I was watching Primetime last week and they were talking about "AIDS in the Black Community". By the time the show ended I was ticked off.
It's a known fact that despite the fact that Blacks are only 13% of the population, they account for 50% of infected persons in the whole country.
Whenever people talk about AIDS it's always seen as an 'African disease'. Celebs pack their LV bags, get on a private jet and then come over to the supposed "black continent" and tell us to use protection bla bla bla and then come back to their mansions feeling like they have done their duty to mankind- (brownie points with God?!, dunno.)
It was quite interesting to see how very little leaders in this country know about AIDS in their own back yard (Vice-president included).
What was sad in the documentary is how Black men have become such misogynists. The most infected and affected people are young black women between the ages of 25-45.
Why are they getting infected at such a higher rate? Well one of the reasons offered ,apart from using tainted drug needles, was heterosexual relations with men who were are practicing the down-low lifestyle.
They interviewed several men who are gay, bisexual and straight. One of them said that he knew that he had AIDS as a result of his gay lifestyle but still went ahead and infected his wife of 16 years, who had no knowledge of his status. He said that she was so mad at him after she found out that she refused to take medication.
There were other several sad stories with the same theme: Women infected by their husbands and boyfriends who engaged in alternative lifestyles.
I know that there are several things that are against the black man in America: black on black violence that has gotten out of hand, unemployment,imprisonment,lack of education, etc.
But you would think that will all these things against him, black men would at least be honest about their sexuality. I know most guys say that carrying a condom to go have sex with another guy is admitting to yourself that you are gay, so they would rather put themselves (and their families) in harms way by having unprotected sex. What rubbish?!!
What's frightening is that you now can't tell who is gay or on the down-low. People think that the typical gay man is the flaming queen, over-accessorised, probably wearing a overly tight cut-up shirt while rolling his eyes at you saying:"Girl, that dress is fierce honey." Nope. Those are the ones who are free with their sexuality and have already come out of the closet. Plenty of closet gays range from your local mechanic, bankers to highly paid rappers, movie-stars and athletes in every genre of sports...
I know that women also have to be proactive: getting tested, using protection. But I have seen chicks dropped their panties at the drop of a hat for a certain guy who has been eyeing them for a while. Even worse, for musicians and pro-ballers just because they got passes to the V-I-P section in a club and were kickin' it with them. Yes those people have a very larger than life presence about them but, do you know where or who's been with from the last town?! Style-up ladies! He may be all that and a bag but, once you get infected (and it doesn't have to be H-I-V), he is definitely not going to be there with you "kickin' it" talking about taking meds.
My stand on this is that you are responsible for your own well-being. You can't trust anybody within or without your life. People are becoming more and more wicked by the day. Plus the usual get tested regularly, use protection and be honest with the one you share your bed with.
It's not just an African Problem as certain people would have you believe, it's a global issue. It's time we stopped being quiet about this disease and openly talked about it. I know as Africans, we shun talking about anything pertaining to sex and that's why it's killing more and more of our people.
How many of us are honest enough to reveal our status to our partners or even go and get tested together?
Quit sweeping everything under the rug and saying that it's a disease for gays and prostitutes, coz it ain't.
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2 comments:
I watched the same special and even blogged about it on Friday. I was appauled that leaders have no clue as to how rampant this disease is.
These leaders, talk about heads burried in the sand. I believe if it was affecting whites as much as it is blacks the respond would be totally different.
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