Ain’t I a Man

Abstract

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are over one million persons living with HIV/AIDS in this country. Almost half (49 percent) of these are blacks, who contract this disease at a rate seven times higher than whites. Among blacks with HIV/AIDS, 48 percent report male-to-male sexual behaviors, making this the predominant risk factor.¹ For more than 25 years, public discourse throughout this country has stressed prevention through protection. One must ask, then, what happened for a disease that has decreased within other groups to have remained so disproportionately devastating among blacks? Culturally, blacks are not known for willingly flirting with danger. We are, after all, the ones who scream, “Don’t go in there!,” knowing the killer always lurks behind the door. We instinctively know to hit the floor when shots are fired rather than raise our heads to find the smoking gun.