World AIDS Day-HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community

“When America gets a cold, black America gets pneumonia". - Joseph Lowery, the president emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Black people are dying. We are being killed by a murderer who eludes investigation. He stalks our communities, depending on our ignorance to assist him in his murderous rage. While we look for danger in one direction, he enters from the other. He’s a treacherous murderer. He doesn’t just kill; he mutilates, maims, and then mocks. He’s a serial killer with an unrelenting appetite for blood. He seems to be invisible, never leaving a trace, only death. He shows no mercy and never discriminates. He’s an equal opportunist; killing men, women, boys, and girls. He relies on our ignorance to aid him in his genocidal quest. His name is Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS.

If AIDS were a person, and we could see his police sketch posted up in our supermarkets, banks, and libraries, we would be terrified. We would lock our doors, watch our children, and carry mase with us wherever we went. We’d demand that our authorities do something about this killer running wild in our streets. We’d march in our neighborhoods. Our pastors would host huge rallies. We’d set up phone banks where people would call with tips. He’d be on the FBI’s most wanted list in the top spot. “America’s Most Wanted” would feature him weekly. But since AIDS is not a visible artifact, we ignore him with the hopes that he will disappear. But he doesn’t have any intentions of going anywhere, and worst of all, we’re aiding him in his mission!

Even though the AIDS epidemic in the black community is not a recent occurrence, it has garnered more attention lately for several different reasons. First, during the 2004 elections, journalist Gwen Ifill moderated a debate between the incumbent Vice-President Dick Cheney, and John Edwards. When Ifill asked the two candidates what they thought the government’s role should be in combating the AIDS epidemic in the Black community where, “where black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their counterparts,” Cheney avoided the question. Not only did he begin to talk about the AIDS epidemic in Africa (when Ifill specifically asked him to focus on African-AMERICANS), he then said, “Here in the United States, we've made significant progress. I have not heard those numbers with respect to African- American women. I was not aware that it was -- that they're in epidemic there, because we have made progress in terms of the overall rate of AIDS infection…..obviously we need to do more of that.” To make matters worse, John Edwards, considered the more liberal of the two made the same blunder by immediately addressing the AIDS epidemic in Africa (and how aid to that issue needs to be doubled), he never addressed AIDS in the Black community at all.

Obviously, this was a wake up call to many African-Americans. Although it should come as no surprise, it only solidified the belief that our government is, in no way, shape or form, concerned about the black community.

The second reason why AIDS in the black community has taken center stage is the awareness of the “phenomenon” called the “down low.” Basically, a person (male or female) is living on the “down low” when they are living their lives publicly as straight individuals but participating in same-sex activities in private. Many of the people who participate in this type of activity are in heterosexual relationships and intentionally deceive their partners. Many people have the belief that black men having sexual relations with other men is the source of the problem of AIDS in the black community.

Although many may speculate as to why AIDS has been able to gain such a stronghold in black America, one definitive answer cannot be given. In August 2006, ABC News broadcasted an hour long program dedicated to the dilemma of AIDS in the black community. The project was started by the late journalist Peter Jennings and was carried on by ABC after his death. The program was wise enough to recognize that a problem of this magnitude seldom every has one cause. They gave six reasons as to why they believe AIDS is hitting African-Americans in such epidemic proportions. The reasons were:
1. Ignorance
2. Government failure
3. Patterns of sexual behavior
4. Shortage of Black men
5. Gay Black men
6. Failed Black leadership
As the aforementioned reasons are self-explanatory, I will briefly analyze each reason.

Ignorance always plays a huge part in any scourge. From the Bubonic plague to the Holocaust, it is a fact that the more people that are unaware of a situation, the less controllable a situation becomes. Many people are not aware of the following statistics that are clearly posted on Illinois’ Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS website:
· Nationally, AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women age 25-34 and the second leading cause of death of African American men age 35-44.
· HIV/AIDS cases among African Americans are the highest among all racial/ethnic groups with a total of 1,406 cases reported in 2004 in Illinois, which consists of more than half the total reported cases in the state (2,662). Whites comprised 26 percent of the reported cases, Hispanics 15 percent and Asians 1.4 percent.
· Of the total reported HIV cases among females in Illinois, 70 percent were African-American.
· Among the total male population with HIV in Illinois, 47 percent were African American.
· Nearly 72 percent of African-American women and 64 percent of African-American men with HIV infection reported in 2004 were under 40 years of age.

The ABC special focused on the ignorance of policy makers, entertainers, and religious leaders who seem more enthusiastic about tending to the needs of foreign nations while people in their own countries suffer. For instance, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson was interviewed for the show, he, in the same vein as Cheney and Edwards, began to address the issue of AIDS in Africa instead of AIDS in the African-American communities.

While I agree that ignorance amongst the “rich and famous” is certainly not helping the situation, I believe that the ignorance of the majority of black Americans is what is hurting us the most. We, as a people, have seldom been able to count on aid from the majority, and we’ve often had to take issues into our own hands and fight. Unfortunately, many African-Americans have no idea just how rampant AIDS is, and instead of searching for our own solutions, we look to an uncaring government to help us.

Government failure ties into not only the issue of ignorance (as was made evident by Edward’s and Cheney’s lack of knowledge), but it also brings up the issue of racism. One must ask, if AIDS was the number one killer of white women ages 18-, would the government have allowed it to go this far? Would the vice-president have “have not heard those numbers with respect to Caucasian-American women?” I think not. They would’ve put into place policies that help educate people and therefore, stop transmission. For instance, it is a well known fact that African-American men make up a disproportionately large percentage of the imprisoned males in America. It’s also a well known fact that many men participate in same-sex relations while incarcerated. This turns prisons into breeding grounds for all types of sexually transmitted diseases, and especially AIDS. To make matters worse, when some of these men are released from prison, they return to heterosexual activities, which spreads AIDS amongst the African-American female community. These are all obvious facts. However, our government REFUSES to give condoms to male prisoners. While our government turns their head and pretends as if they’re not aware that men have sex in jail, the black community is suffering.

In addition to the suffering experienced because of our government’s lack of concern, African-Americans constantly put themselves at risk for AIDS by having unprotected sex and using intravenous drugs. Why do so many black Americans, especially black women, choose to have unprotected sex?

They do it because of an either real or perceived notion that there is a serious shortage of black men. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, a professor of women’s studies at the historically black Spelman College said, “Many of the women on campus are panic stricken because of the feeling of scarcity. I see a lot of problematic sexual decision-making among black women across class and age lines.” To put it plainly, many black women are so afraid that they won’t find a suitable mate, that they are willing to put their lives at risk by having unprotected sex because their sexual partner pressures them. Since many black men have high turnover rates because of the shortage in their numbers, many black women are having sex with the same black men. It doesn’t help that black women are amongst the groups that are the least likely to date outside of their race. This concentrates the pool of infection even more.

The next reason that ABC gave was that there are larger numbers of gay men in the black community than in the white and Hispanic ones. This is the only reason that I take issue with. First of all, GAY black men do not give AIDS to women. They don’t have sex with women. I think it’s important to differentiate between gay men and bisexual men. It’s also even more important to differentiate between bisexual men and dishonest men. The lack of differentiation encourages homophobia amongst the black community, which is said to be one of the more homophobic communities in America. If black people are given the impression that black gay men are killing black women, this simply allows unnecessary resentment to build which in turn prevents many gay black men from being open about their sex life for fear of ridicule. This fear of chastisement is what encourages many gay black men to stay in heterosexual relationships for façade purposes only. This is how AIDS in the heterosexual black community and AIDS in the black gay community are linked. Gay black men should not be criminalized because their criminalization only contributes to the problem of the “down low.”

Finally, ABC addressed the issue of the dropping of the ball by black leadership. They suggested that black leaders have not been as instrumental in helping to fight AIDS as they should be. I totally agree, and I especially believe that this is true in reference to black religious leaders. Historically, black religious leaders have been strong figures in the black community. From Dr. King to Malcolm X, religious figures have spearheaded many of the fights that black people now reap the benefits of. However, it seems as if the days of the strong and concerned black leader are gone. Jesse Jackson’s lack of knowledge about AIDS is just one glaring example. Another example is the neo-con wave of doctrine that has been sweeping through the black community. Since AIDS first began in the gay community, and many black preachers teach that homosexuality is a sin, many black congregations choose to turn their heads and ignore the problem for fear that they will appear to be condoning homosexual behavior. In addition, many of these black pastors have chosen to side with George Bush on many issues, and it’s most obvious that George Bush’s priorities do not lie with the black community.

So, is there a solution for this problem? Well, just like a problem has multiple causes, it can have multiple solutions. The first solution is to educate, educate, educate! As the older black people used to say, “when you know better, you do better.” If black people, and black women especially, realize just how serious AIDS is, perhaps they’d be more willing to practice safer sexual habits. Secondly, and this is solely my opinion, the black community must stop homophobia in our communities. As I said before, homophobia only worsens the problem. Lastly, we must take matters into our own hands. It’s evident that we are not going to be helped by the government, so we must help ourselves. It is our job to stop AIDS in its tracks and place it under civilian arrest.