The traveling memorial - inspired by the AIDS Quilt - honors lives lost to drugs and drums up support for harm reduction services
Acxel’s a big guy, probably 250 pounds, with a black cap, and camo pants. You might be surprised to see him teaching a crochet class in his Crocs with a baby Yoda on them. It’s a class where people who use drugs learn to make hats and scarves to wear on cold streets or give away to friends.
We desperately need to support and expand these services. America’s overdose crisis is growing and now claims more than 107,000 deaths per year. It’s the nexus of a lot of failures: a failed mental health system, a racist and punitive response to drug use, and a dearth of health and social supports for people struggling with addiction, all of which can turn surmountable problems into life-or-death situations.
Acxel’s story shows how moving from stigma to love and acceptance can transform lives and communities. But how can we reshape a culture with such negative connotations about drug use and overdose? We can be inspired by history. In the 1980s, as HIV/AIDS ravaged two already stigmatized populations — gay men and people injecting drugs — prejudice inhibited progress.
The AIDS Quilt was among those campaigns, a tapestry of memories and loss to represent and personalize the destructive toll of the epidemic throughout the population. It crisscrossed the country — and eventually the world — creating a rallying point that helped galvanize communities, celebrities, and politicians to action.
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