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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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