AIDS memorial garden planned at Oakland’s Lake Merritt

By CBS Bay Area

This World AIDS Day, an Oakland activist who has spent three decades fighting HIV is seeing a milestone he once thought would never happen: a first-of-its-kind AIDS memorial planned for Lake Merritt. 

Longtime HIV advocate Jesse Brooks says the East Bay AIDS Memorial Garden, to be located within The Gardens at Lake Merritt, will honor the many lives lost to the epidemic and the generations who have survived it. 

“I’m HIV positive myself, and I was diagnosed in ’93 … when people died,” Brooks said. “I got involved in research and advocacy, and now we’re finally here with the tools and education we need to get to zero.” 

The garden will also pay tribute to Dr. Dawn K. Smith, a researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose work helped prove that pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can prevent HIV, and who pushed to expand access in communities of color. 

Her daughter, filmmaker CB Smith-Dahl, says she never expected her mother’s story to be woven into the project. 

“It was this amazing spiritual moment,” Smith-Dahl said. “Like our ancestors bringing us together.”

A small bridge next to the future garden will be rebuilt and dedicated in Dr. Smith’s name. The memorial will be maintained entirely by volunteers, and organizers say they want the space to be a place of healing, openness, and visibility. 

“This will be a space where people have permission to honor their relatives, to talk about it openly,” Brooks said. 

Construction on the East Bay AIDS Memorial Garden is expected to begin next year.