1991, Los Angeles Times=

BALTIMORE _ Speaking in turn, the eight teen-age boys admitted their firstreaction to Magic Johnson's infection with the AIDS virus was shock. Suddenly,the world seemed less secure.``I was, like, no, that can't happen to Magic,'' said Francois. ``He's theMagic man. A superstar. He wouldn't have HIV or AIDS or nothing. No way.''Pressed to describe the depths of his feelings about Johnson, however,Francois grew more distant. ``That's him, not me.'' said the student at ParkHeights Street Academy, a private school for troubled youth in a depressed anddangerous Baltimore neighborhood. ``I don't know the man. I've never met him,and he don't know me. Actually, he's just another brother I've heard of withHIV.''

Just another brother with HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. There aregetting to be so many.

And yet the reaction among young blacks remains so much like Francois'.There is fear, but its faithful companion is denial.Even as basketball superstar Earvin Johnson aims his AIDS-prevention messageat young blacks _ a hopeful sign to health workers _ the plague seemsrelentless.

Although blacks make up roughly 12 percent of the U.S. population, theyaccount for nearly 30 percent of all reported AIDS cases, according to thefederal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Altogether, blacks and otherminorities make up 22 percent of the population, but represent nearly 46percent of the AIDS caseload.

Blacks and Latinos account for 73 percent of all women with AIDS, and 78percent of all children, according to the Public Health Service.In New York and New Jersey, AIDS is the leading cause of death among youngblack women. In New York, it is the leading cause of death among Latinochildren 1 to 4 years of age, and the second leading cause of death among blackchildren.

The disease's devastating impact on minorities is attributable in large partto their disproportionately large representation in the nation's underclass.AIDS has struck particularly hard at intravenous drug users, who becomeinfected by sharing needles contaminated by the AIDS virus, and at their sexualpartners and children. Many of these victimes are poor, homeless or living inthe inner city, and their willingness to engage in practices that could protectthem from infection may be overridden by the demons of drug dependency oreconomic necessity.

Polls have indicated that the black population as a whole is more concernedabout AIDS and more likely to take precautions to avoid contracting it than arewhites. Even so, the disproportionate presence of blacks and other minoritiesin high-risk urban subcultures virtually ensures that they will continue tofall victim to the disease at a higher rates.

As the epidemic continues, the chain of infection that began in the innercity may be crossing into the larger heterosexual population outside.Those who don't use drugs may have sex with someone who does. Magic Johnsoncould be ``a very public example of what may be going on to a great extentamong young black and Hispanic men in inner-city areas who are havingunprotected sex in an environment in which there is a high prevalence of HIVinfection, much of which is related to IV drug use,'' said Dr. Anthony S.Fauci, the federal government's top AIDS researcher.

Many AIDS activists and public health officials viewed Johnson's promise toproselytize on the issue as a godsend for their efforts to educate minorities.Johnson ``put a face on AIDS that is black,'' said Bishop Carl Bean, founderand chief executive of the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles.

``He was not gay, not white, not across town, not a drug user,'' Bean said.``He's married. He's macho. He is famous. He is wealthy. He is all of thosethings that make (black) people say: `It can't happen to me.' It pushed blacksto a wall, in a corner, where they could not find a way out, and they wereforced to deal with it.''

Yet AIDS experts are not convinced that his tragedy will lead to asignificant, sustained change in the way young blacks and other minorities viewthe epidemic, or the steps they take to protect themselves from contractingHIV. Some are bracing for a letdown as media interest and public attentionabate.

Eric El-Amin, a visiting mental health therapist who was leading adiscussion group at the Baltimore academy, said Johnson's disclosure appears tobe little more than ``a passing fancy'' _ even among those who admired himmost. ``Will Magic Johnson make a difference? The straight-up answer is no.''Many doubt that Johnson's message can penetrate the defenses that havefrustrated previous efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic's deadly run throughminority communities. Those defenses, they note, are deeply embedded in thecultural and social psyche of blacks and other minorities whose lives alreadyare threatened by unemployment, poverty and homelessness.

Johnson's message _ at first ``safe sex,'' then escalated to ``no sex'' _also must compete with a host of other messages directed at blacks. Pumped out

``It's almost hypocritical,'' said Leslie Pitts, a publicist for Set To Run,an independent public relations firm that handles rap, rhythm-and-blues andalternative music directed at predominately black, inner-city markets. ``Themusic is so sexual. No one is endorsing the use of a condom.''

Prince, the black mega-star whose recent hits include ``Get Off'' and``Cream,'' glides across a video sound stage with his buttocks exposed as hesings about his ``scandalous'' life style. Another popular group, Color Me Bad,declares ``I Want to Sex You Up,'' while singer Keith Sweat croons ``I Want toLove You Down.''

Against such suggestive imagery, entreaties against drug use and sexualirresponsibility come across like Muzak _ always in the background but easy totune out.

Black AIDS activists say the relative silence of black clergy andtraditional civil rights organizations remains an obstacle. Many black leadersstubbornly cling to the notion that AIDS only strikes people outside theirrealm of influence.

Clergy and other leaders in black communities remain reluctant to raiseuncomfortable issues that are inextricably bound with AIDS: sex, drugs andhomosexuality.

Black clergy often prefer to preach sexual abstinence, arguing that toencourage safe sex simply encourages promiscuity among youths and underminesthe moral values they teach.

Maurice Franklin, who runs the Atlanta-based Southern Christian LeadershipConference's national AIDS program, said he was ``very devastated, doublydevastated'' the day Johnson announced he was infected. The religious-basedconference is one of the few traditional black-led civil rights organizationwith an established national AIDS program.

On that same Thursday, Franklin was conducting a training program for blackministers ``to sensitize the black church community on how they can be morecompassionate and non-judgmental and sensitive to people with AIDS.'' Althoughmore than 500 invitations were sent to black clergy nationwide, Franklin said,only three showed up.

``Perhaps this is not an issue the church wants to discuss,'' Franklin said.``They don't want to talk about it and expose it to their congregations. Whenthey do, they bash the victims as deserving of God's wrath.''

Black elected officials in Congress have shown little leadership on AIDS,said Anita D. Taylor, an official with the National Minority AIDS Council.At a packed congressional hearing last summer designed to increase AIDSawareness in minority communities, she recalled angrily, only two of the 26members of the Congressional Black Caucus showed up.