You say you want a RedVolution

By Annysa LaMantia\nalamanti@indiana.edu\nAt 5 years old, most kids are worried about GI Joes. But when William Brawner was that age, he was worried about popping pills and keeping secrets. \nBrawner was the keynote speaker at "RedVolution" Wednesday night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, a benefit for Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link Emergency Care Fund, which provides free services for people with HIV/AIDS. The event also was aimed at raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in the black community.\nBrawner, who was diagnosed with HIV at age 3, contracted the virus at 18 months from a blood transfusion he received after suffering a severe burn. Tuesday, he turned 27.\nBrawner was one of several nationally recognized performers who traveled to Bloomington for the benefit. \nThe Emergency Care Fund raises money for HIV/AIDS sufferers to help them pay for everything from cell phone bills to home electricity costs. This service is vital for those with HIV/AIDS because, as Brawner reinforced, some people have to choose between having their lights on and getting their medication.\nAlthough Brawner himself has never been in such a financial predicament, he said all HIV/AIDS victims suffer physically, no matter how they contracted it.\nBrawner said initially a nurse told his mother the man from whom he received the blood had died of "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome," which would later be recognized as HIV/AIDS. \n"My mom told me when I was 5 that 'you have a disease that may kill you, but don't tell anyone or they may treat you different,'" Brawner said.\nBrawner stood by his mother's words and did not tell family, friends or women with whom he was in relationships.\nAt 18, he lost his virginity to his high school sweetheart. She was the first person he ever told, and she accepted it. Later, they broke up and went their separate ways.\nAfter going off to college at Howard University, Brawner said he came home one night to a note on his door from the president of the university that read, "Contact the president's office ASAP." When he went into the office the next day, he was handed an e-mail. \n"The letter said William Brawner is HIV positive, and he is infecting everyone in your school," Brawner said.\nIt was sent by his high school girlfriend, the only person he had ever shared his secret with. \n"I decided to be extra promiscuous so that nobody would find out, so no one knew my status," Brawner said. \nAt this time, Brawner was taking medications with reactions so severe that his lips would turn blue, his eyes would turn yellow and he would be kept awake at night by fevers of 104 degrees on a regular basis. He said that even with four or five blankets wrapped around him, he would still experience extreme chills.\n"I could take sheets and ring them so the sweat would come out -- and then go to school the next day and was supposed to function as a normal student," he said. "I could have stopped taking medication, and I tried that, but then you end up in the hospital."\nIn a question-and-answer session that followed the talk, one audience member asked what the reaction was when he finally revealed that he was HIV- positive.\nBrawner answered that most people were extremely supportive, but some people resented him for not telling them. \n"I couldn't understand people being mad for me not telling them," he said. "Why should you have known? Because we smoked a blunt together in high school?"\nBrawner went on to affirm his dedication to spreading the word about HIV/AIDS. \n"As long as I have breath in my lungs, I'm gonna be on this mic and on this stage. Period," he said.\nQuddus, of MTV's "Total Request Live," singer Alexis "Joi" Carter, slam-poet Versiz and New York hip-hop artist Silk Hash Mills all joined forces for the fundraiser.\nEvent founder and graduate student Garlia Jones said many students also contributed to helping organize the show and events leading up to it. Senior Sherhara Williams co-hosted the event with Quddus.\n"The (community educators) have been supportive -- planning programs in dorms about AIDS leading up to the event," Jones said.\nEric Love, the director of diversity education, was in the audience. \n"I commend his honesty," said Love, who had previously been an HIV/AIDS educator. \nLove also praised the work done by students to pull the event together.\n "They've worked so hard for so long," he said.