February 7, 2009 will commemorate the ninth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. In the year that has passed since last February 7th, what have we learned? What has changed? Are we any closer to defeating the “Black Plague” of our times?
Well, we have learned that the number of new infections per year in the U. S. was 40% higher than we previously were told. We know that nearly half of those new infections are Black Americans, and more than half of those infections are in gay or bisexual Black men. What has changed? Well as the national HIV epidemic has progressively become a disease of color, young Black gay and bisexual men under the age of 30 are bearing the brunt of this still growing menace.
Black men who have sex with other men between the ages of 13-29 have infection rates roughly 3 times that of their white counterparts. In a recent CDC study conducted in 5 major urban settings, one in every two Black gay or bisexual man surveyed was HIV-positive. That is an astounding figure, but it gets worse.
The lifetime risk for Black people getting infected is 1 out of every 16 men and 1 out every 30 for women. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women aged 25-34, and the second leading cause for men aged 35-44. Cumulatively there have been over 200,000 deaths of Black people in the United States, in the prime of their lives. Cut down, shut off, in potentially the most productive times of their lives. These are our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives, our fathers and mothers, my sisters and my brothers.
Oh, my brothers, my sisters that are bearing this heavy burden. Why are we carrying this weight? Why is it that 48% of teenage Black girls have STDs? Why is that so many young Black Gay and Bisexual men don’t know their HIV status? Could we use more funding on the federal and state levels? Of course we could. Is there a need for more effective, targeted preventions programs? Yes there is. Should the U. S. finally create a National AIDS Strategy? I think so.
But I believe it’s going to take more than just more funds thrown at the problem. The Black community itself has to step up and take the lead on combating this epidemic within its own walls. Recently there has been more action and less rhetoric, but the movement must continue to grow. Until we are able to talk openly about stigma and homophobia, until we are willing to put aside our differences and recognize our similarities, until we can go beyond talking about it and begin being about it, none of these things will change.
If we continue to wait for responses from on high, and not advocate for ourselves will we continue to lose generations more brothers, more sisters. I am a man of faith and I believe in the power of prayer. But I also believe the words written in the Epistle of James: Faith without works is dead. This National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day let us all begin to be about the work of change in our community.
February 7, 2009 will commemorate the ninth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. In the year that has passed since last February 7th, what have we learned? What has changed? Are we any closer to defeating the “Black Plague” of our times?
Well, we have learned that the number of new infections per year in the U. S. was 40% higher than we previously were told. We know that nearly half of those new infections are Black Americans, and more than half of those infections are in gay or bisexual Black men. What has changed? Well as the national HIV epidemic has progressively become a disease of color, young Black gay and bisexual men under the age of 30 are bearing the brunt of this still growing menace.
Black men who have sex with other men between the ages of 13-29 have infection rates roughly 3 times that of their white counterparts. In a recent CDC study conducted in 5 major urban settings, one in every two Black gay or bisexual man surveyed was HIV-positive. That is an astounding figure, but it gets worse.
The lifetime risk for Black people getting infected is 1 out of every 16 men and 1 out every 30 for women. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women aged 25-34, and the second leading cause for men aged 35-44. Cumulatively there have been over 200,000 deaths of Black people in the United States, in the prime of their lives. Cut down, shut off, in potentially the most productive times of their lives. These are our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives, our fathers and mothers, my sisters and my brothers.
Oh, my brothers, my sisters that are bearing this heavy burden. Why are we carrying this weight? Why is it that 48% of teenage Black girls have STDs? Why is that so many young Black Gay and Bisexual men don’t know their HIV status? Could we use more funding on the federal and state levels? Of course we could. Is there a need for more effective, targeted preventions programs? Yes there is. Should the U. S. finally create a National AIDS Strategy? I think so.
But I believe it’s going to take more than just more funds thrown at the problem. The Black community itself has to step up and take the lead on combating this epidemic within its own walls. Recently there has been more action and less rhetoric, but the movement must continue to grow. Until we are able to talk openly about stigma and homophobia, until we are willing to put aside our differences and recognize our similarities, until we can go beyond talking about it and begin being about it, none of these things will change.
If we continue to wait for responses from on high, and not advocate for ourselves will we continue to lose generations more brothers, more sisters. I am a man of faith and I believe in the power of prayer. But I also believe the words written in the Epistle of James: Faith without works is dead. This National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day let us all begin to be about the work of change in our community.