Know what you are talking about

I was recently asked if I felt that we, in the black community, could now decelerate our efforts to fight HIV due to so much progress with treatment. My answer, quite to the questioner’s surprise, was a resounding NO! Her question was predicated on the belief that the black community had previously issued a 'call to arms' and had mobilized, much like the LGBT community had in the 80's and 90's, to educate our community and advocate for more funding. It is downright depressing to think that the black community might be breathing a collective sigh of relief and backing off on whatever feeble efforts we are able to marshal, believing that we have won something. Has progress been made? Absolutely. Are we out of the woods yet? Absolutely not. Two recent reports have demonstrated that we still have a long way to go. While HIV has continued to wreak havoc on the black community (representing 44% of new HIV cases), the landscape is even bleaker for black gay and bisexual men in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one half of black MSM (men who have sex with men) “will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime” if current trends continue. To put this another way, if America’s black gay and bisexual men comprised a nation unto themselves, that nation would soon have the world’s highest rate of infection — twice as high as its closest rivals in Sub-Saharan Africa (CDC). If this isn't dire enough, the average survival time for African-Americans with AIDS is lower than for other racial or ethnic groups despite dozens of effective medications including a HIV prevention pill (PrEP). The main reason for this seems to be inconsistent treatment. From 2011 to 2013, only 38 percent of black HIV patients received consistent treatment, whereas about 50 percent of whites and Hispanics with the virus had continuous care (CDC's Feb. 4th Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report). This disparity is consistent with the statistics regarding viral suppression, which is the gold standard for HIV care. In general, it is understood that the lower the amount of HIV virus in one’s blood, the lower the risk of opportunistic infections and the greater the life expectancy. Only about 25 percent of people living with HIV in the United States have achieved viral suppression, with African Americans being the least likely to do so at a rate of 21% compared to 26% among Hispanics and 30% of whites. Additionally, the 25-34 age group (one of the hardest hit among black MSM) is the least likely to have achieved viral suppression compared to other age groups, with only 15 percent of individuals 25-34 reaching this goal. The causes for this include the usual suspects of poverty, substance abuse, lack of access to health care, homophobia, stigma, etc. But, and back to my original premise, I have NEVER seen a true sense of urgency in the black community about HIV/AIDS. Oh sure, the Congressional Black Caucus has successfully fought for more money to address HIV in black and brown communities. Many black churches, civic and fraternal organizations have stepped up, and even a few celebrities have raised their voices (as well as money) for and about this epidemic. Our President has even released comprehensive HIV strategies, with specific objectives and time-frames. Nevertheless, we continue to get caught up in stereotyping and conspiracy theories that undermine the severity and urgency of this issue. I cringe when I read statistics about the terrible impact in black gay and bisexual men, because I know that gives our community more 'cover,' enabling us to bask in the warm waves of the delusion that HIV/AIDS is someone else's problem. We can no more stop HIV infection by building imaginary walls between ourselves and people who, well, are not 'like us' (gays and bisexuals), as we can stop terrorism and immigration by building brick and mortar walls. There is no simple solution to this. But, for starters, I suggest that we take the time to learn more about it. Something I hear over and over in my conversations about HIV/AIDS is that people don’t realize ‘how bad it is,’ despite the wealth of information available. I can't help but think about the words of two truly different, yet wise, black men. Chris Rock tells us (and I paraphrase) that books are like Kryptonite to black folks, and if you want to hide something from us, put it in a book. On a more serious note, President Obama, speaking to the 2016 graduating class at Rutgers University, said that “ignorance is not a virtue…It's not cool to not know what you are talking about. That's not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That's not challenging political correctness. That's just not knowing what you are talking about." Before we start dismissing HIV as only a “gay disease” or believing that there’s this secret cure for rich people, open a book or a suitable internet page (try the CDC.gov for starters) and begin to know what you are talking about.