Report: Black U.S. AIDS Rates Rival Some African Nations
| More news stories on AIDS |
|---|
CNN, July 29, 2008
The AIDS epidemic among African-Americans in some parts of the United States is as severe as in parts of Africa, according to a report out Tuesday.
“Left Behind—Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS” is intended to raise awareness and remind the public that the “AIDS epidemic is not over in America, especially not in Black America,” says the report, published by the Black AIDS Institute, an HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on African-Americans.
“AIDS in America today is a black disease,” says Phill Wilson, founder and CEO of the institute and himself HIV-positive for 20 years. “2006 CDC data tell us that about half of the just over 1 million Americans living with HIV or AIDS are black.”
Although black people represent only about one in eight Americans, one in every two people living with HIV in the United States is black, the report notes.
{snip}
o AIDS remains the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34. It’s the second-leading cause of death in black men 35-44. Explainer: AIDS: A black disease »
{snip}
According to this report, if black Americans made up their own country, it would rank above Ethiopia (420,000 to 1,300,000) and below Ivory Coast (750,000) in HIV population. Both Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast are among the 15 nations receiving funds from the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief. The United States has given about $15 billion to PEPFAR nations in the past five years.
The Black AIDS Institute says it’s not criticizing the federal government for helping poorer countries cope with the AIDS epidemic. Rather, it’s saying the “AIDS epidemic [in the U.S.] is not getting the kind attention that it merits.”
“We understand the needs of black folk in Johannesburg (South Africa),” Wilson says. “Why can’t we understand the needs of them in Jackson, Mississippi? We understand the needs in Nigeria or Botswana, why not understand the needs of Los Angeles or Oakland?”
Wilson says more needs to be done to prevent the spread of HIV in this country. The report states that the U.S. government “increased spending on HIV prevention, treatment and support programs for low-income countries dramatically, at the same time that domestic remained all but flat.”
{snip}
In this report, Wilson and others urge the federal government and private foundations to significantly increase funding for HIV prevention and treatment programs. The report also calls on international agencies to hold the U.S. government accountable for failure to address HIV/AIDS epidemic in its own country (despite lauding it for its PEPFAR efforts). It also urges black communities in the United States to fight the stigma and overcome prejudice associated with being infected with HIV.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: “Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic” can be read or downloaded here.]
(Posted on July 29, 2008)
U.S. Leads Global Efforts Against Aids, But Neglects the Epidemic in Black America, Says New Report
Black AIDS Institute, 7/29/2008
The United States leads the global response to HIV/AIDS, but fails to mobilize the same commitment to address the large and growing epidemic within its own borders, finds a new report released today by the Black AIDS Institute. “Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic” praises the United States for it vital efforts to address HIV worldwide, but criticizes the government’s profoundly inadequate response to the epidemic within its own borders, where Black Americans are most severely affected by the disease.
“More Black Americans are infected with HIV than the total populations of people living with HIV in seven of the 15 countries served by PEPFAR,” noted Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute and one of the authors of the report, referring to the U.S. government’s program of extraordinary aid for countries severely impacted by the epidemic. “Were Black America a separate country, it would elicit major concern and extensive assistance from the U.S. government. Instead, the national response to AIDS among Black Americans has been lethargic and often neglectful.”
“Left Behind!” illustrates a clear and startling gap between the U.S. government’s appropriate concern about AIDS overseas, and its ongoing denial of the epidemic at home—despite the fact that, in areas of the United States such as Detroit, Newark, New York, Washington D.C. and the Deep South, HIV levels among segments of the Black community approach those of many severely affected countries in Africa. For example, HIV prevalence among middle-aged Black men in Manhattan is almost as high as overall prevalence in South Africa, home to the world’s largest population of people living with HIV.
The report points out that, while the U.S. government requires countries receiving PEPFAR support have a national AIDS strategy in place, the United States itself has no strategy for its own epidemic, and was one of 40 countries that failed to fulfill its commitment to report to the Joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on its response to AIDS at home. At the same time that the United States has dramatically, and appropriately scaled up funding for AIDS overseas, it has simultaneously cut real spending for domestic HIV prevention and care initiatives—even as HIV caseloads in Black America have risen sharply.
“U.S. policy treats AIDS as a foreign policy priority, but virtually ignores the epidemic among Black citizens here at home,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and CEO of the National Action Network (NAN). “U.S. policy makers seem to be much more interested in the epidemic in Botswana than the epidemic in Louisiana. This is an unnecessary and deadly choice. Both need urgent attention.”
What If Black America Were Its Own Country?
“Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic” incorporates a new analysis by the Black AIDS Institute showing how Black America would rank on the global health and HIV scale if it were a separate country. The results put the U.S. government’s neglect of its own citizens’ healthcare into stark relief.
According to the report:
o Standing on its own, Black America would constitute the world’s 35th most populous country, but would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with HIV.
o A free-standing Black America would rank 105th worldwide in life expectancy and 88th in infant mortality. Blacks in the U.S. have a lower life expectancy than do citizens of Algeria, the Dominican Republic or Sri Lanka.
o Outside of sub-Saharan Africa, only four countries—and only two in the Western Hemisphere—have adult HIV prevalence as high as the conservative estimate (2% among adults) for Black America. Blacks represent about one in eight Americans, but account for one in two people living with HIV in the U.S.
o Despite extraordinary improvements in HIV treatment, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among Black women between 25-34 years and the second leading cause of death in Black men between 35-44 years.
o Black women in the U.S. are 23 times more likely than White women to be diagnosed with AIDS.
o Blacks make up 70% of new HIV diagnoses among teenagers and 65% of HIV-infected newborns.
“The AIDS pandemic, including the epidemic right here at home, is a worldwide crisis. That is why we must ensure it is addressed it in a truly global way,” said Barbara Lee, member of Congress from California and a co-author of the legislation that created PEPFAR.
A Misdirected Response
“Left Behind!” posits that the Federal government is taking a fundamentally flawed approach to the epidemic in Black America, applying the prevention paradigm developed for concentrated epidemics, which focuses almost exclusively on so-called “high-risk” groups.
“The ‘concentrated epidemic’ approach reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the social networks of Blacks in America. We are experiencing an epidemic with significant transmission beyond vulnerable populations. Nothing short of a mass Black mobilization will be sufficient to turn around the AIDS epidemic in Black America,” noted Wilson. “The U.S. should understand from its work in countries with similar epidemiological profiles that a more effective approach for Black America would include a mix of targeted programs for high-risk populations; broad-based initiatives that mobilize entire communities; and efforts to address the role of concurrent partnerships and the rapid spread of HIV transmission in social networks.”
“Black women are particularly affected by the domestic AIDS response and attention to their needs are inadequate. Lives are lost as a result,” said Dr. Helene Gayle, President/CEO of CARE. “As in other parts of the world, Black women in the U.S. often face increased vulnerability to HIV due to lack of a perception of power in sexual relationships and low self-esteem. Many cannot insist on abstinence or the use of condoms because of fear of emotional or physical abuse by their partners. Development of female-initiated prevention methods is not only a critical priority for Black women overseas, but also for Black women here at home.”
The report illustrates that young people in Black America, as in other parts of the world, are often at highest risk of infection because of inadequate knowledge of HIV infection, a high prevalence of inter-generational relationships, and a shortage of youth-tailored HIV prevention programs. And it points out that the silence that masks the particularly high risk of HIV confronting men who have sex with men in Africa and other heavily impacted regions also exacerbates AIDS in Black America. “Among men who have sex with men worldwide, Blacks in the U.S. may have the highest HIV prevalence. In the U.S., Black gay men experience more than twice the rate of infection as their White counterparts,” noted Jesse Milan, Vice President of the non-profit health management consultancy Altarum. “Black men who have sex with men in the U.S. share important attributes related to HIV risk with their peers in other regions, including the experience of severe stigma and discrimination that often impedes HIV prevention efforts.
Drug use is one of the leading modes of HIV transmission in the U.S., particularly among Blacks, who account for more than half of drug-related HIV infections in the U.S. Black America experiences some of the same challenges to effective HIV prevention as other heavily-impacted regions of the world, such as government hostility to evidence-based harm reduction strategies and high rates of incarceration without adequate access to HIV prevention or treatment.
When it comes to AIDS treatment, the report shows that many of the same factors that contribute to excessive rates of HIV illness and deaths in developing countries also apply to Black America—including late initiation of treatment, a high prevalence of co-occurring medical conditions, and impediments to treatment adherence.
Reversing the AIDS Epidemic in Black America: An Action Agenda
“Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic” presents a clear action agenda for bringing the U.S. response to AIDS at home on a par with U.S.-supported efforts to fight the epidemic overseas. Among these, the report calls for immediate action to:
o Enhance support for community mobilization against HIV in Black America, including efforts to mobilize Black America to fight stigma, overcome prejudice, and promote solidarity against the epidemic. Leading Black organizations, constituencies and media outlets are struggling to promote AIDS information and prevention with little or no government support. Far greater government support is needed to maximize the impact of community responses to the epidemic in Black America.
o Significantly increase support for the scale-up of essential HIV prevention, treatment and care services in Black America. In particular, the report notes the dire need for increased funding for HIV prevention efforts in Black America; the virtual absence of prevention strategies designed for Black Americans; and the need to prioritize research on HIV vulnerability and infection patterns that Black America shares with other countries.
o Break the silence on AIDS in Black America. The report calls on global AIDS leaders to speak out on the neglect of the epidemic in Black America. While the U.S. government should be lauded for the PEPFAR initiative, it must also be held accountable for its failure to address the epidemic within its borders.
“America has claimed a leadership role in the fight against the global HIV epidemic,” said Wilson. “Yet, America’s failure to respond to its own epidemic among its Black citizens undermines its credibility in addressing AIDS epidemic worldwide. For the U.S. to truly be a global AIDS leader, it must put its own house in order, too.”
Comments
Why is it such a surprise that Africans in America have a reality that is like Africans in Africa? As Vincente Fox, former President of Mexico said, “Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico.” I suppose the same is also true of Africans.
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:16 PM on July 29
Let’s see now. Wherever Europeans settle, around the world, we find high standards of living and high savings rates, low crime, divorce & disease rates, high levels of education, science, technology, art, culture, and social cohesion.
Wherever Africans settle, we see poverty, ignorance, illegitimate children, drugs, crime, corruption, lack of fiscal responsibility, social decay, chaos, lack of education, science, technology, and disease. What could be the reason for these stark and repeatedly observed differences?
Posted by at 6:18 PM on July 29
From what I have seen of blacks.The women are no better than the men when it comes to promiscuous sex. They say that 37000 white women are raped each year by black men.I would love to find out how many black women are raped by black men.They should do a survey of blacks and see how many even know or care about catching a disease from unprotected sex.
Posted by tony Soprano. at 6:24 PM on July 29
“Drug use is one of the leading modes of HIV transmission in the U.S., particularly among Blacks…” All while a year’s supply of disposable syringes for a junkie is cheaper than a pair of Lugz and Nikes worst case scenario and free best case scenario. Same for condoms. Whine, whine, and whine. Go figure.
Posted by underdog at 6:25 PM on July 29
Let me see if I’ve got this right. Blacks are far and away the biggest carriers of the aids virus in America today, Secondly, black males make up the greatest share of the prison population percentage wise. Thirdly, black males can’t compete in the high tech world of today, because of low intellect. Plus blacks constitute 12% of the US population, but commit 58% of all violent crimes.
So, because of these aforementioned facts, many are claiming that the US is in danger of losing an entire generation of black males, unless “we” do something about it.
Question, shouldn’t blacks, especially black males do something about their criminal conduct, their propensity for violence, and lack of motivation and intellectual curiosity to learn, and their acute distaste for dedicating themselves to learning a trade? I mean who is this “we” who is supposed to do something for people whose conduct, behavior and attitude are so bad they can’t function in a first world society?
Posted by ice at 6:33 PM on July 29
Forgive me for my complete lack of sympathy for the black aids carriers. Haven’t they learned anything? It’s all Whitey’s fault!
Posted by at 6:36 PM on July 29
There are a lot of young white girls in adolescence and approaching adulthood who ought to read this article. There are a lot of full grown white women who ought to read it, too. This article should be required reading in High School health classes across the country.
But this article will get shuffled away into unending media maelstrom, because if it didn’t people, white and otherwise, would realize what a strange and dangerous race blacks are.
And that might hurt black people’s feelings.
It’s a crime, that impressionable young women will die because nobody wants to offend blacks no matter what they do.
Kirby Budd
Posted by at 6:39 PM on July 29
*one in every two people living with HIV in the United States is black, the report notes*
And considering they are only 13% of the population, that is an astounding figure. But making them understand how significant that figure is, is almost impossible. They just don’t seem to grasp the concept of percentages. To this day, they say more whites are on welfare or are in prision. Many also don’t grasp the idea of personal responsiblity. Would be racemixers are literally gambling with their lives, to even consider being with these human time-bombs.
Posted by at 6:40 PM on July 29
I remember an East Indian emigré from South Africa telling me with a straight face that he expected to eventually move back to South Africa when all the blacks there died of AIDS.
Posted by Zorba_the_Geek at 6:43 PM on July 29
Unbelievable the lengths these articles go to to blame Whitey and avoid the reality that it’s down to black behaviour. How can it be OUR fault black women are 23 times more likely to catch it? Are they 23 times more likely to not know how you catch AIDS or 23 times more foolish than whites……..?
Posted by Human at 6:51 PM on July 29
What’s the surprise here? The CDC has reported just about the same thing for years. BUT THIS MUST BE RACISM, IT CAN’T BE TRUE, HOW HAS THE WHITE RACE CAUSED THIS? The answer is, as proven time after time but “not allowed to be said” in The Good Ole Free Speech U.S.A. that Free Speech thing doesn’t fully apply if you are white. If you haven’t figured that out yet, God help you. blacks are different than most other races, very different, but don’t say that out loud. They fill the jails in numbers beyond their population figures the same with failures in schools,and collections of welfare and other Special Hep they always demand. They seem to be willing to engage in sex with anything that has a entry port in it, girls, boys, other men, animals, and their number one pastime seems to be GITTIN IT ON DA DOWN LOW. What do you expect? They never seem to disapoint our low opinion of them. But Don’t Say It Outloud.. You don’t want to be racist do you?
Posted by Okay at 7:09 PM on July 29
That’s right, throw it back on the government to take responsibility for a lifestyle disease that’s 100% preventable.
Posted by at 7:30 PM on July 29
Reason No. 543 in a never ending series why whites should stay away from blacks. In fact, blacks should stay away from blacks.
Posted by at 7:41 PM on July 29
Recently I have been reading some self-help books such as Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or the book I have next to me now Miller’s QBQ! The Question behind the question. All these books stress personal accountability and how to escape the victim mindset.
As I am reading this material, I am starting to understand that popular black thought is as far away from personal accountability as one can be. AIDS and STDS in general should be the easiest problem in the world to fix. Simply quit having unprotected sex with strangers or sharing needles. Boom the problem is gone. Look how STD rates amongst whites has actually gone done, because whites are generally smart enough to understand this. I have read that today’s typical college student is generally more ‘socially conservative’ than those who have gone before them (60’s onwards). Fear of STDS, I am sure, has been one of the main reasons for curtailing of risky behavior, but in the black community it doesn’t seem to stop anyone.
““We understand the needs of black folk in Johannesburg (South Africa),” Wilson says. “Why can’t we understand the needs of them in Jackson, Mississippi? We understand the needs in Nigeria or Botswana, why not understand the needs of Los Angeles or Oakland?””
The needs of “black folk” is more morals and common sense. But back to personaly accountability… someone else is to blame and someone else has to fix the problem. As long as africans and their descendents continue wallow in their own self-pity and keep blaming everyone else for their problems they will never improve their lot.
Now just in case anyone is wondering why I am reading some books I have also been guilty of such thinking. As a racially aware white male I had the misfortune of going to middle school and high school where they had bussing. For a long time I blamed liberals and multi-cultist for ruining my life. I made myself a victim. Now I am starting to realize that while those situations sucked it was I who actually failed myself, because I reacted with my emotions and started blaming the system for my failure and having a pity-party. I was starting to think like a black person. Everything I did was a reaction to what others did to me. Now I am learning not to think like that and I can assure you that the world seems to be brighter everyday.
Posted by Hans Sachs at 7:49 PM on July 29
Geez, always extra effort to uplift blacks. Can’t they see that it’s not the system it is the population within the system. Why don’t they go to africa and uplift themselves and other africans? Just for once do something all by yourself, pleez?? If you are equal or better than other races shouldn’t you be able to?
Posted by realist at 7:58 PM on July 29
Right now, AIDS is most predominant among Africans and East Indians, the latter being an extension of Africans. (Most Indians are predominantly African. Although a handful of Brahmin in N. India have a few drops of Aryan blood, it is offset by significant African blood.)
Posted by William Davies at 8:27 PM on July 29
People who don’t believe they have a future will not care about Aids. They are living for the now, for every pleasure they can have today. The future is an abstract concept. Sort of like consequences!
Grobbbbbbbbb
Posted by Grob Hahn at 8:57 PM on July 29
How’s the old saying go….you play …you pay. The blacks only prove they will go to bed with anyone anywhere anytime…the AIDS originated in Africa….so what’s that say???? Also they say it came from monkies…so just what was going on in the “dark continent”????? Don’t expect us taxpayers to pay the tab…..like we do for everything for blacks, latino, illegals, muslims…anyone but the white people…we always get stuck for “their bad behaviour”!!
Posted by lydia at 8:58 PM on July 29
Black Achievement: Blacks are always at the forefront of everything negative and wrong with our country.
Jordan NYC
Posted by Jordan NYC at 9:01 PM on July 29
This is just one more black hoax to bilk us out of our hard-earned tax money. We need to stop all aid for AIDS. No more aid for AIDS!
Posted by at 9:15 PM on July 29
“…says the report, published by the Black AIDS Institute, an HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on African-Americans.”
Hey! I heard the same thing from the White AIDS Institute, an HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on White Americans. Their spokeswoman, the winner of the exclusively White Miss America Pageant, was saying as much on exclusively White Entertainment Television last night. She went on to say that we need to increase AIDS funding to exclusively White European countries and suggested that $43 Billion might do the trick. Did anyone else catch the show?
*sarcasm off*
Posted by Cop at 10:00 PM on July 29
Blacks will always blame the white man for every problem.
Posted by at 10:29 PM on July 29
Unless you’re a hemophiliac or a victim of a violent sexual assault or a lying partner, there’s little chance of contracting AIDS.
AIDS is a disease of foolish choices.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 10:33 PM on July 29
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him put on his galoshes.
Posted by White Anglo Saxon Proud at 10:38 PM on July 29
““America has claimed a leadership role in the fight against the global HIV epidemic,” said Wilson. “Yet, America’s failure to respond to its own epidemic among its Black citizens undermines its credibility in addressing AIDS epidemic worldwide. For the U.S. to truly be a global AIDS leader, it must put its own house in order, too.””
How about black americans putting their own houses in order. Aids can be prevented either by responsible sexual practices such as monogamy between two people, wearing a condom if you are not monogomous or abstinence. Also, by not sharing needles if you do drugs. It’s that simple. If black americans cleaned up their act and behaved responsibly, aids wouldn’t be a big problem. As usual though, the white people are blamed for black’s failures.
Posted by kc at 11:20 PM on July 29
.
If they’re left behind, a car-jacking has been avoided.
.
Posted by Mike Miller at 11:56 PM on July 29
Maybe if Black Americans would stop having unprotected sex with multiple partners then the problem wouldn’t be so bad. Lets take some responsibility for our own actions and lets not blame this one on White America like we blame all the other problems of the world.
Posted by Carl at 11:56 PM on July 29
“AIDS in America today is a black disease,” says Phill Wilson
I don’t understand this. Didn’t blacks get the memo that everyone else, including gays, seem to have gotten, that AIDS is spread by promiscuous sex? Why do blacks once again need special education to learn the lesson that over a quarter century of hard experience has taught everyone else?
It also urges black communities in the United States to fight the stigma and overcome prejudice associated with being infected with HIV.
Ah, I think here we have a partial explanation for the problem. It seems to me that a certain stigma surrounding AIDS is one of the necessary ingredients to keep it from being spread. But idiots like this will do their best to eliminate the most effective preventative for AIDS that exists.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 12:11 AM on July 30
If you all haven’t figured out by now…
1) there’s no such thing as god
2) We’re all animals, like cats and dogs and bacteria
3) We all follow the laws of nature
4) the most important law of nature is “evolution”
5) “survival of the fittest” is the most important componant to evolution
6) Blacks are the weaker race and will find ways to kill themselves off
7) There’s nothing anyone can do about it, it’s like trying to stop the world from rotating, it’s gonna happen
Posted by Korean at 12:14 AM on July 30
I wonder if all the white girls and women out there who decided to “go black” because white guys weren’t good enough for them are thinking twice about their decisions…
(and I single out women because WF/BM is the single most frequent interracial couple I see in this country)
Posted by Stone Greaser at 12:43 AM on July 30
I wonder if black women are 23 times more likely to have a baby? I’m sure those figures would be of interest to even the most liberal of white women.
Personally, I think there’s a very good chance AIDS is a disease that was manufactured. I never really pegged it as designed to kill off black people. Maybe it is an evil scourge that can be blamed on whites though. After all, only whites are smart enough to invent things.
Posted by at 1:59 AM on July 30
The scientist J. Phillipe Rushton has had to withstand more odium, physical attacks, verbal insults, assaults, ostracism etc than virtually any other academic in history.
But yet, his research would have predicted precisely this pattern many years ago - if anyone cared to read it.
Posted by Kenelm Digby at 6:42 AM on July 30
Unfortunately evolution and fitness means leaving offspring, and not improving the genome. So these folks will die but not before leaving offspring with the same short-term/ opportunistic strategies their parents used. It’s oysters and elephants folks - this is why despite it all, Africa’s population continues to increase massively.
Oh, and intelligence is obviously not selected for, or smart guys would be as popular as sportsmen.
Posted by at 7:36 AM on July 30
No real surprise here. Blacks top the charts in ALL categories of STD’s. Why would African-American blacks be any different then their brethen in the ‘dark’ continent? Africans create African conditions everywhere they go. All STD’s are easily preventable, but black characteristics like promiscuity, poor-impulse control, desire for immediate gratification, personal irresponsibility make blacks very susceptible to what most people are smart enough to avoid. Articles like this should make some of those foolish White women out there more leery of getting down with the “bruthas”. If they bother to read it.
Posted by at 7:45 AM on July 30
From what I have seen of blacks.The women are no better than the men when it comes to promiscuous sex. They say that 37000 white women are raped each year by black men.I would love to find out how many black women are raped by black men.They should do a survey of blacks and see how many even know or care about catching a disease from unprotected sex.
I’m inclined to agree with you on the high level of promiscuity among black women, given how astoundingly high the HIV and STD rates are among them. I heard somewhere that 1 to 10 black women are raped every year by a white man.
Posted by at 8:11 AM on July 30
I always get irate when I read about these proposed solutions to AIDS. They always say they have to “remove the stigma”. Like how there is no more stigma against teen pregnancy? That helped?
Heck, a year or two ago, I started seeing advertisements on billboards, bus stations, TV, etc. advertising for a HIV/AIDS medicines, I forget the brand, but the ads were all over new york. All the ads showed a black guy out at a club and flirting with women. The slogan of the product was something like “live your life” or something like that, telling people AIDS isn’t a big deal and you can still go around being a playa and scoring with women. It is sickening. Why should the pharmaceutical companies care if go around spreading the disease—you make new customers for them.
AIDS should be highly stigmatized. I would say they should be treated as lepers, secluded from society in remote areas and children from a young age should be taught to avoid any contact with them.
Posted by AJ at 9:44 AM on July 30
I’ve said this since the 80’s and I’ll keep saying it; unless you were born with AIDS or have it given to you by a cheating spouse/lover, it is 100% the ‘victims’ responsiblity. AIDS is a behavioral disease. I’m sick of the AIDS victim card. When I lived in San Francisco, I would bump into AIDS ‘victims’ in bars all the time. They were always out partying because they were on social security. So much for being ‘disabled’.
Posted by Alucard at 9:44 AM on July 30
I often hear conflicting reports on the risk of having foreskin. I’ve heard that foreskin harbors HIV, I’ve also heard it prevents HIV. My Personal opinion is if having forskin is such a huge risk, why do males who have Hiv/AIDS tend to be mostly gay or bisexual.
Posted by at 10:29 AM on July 30
What I don’t understand about MSM rationale is why they can’t deduce that habits and lifestyle are the biggest indicators for success, especially in an ethnically diverse nation of equal opportunity. Let me give another example: the obsession with breast cancer chartities. Ridiculous because the biggest killer of women is heart disease, and two of the biggest indicators for risk of breast cancer are BMI and consumption of processed foods. Therefore, if one really wanted to help people with cancer, they would take on the food lobby, and try to change American lifestyle to a healthier and more active one. My point is that with a diverse population consistently getting the same diseases, genes are removed from the equation. It’s lifestyle (i.e. individual choices and responsibility).
— SuperDisgruntled.
Posted by at 11:05 AM on July 30
“AIDS remains the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34. It’s the second-leading cause of death in black men 35-44…”
The LEADING cause of death in black men 35-44 would be…let’s see, ah…homicide?
We can only hope that on some enlightened future day the continuous excuses and appeals on behalf of the vile and murderous black sub-culture will end, and society will instead direct its attention and wrath to exactly where it has always belonged - the black community.
Posted by Gary at 12:30 PM on July 30
I have a theory. I think the HIV/AIDS was first documented in blacks not in gays from San Francisco. This information is probably being suppressed to protect blacks from criticism and various other reasons. The disease very likely originated was there’s a large immigrant African population (Florida, New York?).
Posted by Ernie at 2:26 PM on July 30
(and I single out women because WF/BM is the single most frequent interracial couple I see in this country)
incorrect, it is actually asian female/white male
Posted by at 5:49 PM on July 30
“AIDS should be highly stigmatized. I would say they should be treated as lepers, secluded from society in remote areas and children from a young age should be taught to avoid any contact with them.”
Definitely they should have been quarantined. Millions and millions all over the globe right now would be glad if we had.
Posted by at 8:43 PM on July 30
Personally, I think there’s a very good chance AIDS is a disease that was manufactured. I never really pegged it as designed to kill black people. Maybe it is an evil scourge that can be blamed on white people though. After all, only whites are smart enough to invent things.
Well that is half of the black mind-set anyway. They are big on conspiracy theories, and love nothing more than pointing the finger of guilt at whites, for anything that hints of diabolical evil. And will say whites created diseases like AIDS in a lab, or can manipulate the climate to bring on hurricanes. But when it comes to great white contributions, such as the computer, cars, trains, planes etc… Or medical contributions like vaccines and so on, blacks will turn around, and say they were really black inventions. They return to their grand conpiracy theories, and accuse Whites of stealing their fame, and not paying the homage for it. They look for any excuse to give themselve false credit for anything good. And also look for any excuse to blame whites, for things they have to take responsiblity for, like the fact that so many of them are walking STD carriers, from lack of self-conrol. Most have the minds of overgrown children, plain and simple.
Posted by at 10:36 PM on July 30
AIDS the number one cause of death for black women between 25 and 34, and the number two cause of death for black men between 35-44.
Obviously, the number one cause for the males is murder, murdered by their own.
Meanwhile, black women are sleeping around with killers and downlow brothers. Murdering males, and disease carrying females. Ah! such a charming culture.
Posted by at 11:10 PM on July 30
CNN did a follow-up with this story and a Ms. Cohen explained it was poor awareness, gay stigma, and lack of money/funding and how we should spend the money here in the US, etc.
I noted that there was not one word about personal responsibility or that Blacks had anything to do with it…literally not one word.
It was a 100% blame game and that the taxpayer (typically Anglo) must pay MORE to FIX the problem. The odd part of the piece was that no where did it say people had a choice or option NOT to contract the disease, more that it was the Government’s job to STOP it for them before it overwhelmed them.
Posted by Rocket Mann at 2:14 AM on July 31
Let’s see if I understand. The Africans-in-America have worse
AIDS statistics than a number of dirt poor African countries.
Yet, if they were a nation, they’d be the 10th richest in the
world.
The 10th richest and they can’t take care of their own problems,
including AIDS.
Hum. Could it be…Genetics?
Posted by at 12:29 PM on July 31
I read an article recently, can’t remember just where: perhaps it was in the magazine “The Economist”, that scientific research reveals that the reason African blacks (and perhaps other blacks) contract AIDS at such a high rate, is that they have a particular gene which makes them more susceptible to the virus. In other words, blacks are, more than any other race, predisposed towards contracting AIDS. Add this to other problems of unwillingness to use condoms, ignorance, lack of education, the belief of some South Africans that raping young girls helps prevent disease in themselves, and you have a population well prepared to destroy itself.
Posted by WhiteIsAColor at 12:45 PM on July 31
(and I single out women because WF/BM is the single most frequent interracial couple I see in this country)
incorrect, it is actually asian female/white male
Incorrect? Maybe where YOU live.
Posted by at 6:39 PM on July 31
AIDS couldn’t have been manufactured. It has been traced back to the 1970s inside the USA, before we could do any serious DNA work. The other problem with AIDS being manufactured is that even if someone wanted to wipe out homosexuals, blacks and drug-users, why they would do it with HIV.
Posted by at 10:46 AM on August 1
Seriously, ever US citizen knows EXACTLY how HIV is spread. Every single person over the age of 12 who grew up here knows. We all know. I am so sick of hearing that the problem is ignorance and lack of education.
The problem is that despite all this knowledge, people go out and engage in risky behaviors anyway. There’s nothing anyone can do about that.
Additionally, none of these behaviors has changed in the last 20 years at all. The reason the HIV rates is going up amongst these people boils down to a simple mathematical inevitability. There is no rise in unprotected sex or promiscuity.
The only thing I am going to blame the government for is that they used unrealistic scare tactics about HIV in the 80s and 90s. They told everyone that basically all sexually active people were at an equal risk. This of course was not even close to being true.
And then the epidemic never came. Then people started to let their guard down because we all thought it was under control. The problem was that it was just slowly sneaking up in high risk groups. There’s nothing we can do about though. No amount of education or awareness is going to change these people’s behaviors not one bit. It’s just going to get worse and worse….
Posted by at 1:40 PM on August 1
There are many articles in Discover Magazine on the issue of rampant AIDS in Africa, which they feel is caused by the type of sexual contacts they have. It is mirrored here in the US. Multiple, frequent partnerships. It is their lifestyle, not lack of education, and that is why we spend more money in the third world countries, to teach them HOW they get it. That information is available here, for ALL citizens, they just don’t pay attention. The Latinos are having the same issues, so it merely is either lack of concern on their part because they are fixated on sexual encounters, or they don’t want to understand. Well, pay attention!! This has nothing to do with race, but the ability to read and comprehend, and take the consequences for your actions. Period.
Much of this can be blamed on the blantant sexual context and obsession of both black and latino cultures. Hip Hop, rap, Salsa, etc is all geared towards sexual content and display.
Our Society needs some toning down and return to good values.
Posted by sandy at 11:21 PM on August 1
I read recently that black women are 23 times more likely to be HIV positive than white women. And that more 64% of HIV positive women are black. Which is staggering, when you consider black women only make up about 7% of the female population.
The last thing anybody would have expected back in the 80’s was that the disease would shift from mostly gay white men, to straight black women. You would think this would stop them from engaging in high risk behavior, with high risk people. As in, down low black males, and drug users. But instead of encouraging blacks to be more cautious in that department. They are worrying about de-stigmatizing AIDS. Will making it more socially acceptable, make it any less deadly?
Posted by at 2:36 PM on August 2
I have been reading a news forum, where the subject of AIDS in the black community was the main topic. Few blacks even want to address the issue of AIDS. Most still insist it is a mostly “gay white male problem”. The rest complain that it is all whiteys fault for not providing a cure yet. Everything is about denial! Denying about how many bisexual males, exist in the black community. And denial of how equally promiscous the females are. They see no need to change their way of life, and instead want to blame whites for creating the disease, or blame them for not curing it.
Posted by at 8:53 PM on August 3
I can’t help but remember the time in the early 1980s when US blacks thought HIV was pretty funny, since at the time it was considered a gay white disease (and to their minds, the only thing worse than being white is being gay and white). How amusing, I wonder, does it seem now?
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:44 PM on August 3
This article shows how many blacks believe those conspiracy theories concerning AIDS. Taking personal responsiblity for their own actions, and their own safety, does not appear to enter into the equation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33695-2005Jan24.html
Posted by at 11:20 AM on August 4