A health educator for seven years, Joe Smith*, never thought he would get AIDS. “I messed up,” he said, explaining that it was just a one-time mistake. His mistake is one of the many factors that contribute to the high infection rates among black men.
Today AIDS is the third largest killer of black men, despite being dubbed a homosexual white male disease in the 1980s. Although basketball star Magic Johnson attempted to tackle the issue of AIDS in 1991 when he contracted it, it wasn’t until the 1999 National Conference on African-Americans and AIDS, that it was addressed as a black issue.
According to the Henry J Kaiser HIV/AIDS policy fact sheet and the Alameda County Public Health Department, when AIDS was first discovered in the Bay Area in 1981, 100 percent of its victims were white. By the year 2000 only 27 percent of those diagnosed with AIDS were white. As the rate of AIDS is decreasing among whites, the same cannot be said for the black community. In 1985, only 25 percent of those diagnosed with AIDS were black. As of 2000, that number rose to 49 percent.
Limited access to healthcare, and the use of intravenous drugs are two prominent reasons why blacks are more susceptible to AIDS, said Andre Robertson, program director of the Black Coalition on AIDS (BCA). He stresses cultural institutions as one of the main reasons that AIDS continues to flourish in Black communities. “Many [churches] in the African American communities are not open to sexuality, and that has fueled HIV,” Robertson said.
Because of the stigma against HIV in the black community, black males are often in denial of their positive status. The health educator, who has been HIV-positive for three years, admits to being in denial the first year.
“I kept testing myself over and over, praying God would change it, knowing that I was positive,” he said.
The large amount of incarcerated black males also plays a hand in high infection rates. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more black males are in jail than college.
“The in-and-out prison system,” as Robertson calls it, is a leading factor in the spread of AIDS from within the prison system into the outside world, aided by the stigma of using condoms. The center for AIDS Prevention Studies states that most jails do not even allow the possession of condoms.
“People look at you like ‘What’s the matter with you?’ when you use condoms,” says Robertson. Although various organizations, such as The Black Television’s Wrap It Up Program, have taken a stab at removing the stigma around condoms, Robertson states programs like these should have been around a long time ago.
“There were no culturally competent services for African American men with AIDS,” stated Robertson. Founded in 1986, BCA serves black people in dealing with and preventing further AIDS infections.
“San Francisco is seen as the gay Mecca, but it’s more receptive to whites,” said Robertson, “[Blacks] have to deal with racism in the white gay community and harassment in the African America community.”
BCA is the support for gay blacks who can’t find help or acceptance in mainstream organizations or their own community. One of their programs, Many Men Many Voices, tackles the issue of identity with HIV positive black gay men, explained Robertson.
But even with all the negative connotations surrounding AIDS, Smith said, “It’s not a death sentence,” stating that he is perfectly healthy without any medications. “I just want to let everybody know, anybody can get this virus [and] no one is exempt. I was doing [health education with AIDS] and it ended up happening to me,” he said. “People make mistakes. Don’t judge.”
