AIDS is a highlight of Baptist meeting's 1st day

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 23, 2009

Speaking frankly, the AIDS educator addressed a crowded room of African-American Baptists on Monday afternoon at Cobo Center.

Black folk ... we got to get rid of the stigma," Simone Phillips, with the St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross, said at a luncheon.

Her talk was part of the opening day at the annual Congress of Christian Education by the National Baptist Convention USA, the oldest and biggest black religious group in the United States. Up to 40,000 people from across the United States are expected to attend all or parts of the five-day conference.