WORLD AIDS DAY / Remembering Amsel, now 40 years gone

Today marks yet another WORLD AIDS DAY, where we commemorate those lost to AIDS, as well as to support the many people still struggling to survive with the disease.

I think the younger generations may never fully grasp the sheer magnitude of the devastation left in the wake of AIDS, nor the maddening political and social indifference, if not outright cruelty, so many of its victims were forced to endure during the Reagan/Bush eras. The profound, epic tragedy of AIDS goes far beyond the number of lives lost, or the physical suffering of those afflicted with the disease. The early years serve as a harsh testament to the lesser angels of our nature, where those who held positions of power had the ability -- but lacked the will, humanity, or backbone -- to help those who so desperately needed it.

This year marks a disturbing flashback to that indifference. Per The New York Times, the State Department has instructed employees — and grantees — not to use government funds to commemorate the day and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging.”

It's maddening, infuriating, inhuman…and yet it comes as little surprise given our current administration. They should be ashamed of themselves.

In 1985, there were reportedly 5,636 known deaths from AIDS in the United States. Richard Amsel was just one of them. Yet throughout the course of my interviewing people for this film, I've come to a sobering realization: That with each death, some of the best parts of the rest of us die along with it. When someone like Amsel -- someone magical -- disappears, some of the magic within us disappears, too.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to all those who mourn and remember today. We need their magic now, more than ever.

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This week – on December 4^th – also marks what would have been Richard Amsel’s 78^th birthday.

Amsel died 40 years ago, at 7:15 am EST on Wednesday, Nov. 13th, 1985, in New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. He was 37 years old.

Because Amsel died at such an early age, perhaps it's difficult to think of him as anything other than forever young...in our memories, at least.

I often ask those who knew him what Amsel may have been like today, had he lived. Would be still be painting? Would he have followed other pursuits? Would his personality have changed? Alas, we shall never know.

In 2018, I had a panel made in Richard Amsel’s honor for inclusion in the AIDS Memorial Quilt. (In researching the quilt’s history, I learned that it was conceived in November of 1985 – the same month Amsel died.)

Limited prints of this panel are included among the thank you gifts for donations to the documentary. Go to our DONATION PAGE for more information.

 Amsel's panel is currently viewable on the interactive AIDS quilt’s website, on block 5992.