On Friday, February 7th from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm the National Pan Hellenic Council (NPHC) and ASU H.E.R.O.S. hosted an HIV and AIDS Awareness forum in the Campus Ballroom.
The special guest for the event which marked National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, was Sequoia Watson. Along with being an advocate for HIV, Watson is a professional dancer, instructor, motivational speaker, author, brand ambassador, social media influencer and mentor. She began by captivating the audience with details of her personal experience with emotion and conviction. Watson told the story of a man whom she had met online and eventually developed a romantic relationship with. Her description of the romance was nothing short of amazing until the pandemic of 2020.
During the early part of the pandemic, Watson got sick for roughly two weeks as did her partner. She would eventually inform the man’s parents despite his disapproval. After the notification to the parents, her partner’s father later called Watson, telling her the world-shaking truth that her partner had had the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) for the past 12 years.
After receiving the news, Watson went to get tested but, to her dismay, she had contracted HIV. She explained to the audience that having HIV, if not treated quickly, could result in the disease progressing to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). She refused to reach that point if it could be prevented, however, for almost a year she fell into a terrible depression. During this dark time in her life, she moved and did not want to be around family and friends. Then doing one impactful moment in her life after a moment of crying and listening to the song “Why Not Me” by Tasha Page-Lockhart, Watson chose to take her life back. She started to get back to her passions in life which were dancing and modeling. On top of that she began spreading awareness of HIV by doing public speaking engagements and wrote a book entitled, Poppin N Pumps: A Resilience Journal, which is her personal testimony.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recorded in 2022, that African Americans, who make up 12% of the United States population are 37% of the estimated 31,800 new HIV infections. Camron Parker, a Business Administration major and reigning Mr. Junior at Alcorn stated, “Ms. Watson had an extremely powerful message tonight and she encouraged me to get tested because you never know.”
If you’d like to know your HIV/AIDS status here on campus you can visit Rowan Hall Health Services Center. You can schedule a confidential appointment by calling (601) 877-6460.
