World AIDS Day celebrated with vigil, activist
BY LAURA RASKIN INDEPENDENT WRITER

AIDS awareness activist Ole Pete Key will be on island tomorrow for an educational training concert.

Ole Pete Key asks, “D'ya know what I mean?" a lot at the end of his statements. It

is endearing and equalizing, this call for understanding. Key (the "Ole" is a nickname he got a long time ago that means "voice of victory" or “voice of triumph") has the right not to ask you, but just to tell you. A leading AIDS awareness activist, certified HIV/AIDS instructor, social worker and general motivational speaker on the topic of choices and their consequences, Key has a body of knowledge and experience that gives him license to preach.

Instead, the 36-year-old from Alabama has spent the last eight years of his life developing a system for inspiring mostly young people to think about the consequences of drugs, sex, alcohol and peer pressure. He does so mostly through music – rap and hip hop – and skits, and he performs in educational training concerts across the country. He has found that youth throw away grainy pamphlets and brochures, but they remember lyrics. If they can remember Snoop Dog they can remember Ole Pete Key.

Key performs at all-school assemblies at Cyrus Peirce Middle School and Nantucket High School on Thursday, Dec. 1, which is also World AIDS Day. Sponsored by the donors to the Nantucket AIDS Network, Key's appearance is one of NAN's concerted efforts to educate the youth of the island in a new way. Also on Dec. 1 is the World AIDS Day Community Sing and Celebration of Life service at the Unitarian Church at 7 p.m., ending with a candlelight walk to the harbor in remembrance of those who have died from AIDS.

NAN Director of Development and Community Outreach Gordon McGregor saw Key at the Ryan White National Youth Conference in Nashville, named after the white middle class Indiana teen who drew worldwide attention because he was infected with HIV through treatment for his hemophilia. “I thought [Key] was a must-have because of the way he presents his message to young people. It's something we haven't seen," said McGregor. “He has a smart and powerful way of bringing the message of AIDS awareness and considering abstinence as a choice."

Key was born to a father who was an avid reader and a mother, grandmother and great-grandfather who were writers. Music and writing, even if it was negative, were always important to him. Part of what makes Key such a powerful voice and not a condescending one is that he was not always someone who thought about the consequences of his actions. He does not specify, but he calls the decade between 1987 and 1997 a reckless one. He was living in Atlanta and doing "anything and everything."

"I was headed down the wrong path," said Key in a relaxed telephone interview the day after Thanksgiving. "I was married. I was turning to alcohol and smoking blunts – anything I could do to relieve stress, but getting more stressed out." One night he turned on the TV and watched a man dressed in a sweat suit preach, "You're better than what you're doing." Key changed the channel and changed it back. "I really listened to this guy. Before you know it I was pouring out my liquor. It was God saying 'Hey, I've got something for you to do.' The light came on," said Key. From that day to this day he has not had another drink or smoke. Key always loved to talk and motivate, but he did not know how to use his gift, he said.

Later, Key found out that the man in the sweat suit was a pastor at a local church. "I'm so thankful that it happened," he said of that chance encounter through the screen. People have told Key he is a different person now.

Slowly he began to get into the work that he now talks about as a mission. Musically, it began when he watched former President Bill Clinton speak about AIDS in Africa. Key wrote a song – a letter to a 15-year-old called "Wait." He sang it one night in a group meeting at which there were employees from the local health department. They urged him to perform it elsewhere, then to get a scholarship, then to get trained as an AIDS educator.

"What I'm saying is not new in terms of what health educators are saying, but the youth are more in tune. It's been pretty effective so far," said Key. He hopes to garner more funding and grant sources.

Key knows music is contributing to some (he is clear not to say all) of the behaviors of youth that lead them down dangerous roads. "Maybe we can use it to bring some of the solutions," he said. "Sometimes people don't like the messenger, but music has a way of breaking down the barriers."

Young audiences often ask Key if he is HIV positive. He is not. He is still married to the same woman he was married to on the fateful night in 1997, and they have two young girls. He said he does not take this for granted. Many of the behaviors he used to indulge in could have easily resulted in his contracting HIV. He still thinks about a woman he met who is living with AIDS 20 years after she was infected at 13, the first time she had sexual intercourse and before she had her first menstrual cycle. "You know what I mean?" Key pleads, asking the listener to understand the weight of the story.

With his wife, Key runs Ole Pete Key Inc. and sells CDS like "The WAIT Project" (Why Am I Tempted?). His goal is to get it in the hands of as many seven-to-12 year olds as possible. Key also runs The Fatherhood Program at a local Head Start in Alabama. He helps reconnect noncustodial fathers with their children's education.

"I love that," he said.

Join NAN for the World AIDS Day Community Sing and Celebration of Life on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Church. The Accidentals and Naturals will not be appearing due to a last minute scheduling conflict, but the evening will conclude with a candlelight walk to the harbor where flower petals will be tossed into the water remembering those who have died from AIDS.

I