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“Bury Me Furiously” – Bob Rafsky Speech, ACT UP (1992)

Bob Rafsky: Robert Rafsky, or Bob Rafsky, was a writer and a notable HIV/AIDS awareness advocate. He came out as a member of the LGBTQ community in 1985. In 1987, he was diagnosed with AIDS. After his diagnosis, he joined the ACT UP movement. At the funeral/protest of Mark Fisher, who died of AIDS on October 29, 1992, Rafsky provided a powerful and memorable speech in Fisher’s honor. Rafsky’s speech is titled “Bury Me Furiously”, which parallels a piece written by Fisher. Like Fisher, and many others at the time, Rafsky passed away due to AIDS on February 21, 1993 (Matthews).

ACT UP: ACT UP, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, is a movement for AIDS awareness. The ACT UP organization was originally founded in Manhattan, New York in early 1987. As the AIDS epidemic ran rampant word-wide, and heavily within the United States, ACT UP organized protests and helped inform society about the realities of the disease (ACT UP). One of the main targets of ACT UP, and the target of Rafsky’s speech, was the Bush administration. The government provided very little funding for AIDS research or patients’ financial relief. Also, Bush did not make a statement about the AIDS epidemic until the second year of his presidency (Gessen). President Bush’s lack of urgency or care about the AIDS epidemic lead to several protests, such as the funeral of Mark Fisher, against his administration and presidency.

Speech Transcript: “ Let everyone here know that this is not a political funeral for Mark Fisher, who wouldn’t let us burn or bury his courage or his love for us… anymore than he would let the earth take his body until it was already in flight. He asked for this ceremony, not so we could bury him, but so we could celebrate his undying anger. This isn’t a political funeral for Mark. It’s a political funeral for the man (Bush) who killed him… and so many others… and is slowly killing me, whose name curls my tongue and curls my breath. George Bush, we believe you’ll be defeated tomorrow because we believe there’s still some justice left in the universe, and some compassion left in the American people. But whether or not you are- here and now- standing by Mark’s body, we put this curse on you: Mark’s spirit will haunt you until the end of your days. So that, in the moment of your defeat, you’ll remember our defeats. And in the moment of your death, you’ll remember our deaths. As for Mark, when the living can no longer speak, the dead may speak for them. Mark’s voice is here with us, as is the voice of Pericles, who, two millennia ago, mourned the Athenian soldiers who didn’t have to die and in whose death he was complicit, but who had the nobility to say that their memorial was the whole earth. Let the whole earth hear us now: We beg, we pray, we demand that this epidemic end! Not just so that we may live, but so that Mark’s soul may rest in peace at last. In anger and in grief, this fight is not over ‘til all of us are safe. Act up, fight back, fight AIDS.” – Robert Rafsky, 1992 (Wilson)

ACT UP Activists: The ACT UP movement had a widespread and powerful following. The coalition, at its climax, had 148 chapters across the nation (France). Members of ACT UP, like Rafsky, mainly consisted of members of the LGBTQ community, as they were significantly affected by the epidemic. It was also made up of community allies, such as the family and friends of AIDS victims. In an article in The New York Times, David France discussed members of the movement and stated, “They had little in common beyond what political scientists call a linked fate: Everyone in those meetings knew someone who was dying or had died, or else they were marked for death themselves.” (France). ACT UP was not only a movement for awareness, but also a way for those suffering from the epidemic to find community and comfort.

Medical Impact: As previously stated, the AIDS epidemic was highly ignored for a long time. In a journal, Charles E. Morris III said, “AIDS, from the beginning, has been a mnemonic pandemic.” (Morris). It did not receive the attention or funding it needed. Patients, mostly gay men, were dying at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, the Reagan and Bush administrations turned a blind eye. However, through the work of ACT UP activists, such as Bob Rafsky, change ensued. In an interview with NPR, Mike Petrelis, an ACT UP activist, discussed the ACT UP movement and their obstacles and accomplishments. Petrelis stated, “And they ultimately forced the government and the scientific community to fundamentally change the way medical research is conducted — paving the way for the discovery of a treatment that today keeps alive an estimated half-million HIV-positive Americans and millions more worldwide.” (Aizenman). The ACT UP movement demanded attention, support, and equality.

Social Impact: Bob Rafsky’s speech, and the ACT UP movement as a whole, had a large impact on raising awareness for the AIDS epidemic. ACT UP had a history of displaying grand gestures to raise awareness, and Mark Fisher’s funeral/protest is a perfect example of such (Specter). Another example of ACT UP’s boldness is their organization of “die-ins”, where participants would lay on the ground, and “kiss-ins”, where participants kissed each other (France). These grand gestures, protests, riots, and marches left a lasting impact on how people view the LGBTQ community and their rights. ACT UP even changed how people view today’s issues. For example, Gregg Gonsalves wrote an article that made connections between Bob Rafsky’s “Bury Me Furiously” speech and the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the government responded. In his article with The Nation, Gonsalves states, “All our leaders should heed Bob’s (Rafsky) warning to politicians who always seem to find reasons to let the carnage continue.” (Gonsalves). Activists like Bob Rafsky continue to impact activism today, and how society holds its government accountable.

“ACT UP NY | End AIDS!” ACT UP NY, 13 May 2021, https://actupny.com/. Aizenman, Nurith. “How to Demand a Medical Breakthrough: Lessons from the Aids Fight.” NPR, NPR, 9 Feb. 2019, https://www.npr.org/sections/health- shots/2019/02/09/689924838/how-to-demand-a-medical-breakthrough-lessons-from-the-aids-fight. France, David. “How ACT UP Remade Political Organizing in America.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/act-up-aids.html. Gessen, Masha, et al. “George H. W. Bush's Presidency Erased People with AIDS. so Did the Tributes to Him.” The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/george-h-w-bushs-presidency-erased-people-with-aids-so-did-the-tributes-to-him. Gonsalves, Gregg. “Bury Me Furious.” The Nation, 14 Jan. 2021, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/covid-reckoning-relief-vaccine/. Mathews, Jay. “Robert Rafsky, Writer and Activist in AIDS Fight, Dies.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Feb. 1993, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/02/23/robert-rafsky-writer-and-activist-in-aids-fight-dies/3815ea96-225b-4fc4-bfee-3e1e33f9935e/. Morris III, CharlesE. “ACT UP 25: HIV/AIDS, Archival Queers, and Mnemonic World Making.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 98, no. 1 (February 2012): 49–53. doi:10.1080/00335630.2011.638658. Specter, Michael. “How ACT Up Changed America.” The New Yorker, 4 June 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/14/how-act-up-changed-america. Wilson, Tony. “For Mark Fisher: 'We Beg, We Pray, We Demand That This Epidemic End!', by Bob Rafsky - 1992.” Speakola, Speakola, 2 Dec. 2015, https://speakola.com/eulogy/fisher-rafsky-bury-me-furiously-1992.