The year that Like a prayerwas published, the official data in the United States showed the terrifying figure of 35,000 infected with HIV. In September 1990, the death toll from complications related to the virus reached 23,500 victims in less than two years. The fence of social stigma began to close around the patients, treated by public opinion as plagued.
Three years earlier, Madonna had lost friend and collaborator Martin Burgoyne to illness. Her death found him at only 23 years old, a few months after being diagnosed. He spent his last days in the singer’s apartment, who also agreed to cover medical expenses that the State refused to cover for the sick.
A disk loaded with a message
35 years after the album’s publication, we remember one of the most significant gestures that any artist could have had with those infected in a decade of misinformation and intolerance. Inside the album, fans could find a booklet specifying recommendations and general information about AIDSat a time when the majority was biased or in short supply: “People with AIDS deserve compassion and support, not violence and intolerance”.
A message that was shocking for an American society that was beginning to awaken from its Reagan era. The tough conservatism of the former Hollywood star turned president had a direct impact on the country’s minorities and the homosexual community. The war on drugs took its toll on isolation and suffocating pressure on the lives of the most disadvantaged. But he also managed to turn society against the infected.
Gestures like that of the singer helped to focus on the need for a different paradigm that would allow people with HIV to have normal lives. And they had their particular replica in some of their international editions. In the case of the Mexican, the director of the AIDS Prevention Center in Mexico City was included.
The album caused a stir, not only because of the insert about AIDS, but also because of the theme that began to run through its songs. Sexual abuse in childhood and youth, or the idea of the loss of spinal innocence Like a Prayer and puts the album on the path of a much more mature version of the artist.
Source: Lasexta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
