10 That Changed America

IT BROKE EVERY RULE OF MONUMENT BUILDING. IT STARTED IN MY BACKYARD A FEW BLOCKS FROM HERE AND EVERYBODY TOLD ME IT WAS THE STUPIDEST IDEA THEY'D EVER HEARD OF.

GEOFFREY

IT'S NOT MADE OF METAL OR STONE. IT'S NOT DESIGNED BY A SINGLE ARTIST. AND IT'S NOT EVEN LOCATED IN ONE PLACE. IT TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOST AMAZING THING. THE IDEA FOR THE AIDS QUILT CAME TO CLEVE JONES IN A SUDDEN FLASH. IN THE 1980'S HIS SAN FRANCISCO NEIGHBORHOOD WAS GROUND ZERO FOR THE EPIDEMIC. BY THE FALL OF 1985, ALMOST EVERYONE I KNEW WAS DEAD, DYING, OR CARING FOR SOMEONE WHO WAS DYING. AND YET THE WORLD SEEMED INDIFFERENT TO WHAT MOST STILL CONSIDERED A GAY DISEASE. THOSE FIRST THOUSAND TO DIE, ALMOST EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD LIVED AND DIED WITHIN SIX BLOCKS OF WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW AND THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE. YOU LOOK AROUND, THERE'S BEAUTIFULLY RESTORED VICTORIANS, THERE'S RESTAURANTS, BARS, CAFES, AND THERE'S NO INDICATION THAT YOU'RE AT THE EPICENTER OF THIS INCREDIBLE TRAGEDY. THEN, ONE NIGHT AT A CANDLELIGHT MARCH FOR THE MURDERED GAY POLITICIAN HARVEY MILK, THE IDEA HIT HIM.

CLEVE

I HAD STACKS OF POSTER BOARD AND MARKERS AND I ASKED EVERYBODY PLEASE WRITE THE NAMES OF YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR LOVERS WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED BY THIS. AND THEN, I HAD EVERYBODY GO TO THE OLD FEDERAL BUILDING AT UN PLAZA AND WE COVERED THAT GREY STONE FAADE WITH THIS ODD PATCHWORK OF NAMES. AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, IT LOOKS LIKE SOME KIND OF STRANGE QUILT.

SNAPS

CLEVE

AND IT CAME TO YOU SORT OF IN FLASH? YOU SAW THE QUILT-- I KNOW IT SOUNDS PREPOSTEROUS, BUT I JUST HAD THIS VISION IN MY MIND OF THE NATIONAL MALL AND I SAW IT COVERED WITH FABRIC.

GEOFFREY

CLEVE IMAGINED THAT EACH PANEL OF THE QUILT WOULD COMMEMORATE SOMEONE WHO HAD DIED OF AIDS, THE VISION POSSESSED HIM FOR MORE THAN A YEAR.

CLEVE

I COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. I WAS BECOMING BORING. PEOPLE WERE LIKE, "OH, NO, HE'S GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS AGAIN."

GEOFFREY

A STRING OF CRISES COMPELLED HIM TO GET TO WORK, A BRUTAL HATE CRIME LEFT HIM BEATEN AND STABBED, AND CLEVE DISCOVERED THAT HE HIMSELF WAS HIV POSITIVE. A LOT OF PEOPLE I KNEW GAVE UP AND THEY DIED. FIGHTING BACK WAS PART OF MY STRATEGY FOR STAYING ALIVE. MY FRIEND JOSEPH AND I JUST ONE DAY STARTED MAKING THE QUILTS AND THEY WERE NOT ATTRACTIVE. I'M NOT AN ARTIST, I CAN'T SEW, BUT WE MADE A LIST OF FORTY PEOPLE WE KNEW WELL ENOUGH TO MAKE TRIBUTES FOR AND WE CREATED THOSE AND THEN FINALLY PEOPLE COULD SEE IT. CLEVE SET UP A WORKSHOP IN THIS STOREFRONT WHERE LOVED ONES COULD CONTRIBUTE PANELS. HE HOPED THAT A QUILT, THIS EMBLEM OF HOME AND FAMILY, WOULD INVITE A BROAD CROSS-SECTION OF THE COUNTRY TO FACE THE CRISIS. I KEPT THINKING, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO GRIEVE THE MOST WHEN I DIE OF THIS HORRIBLE DISEASE ARE MY GRANDMOTHERS, BUT THERE WAS NO REAL PLACE FOR THEM IN THE MOVEMENT. THEY'RE NOT GOING TO PUT ON A BOMBER JACKET AND SIT DOWN IN WALL STREET, BUT THEY LOVED ME AND THEY WANTED TO BE PART OF THE FIGHT. AND SO THE QUILT WAS TRYING TO CREATE A PLACE WITHIN THE MOVEMENT FOR MORE PEOPLE.

HELICOPTER SOUNDS

GEOFFREY

ON OCTOBER 11, 1987, ONLY 8 MONTHS AFTER HE STARTED SEWING, CLEVE JONES SAW HIS VISION COME TO LIFE.

CLEVE

CHRIS OLDS, R. KIRK SEATON, AND MY FRIEND, MARVIN FELDMAN. THAT WAS 1,920 PANELS THAT DAY AND I KNEW A GREAT MANY OF THOSE PEOPLE, MANY OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS, ROOMMATES, COLLEAGUES.

GEOFFREY

EACH PANEL WAS ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A COFFIN. IT TRANSFORMED THE NATIONAL MALL INTO A VAST GRAVEYARD.

CLEVE

I WANTED TO CONVEY THE ENORMITY OF THE CRISIS AND STATISTICS ONLY CONVEY SO MUCH. I SAW IT AS A WEAPON, TO FOCUS ON THE NEED FOR MORE RESOURCES, MORE FUNDING FOR RESEARCH AND CARE.

GEOFFREY

A FEW MONTHS LATER, CLEVE TOOK THE QUILT ON THE ROAD.

CLEVE

WE BOUGHT A TRUCK NAMED STELLA AND HIRED THE MEANEST TRUCK DRIVER WE COULD FIND, HER NAME WAS DEBORAH.

LAUGHS

GEOFFREY

EVERYWHERE YOU TRAVELLED, MORE PANELS GOT ADDED.

CLEVE

YEAH. PEOPLE WOULD HOLD QUILTING BEES IN THEIR COMMUNITIES, CHURCHES AND SYNAGOGUES, COMMUNITY CENTERS, LIVING ROOM FLOORS.

GEOFFREY

BUT EVEN AS THE QUILT WAS STARTING A LONG-OVERDUE CONVERSATION ABOUT AIDS, THE DISEASE WAS TAKING ITS TOLL ON CLEVE. I WAS WASTING AWAY. I WAS DOWN TO A 120 POUNDS. I COULDN'T WALK UNASSISTED. I WAS LOSING MY VISION. I WAS LOSING MY HAIR. I WAS DYING. THERE WERE PROMISING NEW DRUGS, BUT BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES AND HIGH COSTS PUT THEM LARGELY OUT OF REACH.

THOUGH THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE SIGN OF PROGRESS

WHEN THE QUILT RETURNED TO THE NATIONAL MALL IN 1996, IT WAS VISITED BY A SITTING PRESIDENT.

CLEVE

AND I SAID TO THE PRESIDENT, YOU'VE GOT TO DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO MAKE THESE MEDICINES AVAILABLE AND ACCELERATE THE RESEARCH. SO IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF HOPE.

GEOFFREY

AIDS ACTIVISTS FOUGHT TO MAKE TREATMENT MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE, SAVING THE LIVES OF MANY, INCLUDING CLEVE.

CHANTING

CLEVE

I WAS ABLE TO GET ACCESS TO DRUGS THAT HAD NOT YET BEEN APPROVED AND THOSE MEDICATIONS SAVED MY LIFE AND BROUGHT ME BACK FROM THE BRINK. AND THEN LATER VERSIONS OF THE DRUGS KEPT ME GOING AND KEPT ME STRONG. AND I'M 62 AND I'M ALIVE AND I'M HEALTHY AND I'M STRONG AND I WORK FULL-TIME AND I'M IN LOVE AND I'M HAPPY AND I'M FIGHTING BACK.

LAUGHING

GEOFFREY

THE QUILT CONTINUES TO GROW. MORE THAN 50,000 PANELS ARE STORED IN A WAREHOUSE OUTSIDE ATLANTA AND SHIPPED ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR PUBLIC DISPLAYS. IT REMAINS A MODEL FOR A NEW KIND OF GRASSROOTS MONUMENT. THERE NEEDED TO BE AN OUTLET, A WAY TO EXPRESS OUR GRIEF, A WAY TO CONNECT OUR INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES, OUR FAMILIES EXPERIENCES, OUR NEIGHBORHOODS EXPERIENCES, IN A WAY THAT HAD BEAUTY AND POWER AND IT WORKED.