Commentary, Deoliver47, Black Kos Editor
Denial is not a river in Egypt and AIDS is a problem we can’t sleep on.
We have got to stop denying we have a problem – with HIV/AIDS. AIDS is not a gay disease. AIDS is not a straight disease. AIDS is just a disease that is killing more black people in this country than folks want to think about – yet we still have folks that don’t want to talk about sex and multiple sex partners, don’t want to talk about homosexuality, don’t want to talk about intravenous drug use.
Our government has, up until recently mostly ignored AIDS in black and latino communities. World AIDS conferences aren’t held here; we’ve been boycotted because of the stupid travel ban restricting anyone who is HIV poz or who has an AIDS diagnosis from entering the US. Thankfully President Obama has lifted the ban, and the CDC has just recently funded The Black AIDS Institutes new initiative:
Black AIDS Institute Receives Long-Term Funding from CDC for African American HIV University (AAHU)
Founded in May of 1999, the Black AIDS Institute is the only national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on Black people. The Institute's Mission is to stop the AIDS pandemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black institutions and individuals in efforts to confront HIV. The Institute interprets public and private sector HIV policies, conducts trainings, offers technical assistance, disseminates information and provides advocacy from a uniquely and unapologetically Black point of view.
One? Only one? We need more than one major think tank to deal with this.
Let's look at the facts from the CDC
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in African American communities is a continuing public health crisis for the United States. At the end of 2006 there were an estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV infection, of which almost half (46%) were black/African American [1]. While blacks represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, they continue to account for a higher proportion of cases at all stages of HIV/AIDS—from infection with HIV to death with AIDS—compared with members of other races and ethnicities.
So how, and why is this happening and what are we going to do about it?
I have been working in the AIDS community, as an activist, since GRID.
I went back to school to become a medical anthropologist because my neighbors, friends, relatives and lovers were dying and I wanted some answers. I protested in front of Harlem churches whose pastors shut their doors, put their hands over their eyes, closed their ears, and refused to listen.
They were in De-nial.
I did guerrilla needle exchange.
It was illegal. The city government was in De-Nial.
I joined ACT-UP, as a part of the women's caucus, because the medical establishment was in De-nial. I am grateful to have met Maxine Wolfe. Women weren't included in clinical trials, because straight women didn't have AIDS. Lesbians weren't at risk.
Yeah, right.
But those of us who were not in denial, took to the streets and made demands. We also began to educate folks, sometimes door-to-door.
But the efforts made in black and other communities of color were underfunded and overlooked.
SILENCE = DEATH.
And so we continued to die. Oh, there were successes, and high profile efforts to raise AIDS awareness, and there is now treatment available. But the infection rates in our community continue to skyrocket.
Let's look at a recent article from San Francisco:
Research Shows Neighborhoods Where AIDS Treatments Lag
San Francisco has more than 15,000 reported cases of H.I.V./AIDS. Those numbers continue to rise. The new findings show that the sickest individuals tend to be African-American, homeless and transgender. The viral loads of African-Americans are about one-third higher than that of Latinos or whites. "One of the biggest tragedies is our failure to really deal with this in the African-American community," said Dr. Paul Volberding, a professor and vice chairman of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School, who treated patients before the disease even had a name.
The results of the mapping were not surprising to James Loyce, executive director of Black Coalition on AIDS in San Francisco. "This scientific evidence supports the community’s notion," Mr. Loyce said. Historically, he said, sections like Potrero Hill have felt "benign neglect," suspecting that services were geared to the Castro, where more H.I.V.-infected people in the city live.
Mr. Loyce said, "There is no sound-bite answer." The sickest people of color, he said, have many issues: violence, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and the preceived stigma of homosexuality. "It’s not that it isn’t there," Mr. Loyce said, "but the belief system is that it isn’t. On Third Street, if you approach young brothers to talk about H.I.V., it will be a short conversation."
Moving to the East, let's look at the epicenter of Black AIDS, our Nation's Capitol, the "Chocolate City with the Vanilla Suburbs". The Washington Post just did a series of articles on the squandering of sorely needed AIDS monies:
Staggering need, striking neglect
In a city ravaged by the highest rate of AIDS cases in the nation, the D.C. Health Department paid millions to nonprofit groups that delivered substandard services or failed to account for any work at all, even as sick people searched for care or died waiting.
Washington DC is a colony. This is what happens to colonized folks.
More than 15,000 people have HIV or AIDS in the District, 3 percent of the population older than 12. For black men, the rate is more than double, at 6.5 percent -- one of every 15 people.
The disease has spread so fast, to every corner of the capital, that health officials call it a "modern epidemic." The District's AIDS rate is higher than that of some countries in West Africa.
Twenty-five years ago, the District was on the forefront of the fight against the disease. City leaders created a government-funded AIDS office and began to pour tens of millions of dollars into a network of local groups that promised critical frontline support.
Early on, the District focused on white gay men in more affluent areas. In recent years, however, city officials have pushed to support community-based groups in poorer neighborhoods that had traditionally been underserved by AIDS agencies.
Read the rest of the article and weep.
So, let’s get real. It took concerted action from women in ACT-UP to even get the rules changed for women, who were allowed to die, unable to access treatment because they weren’t given an "AIDS" diagnosis.
It took more pushing of agencies that did get funded to even accept clients who admitted to IV drug use. How do I know? I was there – beating on the doors and dragging my clients to agencies that didn’t want to deal with them.
As long as folks could sit on their assets and comfortably ignore folks of color with AIDS, and as long as folks in MY damn community could go to sleep soundly and securely feeling "they were not at risk", cause "they were not gay" or "they didn’t shoot drugs", WE were in denial and part of the problem.
When the reports surfaced about the alarming rise of HIV in black women, we were quick to find somebody to blame. The new group to be blamed was "brothers on the DL, the down low". But recent studies belie that assertion.
Listen to this recent NPR program:
Myth: HIV/AIDS Rate Among Black Women Traced To 'Down Low' Black Men
The rate of HIV and AIDS in the Black Community is startling. African-Americans, who only make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, account for nearly half of those living with HIV. More specifically, black women represent 61 percent of the new HIV cases among all women. The popular suspicion has been that many infected black women have contracted the virus from their black male companions, who secretly have sex with other men (also known as the "down low"). But a new study shows that correlation is flawed. Dr. Kevin Fenton, of the Centers for Disease Control, explains the misconception and talks about prevention.
The most important part of the interview with Dr Fenton is this segment:
Dr. FENTON: You know, I'm so glad you raised that. Incarceration is certainly one of the topics and areas that we're particularly focused on at CDC to better understand both the disproportionate impact of this factor on the black community and how it facilitates HIV transmission.
And there are a few things that we do know. First of all, although there is HIV transmission ongoing in prisons, it's not at high a level as had been previously thought. And what we actually believe is occurring is that there are a number of HIV-infected individuals who become incarcerated. So HIV goes from the community into the prison sector. There may be some onward transmission in prison.
But the real factor that occurs is on release from prison, people who are at high risk or HIV infected reenter communities, form new sexual partnerships and that's where the potential for onward transmission of HIV occurs. Incarceration also has another key effect on the community, and that is by removing eligible African-American males from the community.
It means that African-American women who are looking for African-American male partners have fewer choices in their sexual partnerships and relationships and may be forced into relationships where they have multiple partners or males who will have multiple female partners, etc. Or those women may not be able to negotiate safer sex and protected behaviors because of fear of losing eligible male partners in the community. So it's a very complex set of and series of factors which we observed with incarceration and the community transmission of HIV.
Let me break that down.
When I lived in DC there were about 11 single sisters to every guy. You can check out this pattern across America – but when you lock up a huge proportion of males in any community, it leaves women with few choices, and not all of them are good ones. And when there is that much competition for available brothers, the "playa" syndrome sets in. Men who have multiple sex partners.
White women don’t have this imbalance. Hence they have more choices – plain and simple.
I will reserve judgment on the CDC report, since as a long time interviewer of men and women who are HIV poz I am well aware of informants who are less than honest about behavior. But the report does point to a major problem in our community...prisons, the Criminal Injustice system and the War on Drugs, which does next to nothing to stop drug use or get treatment for addicts.
Add onto that the denial syndrome and we got trouble my friends, right here in the big cities...
Churches are part of the problem as well. And yes – homophobia, but as the recent vote in Maine proved, that’s a national disorder; not limited to any one ethnic group or religious. But since I’m talkin’ bout black folks, it’s important that we pay closer attention to the efforts being made to address these issues.
A good start is the full length film: Standing-n-Truth
Standing-n-Truth: Breaking the Silence weaves the personal narrative of African American men, women and children in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, transcending differences of sexuality, class, and gender. The voice of one man (Tim Daniels) allows others, who have been silenced, ostracized, and discouraged, to reflect on their own personal stories, while emphatically and empathetically constructing and integrating strategies for reducing individual and collective stigma. An array of the following popular-opinion leaders share intimate experiences of stigma, shame, and silence.
Breaking the silence, by the ignored and those they are ignored by is not easy. But we have to make a start. This is not a local problem, or just a national problem, we are all aware that AIDS is a pandemic at this point. Other nations are faced with similar issues and are making attempts to address community denial. South Africa has just instituted a program to reach out to men:
South Africa tries to enlist men in AIDS battle
JOHANNESBURG — "There is a new man in South Africa," proclaims a new ad splashed across South African media, aiming to transform ideas about sexuality and to enlist the nation's men in the fight against AIDS. This new South African man's "self worth is not determined by the number of women he can have." He "makes no excuse for unprotected sex" and "respects his woman", the ad reads.
The image of a hard-drinking, fearless seducer still holds powerful appeal for many South African men, posing a major problem to stopping AIDS in a country where 5.7 million of the 48 million population have HIV. Until now, most AIDS schemes have centred on health centres, which are used mainly by women. "It is hard to go to a clinic and acknowledge your vulnerability as a man," said Dean Peacock, coordinator at Sonke Gender Justice Network, one of the groups working to engage men.
But men still hold the upper hand in sexual relations, so the "Brothers for Life" campaign aims to convince men to use condoms while also improving their access to treatment. Currently, women account for three quarters of the HIV tests conducted in South Africa, and two thirds of the anti-retroviral drugs dispensed. What's more, men tend to seek treatment later than women, when their immune systems are already weakened.
"Brothers For Life"
I did a "news google" this morning of H1N1 and got over 5,000 hits. Got 36 for HIV, and 15 for Black or African-American AIDS.
Once again the perils facing our people are a footnote.
Denial may not be a river in Egypt, but it is certainly a river of death and destruction for those of us grappling with it.
Influenza was once termed "The Black Death".
For us, the Black Death is AIDS.
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News and Events by Amazing Grace, Black Kos Editor
Kenya's street teens struggle to survive
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- On a wet dawn in Nairobi, Kenya, Joan stands on a grubby patch of concrete she calls home. As shopkeepers tear open their iron shutters to start their day, she gingerly touches her bruised face with her fingertips. Even for a hardened street teenager like Joan it's been a rough night. "Living in the streets, especially if you are a girl, is very risky," says Joan, age 19. "You can be raped any day, any time, by anyone who wants to do it."
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Racial legacy that haunts Brazil
There are few Brazilian cities as steeped in their African heritage as Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia. This was, after all, the first colonial capital of Brazil, and the point of entry for many of the millions of slaves who were brought into South America's largest country.
Around 80% of the population is said to be of black African ancestry, a legacy that can be found in food, music and culture. The religion of Candomble, which has its origins in Africa, still thrives in the city.
In Our Lifetime
Last Nov. 5, we were in the wake of celebrating the election of the first black president of the United States. The Root's editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr., penned a narrative about this "new dawn of American leadership." ... A new dawn of American leadership is at hand. President-elect Barack Obama.
We have all heard stories about those few magical transformative moments in African-American history, extraordinary ritual occasions through which the geographically and socially diverse black community—a nation within a nation, really—molds itself into one united body, determined to achieve one great social purpose and to bear witness to the process by which this grand achievement occurs.
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Obama pledge to Native Americans
US President Barack Obama has vowed not to forget American Indian tribes, as representatives gathered for a White House conference on native issues. The first annual White House Tribal Nations Conference brings together one delegate from each of the 564 federally recognised American Indian tribes. It is the first time in US history that they will all meet a sitting president.
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Valerie Jarrett balances roles of friend, official adviser to Obama
Washington (CNN) -- Valerie Jarrett does not like to talk about herself.
I know this because we've sat down on numerous occasions for interviews, going back to the early days of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But this one was perhaps the most challenging because the focus was on her. She is fiercely loyal to Obama, as one of his closest friends. But she also advises him as president, with the title of Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison. The ultimate insider does not spill the beans. But doing a series on the power players inside the White House would not be complete without looking at Jarrett's role. She has called her relationship with the president a "mind meld."
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Racism without racists
Rich Benjamin spent two years traveling through white America and discovered a country filled with kind and endearing white individuals. In his book "Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America," published by Hyperion in October, Benjamin reveals that he also found something else: a legacy of racial segregation and division resulting from habits, policies, and institutions that don't explicitly discriminate. In the following contribution, Benjamin, a senior fellow at Demos, a nonpartisan think tank, describes the nature of structural racism.
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Someone’s in the Kitchen With Michelle: The Secret Ingredient Is Politics
In a collision of politics, cooking and popular culture, Michelle Obama will reveal the secret ingredient that the chefs must use in their televised cook-off: anything that grows in the White House garden (no further spoilers here, though). Mrs. Obama will also talk about her crusade to reduce childhood obesity through better school lunches, community gardens, farmers’ markets and exercise, which around the White House has the working title Healthy Kids Initiative.
10 Books That Didn't Get 'The Treatment'
Here are 10 books on race that should be more widely read. Some of them got something like "the treatment"—but haven’t taken their place as fundamental sources in the way that they should. If I ever taught a course on black issues, these would all be on the syllabus.
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The Black Matriarch as Villain
Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is the shining star of her own imagination in the new movie Precious, which hits theaters nationwide on November 6. Surrounded by bright lights and flashing cameras, she’s a magazine cover model with dreams of being in music videos and having a light-skinned love interest. The only thing she has to overcome are her circumstances—and boy, are there plenty of hurdles ahead of her. The recipe is familiar: Start with an unfailingly tragic character, pile on the hardships, throw a few famous names on the credits, then sit back and watch the Oscar nominations roll in. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire could have been just another one film championing the underdog, but the powerful performances and unabashedly raw storytelling saves it from falling through the cracks.
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"Five Amazing Thing’s to Know"
The Week of November 10, 2009
TV- Thug Angel/Tupac Shakur, Friday, November 13, TVONE 8:00 pm EST, for more information...
Theatre-Race, David Mamet, preview Monday, November 16, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NY, NY. For ticket information...
Books- Zadie Smith- Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays,available November 12. For more information...
DVD’s- American Violet, available now. For more information...
CD’s – Melanie Fiona-The Bridge,available November 10. For review...
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This Week in History
November 9
Born:
Benjamin Banneker, inventor, surveyor, mathematician, astronomer, Baltimore County, MD, 1731.
Dorothy Dandridge, actress, film star, Cleveland, OH, 1922.
Passed on:
William Levi Dawson the first Black Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and the first Black Congressman to chair a standing Congressional Committee, died at age 84 in 1970.
History:
Howard University Medical School opened with eight students, 1868
William Monroe Trotter founded The Boston Guardian, 1901
Paul Robeson, made his film debut in Oscar Micheaux's film, Body and Soul, 1925
November 10
Born:
Russell Means, co-founder of AIM (American Indian Movement) activist, actor, 1939, Pine Ridge, SD
Passed on:
Miriam Makeba, South African singer and anti-apartheid activist (b. 1932), 2008
Carmen McRae[Clark], US jazz singer/pianist, 1994
Augustus F. Hawkins, American politician and civil rights lawmaker (b. 1907),2007
History:
Race riot in Wilmington NC (8 blacks killed), 1898
Granville T. Woods, inventor, patented the Electric Railway, 1891.
November 11
Born:
LaVern Baker, R&B singer, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois.
Passed on:
Nat Turner, revolutionary freedom-fighter and leader of a slave revolt, hanged, in Jerusalem, VA, 1831.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., ("Daddy King") civil rights leader and father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1984.
John Rosamond Johnson, actor and co-composer of "Lift Every Voice and Sing,"(aka The Negro National Anthem) died in New York City. John Rosamund wrote the music and his brother, James Weldon, wrote the lyrics.
History:
Angola was proclaimed independent in 1975
A new constitution with a "grandfather clause" was adopted in Alabama 1901. The clause, designed to eliminate Black voters, passed with a vote of 108,613 to 81,734. In 1900, Alabama had 181,315 Black and 232,821 white eligible voters.
November 12
Born:
Idris Muhammad, American jazz drummer, 1939
Passed on:
Chester Himes, author (b. 1909),1984
History:
General George Washington forbids recruitment of blacks, 1775
Madame Lillian Evanti, opera singer, founded the National Negro Opera Company, 1941
Ernest Nathan "Dutch" Morial was elected as the first Black mayor of New Orleans, LA, 1977
November 13
Born:
Whoopi Goldberg, [Caryn Johnson] actress,comedienne, 1955 NYC
Justine "Baby" Washington, r&b singer, 1940
History:
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, educator and heart surgeon, became a member of the American College of Surgeons in 1913.
The Supreme Court ruled, in 1940 (Hansberry v. Lee), that Blacks cannot be barred from white neighborhoods. Carl Hansberry, Lorraine Hansberry's father, was seeking to move into a white neighborhood.
The Supreme Court ruled, in 1957, that Alabama's laws allowing segregation on buses (particularly those in Birmingham) were unconstitutional.
Carl B. Stokes was inaugurated mayor of Cleveland, OH, in 1967. Stokes was the first Black mayor of a major American city.
November 14
Born:
Condoleezza Rice, politician, first black Secretary of State.
Passed on:
Booker T. Washington, educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute, in Tuskegee, AL, 1915.
History:
The first Black dental organization, the Washington Society of Colored Dentists, was founded in Washington, DC, 1900.
The NAACP spearheaded protests against the showing of the racist film, Birth of a Nation, in 1915.
William Levi Dawson's Symphony No. 1 "Negro Folk Symphony" was the first symphony written by a Black composer to be performed by a major orchestra. 1934.
November 15
Born:
Clyde McPhatter, Durham, NC, 1932. R&B singer, and lead singer for The Drifters.
Passed on:
Stokely Carmichael, American civil rights activist (b. 1941) 1998
John Mercer Langston, Virginia's first Black Congressman, 1897.
History:
Granville T. Woods, inventor, patented the Synchronous Multiplier Railway Telegraph in 1887.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founded Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing in 1894.
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Front Porch Music in memory of Miriam and Carmen.
Pull up a chair, and join us.