This Thursday, February 7th is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. We all know about practicing safe sex and HIV testing but let’s talk about what is happening for real in our community and why some of us are sitting back and doing nothing. AIDS is affecting the African American community HARDER than any other community but yet we remain silent. Maybe some of us are waiting for someone else to come and correct the problem happening in our very own backyard and when I say backyard I am talking about our own communities right here in the United States of America.
There are more than 1 million people living with HIV in the United States of America today, and almost half are black. African Americans only represent 13 percent of the US population but almost 50 percent of all new HIV/AIDS diagnosis. I will admit that much of the problem in the early years was the American media’s portrayal of AIDS as a white gay man’s disease. Black Americans were given few reasons to believe that AIDS could affect them and that it was something to worry about. Well now that I have your attention let me say AIDS is something every African American should be worried about and talking about. Yes AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was, I was not supposed to live past the age of five but I am now 27. However, please know living with AIDS is manageable but it’s still a life sentence. Too often African Americans are not being tested for HIV/AIDS. Too many find out their status when they are in the late stages of AIDS and it’s too late for medication to be effective. This is why 18,000 people still die every year from AIDS. It is crucial to know your status early and once you know your status to take charge of your health and get treatment. 
I will say that stigma is one of the very reasons we don’t discuss AIDS, we don’t get tested and we don’t seek treatment. AIDS is still looked at as a dirty person’s disease but please know that many who contracted AIDS were in a committed relationship with a partner they trusted and just didn’t think to ask for an HIV test because it wasn’t their problem. It’s clear that many of us are not talking about HIV/AIDS because we assume it’s someone else’s job to bring up this touchy subject. Parents believe the schools are talking to their children about sex and AIDS and the schools believe it’s the parent’s job or that the churches are covering the subject.
Many churches won’t touch the subject of HIV/AIDS because they believe it brings up issues of homosexuality to which I have this to say: The H in HIV stands for HUMAN. If it is your job to serve and guide those in the community, you should know that this is one of the biggest issues at hand right now! We are not asking those in the church to change their beliefs or teachings but as an AIDS activist I will say our community is in trouble. A church could do a simple health fair where HIV testing is available with no questions asked and no judgments made. You could maybe have an HIV positive speaker come to your church to share their story as a warning as to what could happen if people are not safe and do not make wise sexual choices.
To the parents, it is your job to have the uncomfortable talk with your children about sex. If you don’t have the conversation, the reality is you may have to watch your child die because you didn’t tell them about AIDS. This younger generation does not know the reality of the situation; they do not see people walking around looking like death as those of us who grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s have seen. People are not dropping like flies. Now people can go as long as 10 years without showing any major symptoms of having AIDS. I need my community to wake up and understand we are in trouble when it comes to HIV/AIDS. The numbers are out of control.
With National Black HIV/AIDS awareness Day falling during the month of February, which is also Black History month, I say this:
What if Rosa Parks never refused to give up her seat?
What if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr never marched?
This is our time to step up and come together to fight and bring awareness to this disease.
One thing I can say we should learn from the white gay community in the early 80’s when the epidemic first took off is how they worked TOGETHER to save their own. We cannot wait for anyone to come and save our community, this is our job! We are responsible for the choices we make and I challenge everyone to be accountable……….Every 9 ½ minutes, someone becomes infected with HIV. Knowing your HIV status is not only a representation of self-love but also states what type of person you choose to be. Not knowing your HIV status and having unsafe sexual relationships means you could possibly be infecting others.
Early diagnosis can be the difference between life and death; too many people become aware of their status when it is too late for life-saving medications to be effective.
I have said this time and time again, I am in this fight because I truly do not want others to go through what I have gone through but also keep in mind, a positive test result doesn’t have to mean a death sentence if you get treatment early!
For more information or to find a testing center near you please visit www.HydeiaBroadbent.com
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