on to study at Harvard University; his mother was a white American. When Obama visited Kenya last year to meet members of his father's family, he got a hero's welcome.

Hillary Clinton, the senator from New York state and front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, joined other candidates on the panel in calling for better health care for US blacks.

'If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country,' she said.

Unlike his nine white rivals, Obama urged blacks not to blame all of their woes on others. African Americans must recognize that they need 'to take personal responsibility to rise up out of the problems that we face,' he said.

Sixteen months before US voters elect a new president in November 2008, national opinion polls give Clinton a clear lead over second- place Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination.