Tag Archives: Poverty

Silence Still Equals Death

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We tend to become emotionally involved when something is personal. The loss of friends and loved ones to HIV/AIDS over the course of thirty years produced a perpetual cycle of loss, pain and goodbyes.  It was the start of my emotional involvement and decision to speak up and do something.

I can’t address the scientific similarities between HIV and COVID-19, but I do know that both had and continue to have a devastating impact on the Black community in this country.

Black people represent 12% of the U.S. population, but account for a much larger share of HIV diagnoses (43%), people estimated to be living with HIV disease (42%), and deaths among people with HIV (44%) than any other racial/ethnic group in the U.S.  Similarly, Black people in the U.S. are infected with COVID-19 at nearly three times the rate of White Americans.

Poverty, the lack of access to health care, the lack of awareness and stigma all contribute to the devastation brought on by both diseases.

The bigger culprits are ignorance, indifference, and silence.  Far too many of us are guilty.  The production of COVID-19 vaccines provides optimism and hope. But in this moment, we need more than hope.  We can no longer be silent.  We have to speak up, friends. We have to do something to help each other combat the devastation.  We have an opportunity to increase COVID-19 and HIV education, testing, community involvement and treatment in communities of color – simply put, Silence = Death.

 

The Other Threat to Men of Color

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iStock_000000403827LargeImprisonment and gun violence are the threats to the lives of Black men that are most commonly discussed and reported…for valid reason.

Approximately 12–13% of the American population is African-American.  African-Americans make up 60% of the 2.1 million male inmates in jail or prison

According to a study from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, a young Black man is nearly five times more likely to be killed by a gun than a young White man. If a Black person is killed by a gun, it is judged a homicide 82 percent of the time. For the broad population, most gun deaths are ruled accidental or the result of suicide; only 34 percent of gun deaths are attributed to murder.

There is another threat.  Click here to learn more.

HIV is a pervasive threat that continues to spread rapidly.  Chief among the challenges that contribute to its spread are poverty, lack of access to health care, higher incidence of sexually transmitted infections, lack of awareness and stigma.

Unfortunately, HIV awareness and how people of color are disproportionately affected are not reported enough.  We are midst of a health crisis.  Education and information about the HIV epidemic is essential.