My Turn by Reverend Stacey S. Latimer

My Brothas it’s a new season, a new day, a time to unite in the fight for life, loving, and living. Brotherhood and manhood must be armed with the necessary tools (testing, education, and prevention) to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community. For too long HIV/AIDS has wreaked havoc on the lives of our young and old. As a community, our divisiveness and reluctance to face the realities that further exacerbate themselves against Black people, is a result of generations of cultural exploitation that continues to allow for our destruction. As we gaze over barren and desolate lands consumed by HIV/AIDS, we cannot help but feel the bleakness of our plight as we consider how this pandemic has affected our communities. Consider that:

One in fifty Black men are HIV positive;

The HIV/AIDS rate for African-American men in 2001 was eight times that of white men;

A CDC study of Job Corps entrants, ages sixteen to twenty-one, found that compared to their white counterparts, African-American men were four times more likely to be infected;

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-Americans ages twenty-five to forty-four.

It will take courage and heroism on the part of Black men to overcome the plight foreseen of our future as a community in terms of confronting HIV/AIDS. But we must know that our full involvement can change the course of the destiny of Black people as it pertains to survival. We must equip ourselves properly if we are to win this fight. Information regarding HIV/AIDS is continuously developing.  Changing old ideas we once believed to be true and bringing about new information that will better help us understand the disease is necessary. Factual understanding is essential to the victory.

As an eighteen-plus year survivor of an HIV-positive diagnosis, and working in advocacy on a national level, I’m a witness that a supportive environment can set the stage for preventative behavior. With the support of family and community, individuals—Black men specifically—can be motivated to change behavior that is harmful to their health. When man’s environment supports him, he can prepare to adopt preventative behavior, changing the old behavior.

I want to be clear on the fact that this united front is against HIV/AIDS. No one is requesting an agreement on theological views, sexuality issues and perceptions.  What is being asked here is a united understanding surrounding the facts and issues that predispose African-American men and their partners to HIV/AIDS infection, that we use available and proven resources to change the deep plight foreseen for us as a people.

Centuries of research and studies reveal that values, attitudes, social and spiritual beliefs strongly affect the way people view themselves and their social worlds. A part of culture, and not easily changed, these patterns of thinking color how people receive and respond to information. This has been, and is, true as well in HIV/AIDS education and prevention. There are proven strategies—culturally sensitive and relevant to the Black community—working within the populations across the nation that, if given an honest chance, will end the destructive path forged by the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

As a people, and as Black men, we must understand that the responsibility lies in our hands to be proactive in the fight. There is no excuse for a lack of accountability, individually or between each other. The man that does nothing has already made his choice to be part of the problem. Choose to respond! As we secure our parameters to defend our village from what is being called the “second wave” of AIDS, it is time that we acknowledge that we have the power to overcome together. Put our differences on the back burner for now as we unite to defend our lives.

As we maximize our efforts collectively as one race of men, let us recognize that there are factors other than stigma that have contributed to the lack of Black men’s response to HIV/AIDS education and prevention messages. The existing hegemony that dominates across every racial and ethnic line has polluted many of our perceptions as a people. The preoccupation that exists with Black sexuality as it pertains to the ruling power structures have been, and continue to be, about more than fascination and fear. Vilification of Black sexuality has enabled old power structures to maintain control over Black bodies, as well as uphold false notions of supremacy, continuing to influence our views of historical and cultural worth. This vilification of Blacks has perpetuated untruths about us causing continued divisions within our communities, families, among Black men, and the Black race.

In spite of the powers that consistently work to keep us separated, fragmented, and fighting and killing one another, now is the time for Black men across the nation to take a stand in the midst of an incredible opportunity to make a difference in the HIV/AIDS crisis, one that will sound the trumpet of victory as we empower one another through support and adoption of proven prevention methods and messages! I challenge each of you to choose to contribute to the worthy cause of life in the name of survival.

Why focus on the African-American Brotherhood? The high rate of infection warrants our immediate attention! Also cultural norms place men, of all races, in positions of social, economic, and political influence. Men who are armed with factual HIV/AIDS information and proven prevention methods will make a major difference in promoting a shift in the trend of this epidemic. Through our daily interactions within the village and marketplace, a universal response must become the answer to our cry. No more excuses, or reclining in a cesspool of denial. Lastly, statistics reveal that men, on average, tend to have more sex partners than women. This alone suggests possibilities of great significance.

Sexual activity is the number-one cause of high incidence rates of HIV transmission. Injection drug use is second. A successful united proactive approach from the Brotherhood shows great probabilities for a decline in incidence rates among Blacks.

We as proud Black men must embrace the concept of courage (the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of actions), and face realties of HIV/AIDS brother to brother, collectively, and as a community.

Fighting stigma and discrimination by arming ourselves through education is the first step in the process. Knowing your serostatus through HIV/AIDS testing is like “works” is to faith. Faith without works is dead! Testing is evidence of personal empowerment produced by an infusion of courage and knowledge gained through factual HIV/AIDS education. Taking the test allows you a greater authority over your life.

Adopting preventative behaviors is the second step. There must be increased abstinence, including delayed and considerably reduced levels of sexual activity by adults and youth; increased faithfulness and partner reduction behaviors; increased condom use by casual partners. This adoption is the product of a man whose love for life and family is of such abundance that there is an overflow into the community where he shares himself with the world around him.

My prayer is that every African-American man of valor across this nation, as a witness to show support in halting the proliferation of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community, will take part in taking on this challenge. Doing so acknowledges an agreement to be a part of the solution, ensures survival of the Black race, and exemplifies a show of pride and homage for the rich heritage and history grafted into our very being. A legacy unveiling men and women, just like you and I, who laid down their lives that we as a people might experience the degree of freedom now in our possession.

This message and challenge originates from the spirit of faith, hope, love, unity, and power. It’s a message to all Black men; whether his path has gained him a position on Capitol Hill, stars and stripes in the United States Armed Forces, a seat in the corporate boardroom, a cell in state or federal prison, homeless on the street, living with mama, or married with children.

In this effort, we must agree in action and deed, affirming that “brotherly love continues.” Together this call charges us to bond and join hearts in support of our brothers infected and affected by this pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Choose to express compassion! Let us proclaim anew in this moment, “I/We shall not be defeated!”

For more information, log on to:

Harm Reduction Coalition at  www.harmreduction.org;

The Balm In Gilead at www.balmingilead.org;

The National Association of People Living With AIDS at www.napwa.org;

The National Minority AIDS Council at www.nmac.org

Reverend Stacey S. Latimer is a Capacity Building Assistance Specialist for The African American Capacity Building Initiative, a program of the Harm Reduction Coalition in New York City. A former staff member of The Balm In Gilead, he is now a consultant, a national HIV/AIDS speaker and advocate, and, as always, a firm believer in hope! He can be reached by e-mail at latimer@harmreduction.org.

December 2004