Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  IDENTITY

AIDS Has Become a Black Disease
by Irene Monroe
2006-09-01

This article shared 5215 times since Fri Sep 1, 2006
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Before a crowd of more than 24,000 activists, health workers and researchers from more than 132 countries at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto Aug. 13-18, Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, announced to the crowd what African-American HIV activists have been saying for decades: 'It is time for the African-American community to face the fact that AIDS has become a Black disease.'

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , African Americans account for half of all new HIV cases. With African Americans comprising no more than 13 percent of the U.S. population, 61 percent of us under the age of 25 have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS between 2001 and 2004.

Equally alarming is that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 25 and 44, according to the CDC, with the primary mode of transmission being heterosexual contact followed by IV drug use.

At the 'Women and Response to AIDS' panel at the conference, Sheila Johnson, founder of the Crump-Johnson Foundation in Washington D.C., pointed out that another at-risk population in the African-American community is teenage girls.

Seventeen percent of the U.S. teen population is African-American, with 70 percent of Black teens testing HIV-positive. One in 10 African-American teenage girls test HIV-positive in the nation's capital, the highest percentage in the country among this age group.

When asked why such a high percentage test positive, Johnson said, 'As long as girls see themselves as glorified sex objects in hip-hop videos, HIV/AIDS will increase within this population.'

With African Americans at younger and younger ages being infected with the AIDS virus, the life expectancy rate of African Americans will decline. Soon we will no longer expect today's young African Americans to become the elders of the community.

The third cause of death among African-American men is AIDS, and the primary mode of HIV transmission among them is having sexual contact with other men, followed by heterosexual contact and IV drug use. And HIV/AIDS among Black male inmates is five times the rate of the general population and transmitted primarily through male-to-male sex or tattooing.

Are these statistics overwhelming?

So too is the anemic leadership African Americans have faced since the epidemic began 25 years ago.

'The story of AIDS in America is mostly one of a failure to lead, and nowhere is this truer than in our Black communities' said Bond.

But where would the leadership on HIV/AIDS come from? Our African-American lawmakers?

While a few of our local African-American elected officials and the Congressional Black Caucus have spoken up about the AIDS epidemic in the Black community, the non-involvement by the majority of them has been scandalous.

Some Black officials say that their inattention to HIV/AIDS is because they are overwhelmed by the bigger and more important problems affecting inner-city urban life such as crime, gang warfare, homelessness, drugs and poverty.

For example, today the Rev. Jesse Jackson, chairman of the Rainbow Push Coalition, is in support of addressing the AIDS epidemic in the Black community: 'We have also been a compliant victim, submitting through inaction. It is now time for us to fight AIDS like the major civil rights issue it is.'

But in 1992, the HIV/AIDS issue was not perceived as a priority by Jackson, albeit an epidemic even then in the Black community.

'AIDS has had to compete with other crises,' Mr. Jackson said in an interview back then. 'AIDS is in the competition for the champion crisis in a community that has been abandoned. AIDS is working its way up to be a priority.'

Also while some Black elected officials have voted for money for AIDS programs, they have generally resisted providing the leadership needed to mobilize Black and Hispanic groups to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.

But let's confront the elephant in the Black community, by telling the truth and shaming the devil.

The biggest problem that Black lawmakers have had to confront concerning the HIV/AIDS crisis in their communities is the political gag order imposed on them by their voting constituency's homophobia and animus toward any discussion of the disease.

Would the leadership to HIV/AIDS come from the Black Church?

'I grew up in the Black Church,' Dr. David Satcher, former Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, told The New York Times in 1998. 'I think the church has problems with the lifestyle of homosexuality. A real problem has been getting ministers that are even willing to talk about it in their pulpits.'

However, when it comes to the Black Church and HIV/AIDS, I am always reminded of what my mayor in Cambridge, Mass., Ken Reeves, who is both African-American and gay, told The Washington Blade in March 1998 during a two-day Harvard University HIV/AIDS conference: 'African-American male ministers over 40 are a tough nut to crack. If we wait for the Black Church on this, we'll all be dead.'

To date, the epidemic has claimed over 200,000 lives.

The Black Church now understands there is a problem. However, because of its discomfort in addressing issues related to sexuality, the Black Church's 'outstretched hand,' when extended, is offered passively toward people who contracted the virus through IV-drug use and not those who contracted HIV/AIDS sexually.

African Americans are bearing the brunt of this epidemic.

Why?

'Because of poverty, ignorance, and prejudice, AIDS has been allowed to stalk and kill Black America like a serial killer,' Jackson said.

As African Americans, we need a new vision .We need to exorcise our unrelenting hysteria, ignorance, and homophobia surrounding AIDS.

If we don't heed to the admonition in Proverbs 29:18 — 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' — then we will have participated in our own genocide.


This article shared 5215 times since Fri Sep 1, 2006
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem'
2024-03-29
Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools
2024-03-15
In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77
2024-03-12
On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

AMA launches toolkit to increase screenings for HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis
2024-03-06
Press release - CHICAGO — With disruptions in clinical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and viral hepatitis across the U.S., the American Medical Association ...


Gay News

NATIONAL School items, HIV/AIDS activist dies, Nex Benedict, inclusive parade
2024-03-01
In a new survey, the Pew Research Center asked public K-12 teachers, teens and the U.S. public about the ongoing scrutiny placed on classroom curricula, mainly regarding race and LGBTQ+ identities, ABC News noted. Among other ...


Gay News

Advocates call for increased HIV funding amid state's 'disappointing' pattern of flat funding
2024-02-27
Governor JB Pritzker's proposed 2025 budget has no increase in HIV funding, continuing a years-long pattern of flat spending toward tackling the epidemic in Illinois. Pritzker outlined his $52.7 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year ...


Gay News

HIV criminal laws disproportionately impact Black men in Mississippi
2024-02-21
--From a press release - A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that at least 43 people in Mississippi were arrested for HIV-related crimes between 2004 and 2021. Half of all arrests in the state ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show
2024-02-19
In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

$200,000+ raised at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate Fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS
2024-02-13
--From a press release - (Chicago, IL) More than 950 guests gathered at Chicago's famed Union Station (500 W. Jackson) for Chicago's Sweetest Fundraiser, AIDS Foundation Chicago's (AFC), World of Chocolate on Friday, February 9. ...


Gay News

THEATER Dot-Marie Jones talks Goodman production, 'Glee,' 'Bros'
2024-02-12
Running through Feb. 18 at the the Goodman Theatre, the production Highway Patrol works with a script conceived entirely from Emmy-winning actor Dana Delany's (TV's China Beach) digital archive of hundreds of tweets and direct messages ...


Gay News

Munar prepares to step away from Howard Brown leadership
2024-02-11
After 10 years of leadership at Howard Brown Health, President and CEO David Ernesto Munar has decided to step down from his post on Feb. 29. Munar, who'd previously been president and CEO of AIDS Foundation ...


Gay News

Chicagoans indulge in a World of Chocolate
2024-02-11
AIDS Foundation of Chicago hosted its 2024 World of Chocolate celebration the evening of Feb. 9 at Union Station. Top chocolatiers from across the city allowed guests to sample numerous confections, hors d'oevres and libations for ...


Gay News

Pritzker Military Library to close in July, move to Wisconsin
2024-02-08
On Feb. 7, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library announced that it is closing its downtown Chicago location on July 27 and moving to an archives center in Wisconsin later this year, according to The Chicago ...


Gay News

National Black Justice Coalition commemorates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
2024-02-07
--From a press release - WASHINGTON — Today, Feb. 7, marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). In commemoration, Dr. David J. Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a leading Black LGBTQ+/same-gender ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.