Heroes In The Struggle is honoring Julian Bond as an “Advocate” in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the African American Community from 6-10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7 at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Purchase tickets here.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, doesn’t shy from talking about sex in public. He thinks more African Americans should do the same.

Bond said he believes that the black community’s reluctance to candidly discuss sex and, more specifically, homosexuality, is the greatest barrier to the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

“Every segment of the black community should overcome its fear and embarrassment,” he said.

A veteran civil rights advocate and former Georgia state representative and senator, Bond, 68, said he’s motivated to advocate on behalf of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS because many of them are rendered silent by the stigma attached to the disease and “suffer alone” as a result.

“I felt commanded to speak out simply because others were not,” he said.

At the start of the 2006 NAACP national convention, Bond, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and Vice-Chair Roslyn Brock got an HIV test to raise awareness about the importance of HIV testing and counseling, a move applauded by HIV/AIDS activists. Every African American, Bond said, must take ownership of AIDS and become more knowledgeable about the disease.

“There was a time when people thought that casual contact like a handshake would transmit AIDS from person A to Person B,” he said. “We know that’s not true; it’s never been true.”

Bond said African Americans, already confronting various social and economic issues, from poverty and joblessness to health disparities and high incarceration rates, must accept responsibility for the growing epidemic and make HIV/AIDS education and prevention a priority. Although African Americans comprise about 13 percent of the U.S. population, HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects the black community, NAACP officials note.

“It’s sometimes daunting to want to take on something else, but nonetheless we just have to do it,” he said.

Because the spread of HIV/AIDS is linked to factors such as drug addiction and poverty, Bond said community leaders and organizations like the NAACP must mobilize to insure “fair access” to healthcare.