AFRICAN AMERICANS
a church in Morristown
African Americans account for 43% of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Morristown and 55% of the people living with HIV/AIDS in New Jersey (6A, 6D). Both African American men and women encounter higher risk factors for contracting HIV than whites and other ethnicities. It was reported that among sexually active African American adults that only 38% use a condom (6D). In addition to this, African Americans account for 59% of the HIV/AIDS cases among injection drug users in New Jersey and 26% of the people who entered substance abuse programs, though only comprising 14% of the state’s population (6D). A study also showed that African Americans show the lowest percentage of people who knew about treatments for HIV/AIDS when compared to whites, Latinos, and Native Americans (4F).
For African American men, the highest mode of transmission of HIV in 2004 was MSM and 90% of urban African American men who have sex with men are unaware of their infection (3A). A large portion of African American men are on what is called the “down low (DL)” (3A). This term refers to men who do not identify as gay or bisexual, but still have sex with men and may have female partners (3A). The reasons that these men will not come out is largely due to African American culture (3A). One African American on the DL states, “’The reason that so many young black men aren’t so cavalier about announcing their sexual orientation is because we need our families…we need our families because of economic reasons, because of racism, because a million reasons. It’s the idea that black people have to stick together, and if there’s the slightest possibility that coming out could disrupt that, guys won’t do it” (3A). Others highlight the negative attitude of the church (which is very important in African American culture) towards homosexuality to be a contributing factor in their hesitance to come out commenting that, “most churches that I’ve been to…act like homosexuality is just a big sin or the worst thing you can do” (3B). Another reason these men remain on the DL is they value their masculine identity and have a strong desire to remain separate from white gay culture, which is perceived as effeminate (3A, 3B). This particular group of men is extremely difficult to reach in terms of HIV prevention and education (3A). This is simply because, in their minds, those in the health care system do not understand the adversity they face in this semi-racist society coupled with the fact that African Americans have a blatant distrust of the health care system (3A). Pernessa C. Seele, founder of an AIDS organization that works with black churches commented, “we believe that the system is designed to kill us…and our history allows us, or helps us, to believe that. We have documented history where these kinds of diseases have been perpetuated on us…We don’t trust health care. We don’t trust doctors and nurses” (3A). The director of the AIDS Task Force in Cleveland explained the situation for African Americans further:
“The usual prevention message for all these years can be interpreted as saying: ‘Gee, we’re sorry about racism. We’re sorry about homophobia in your homes and churches. We’re sorry that urban schools are crappy. We’re sorry that you can’t find a good job. We’re sorry about lack of literacy. We’re sorry about all these things, but you really need to start using condoms, because if you don’t, you could get infected tomorrow, or the next year, or sometime during the next decade, and if you do get infected, at some point you will get sick and die” (3A)
African American women account for 64% of the HIV/AIDS cases among women in New Jersey (6D).This is largely as a result of the down low culture, as many of the men who are having sex with other men do so despite the fact that they have female partners, which are often times other African American women (3C). It has been shown that African Americans tend to choose sexual partners within their race (3D). The rate of transmission of HIV through heterosexual sex for African American women has risen from 58% in 2000 to 67% in 2004 (3D). A study showed that 34% of black MSM also had sex with women and these MSM were less likely to identify as homosexual/gay and tell their female partners about their sexual endeavors with men (3B, 3C). African American women also tend to have more a harder time asking their partner to wear a condom and refusing sex (3E). A study of African American women, 82% of which were in heterosexual relationships, showed that all of them perceived their HIV risk to be very little or none at all (3E). One woman who knew her husband was cheating on her still thought she was not at risk, as she herself was not sleeping around (3E). This same study also found that seven out of ten women reported not always using condoms during sex and 43% of these women do not feel comfortable discussing sex with their partners (3E). Some women fear that they will lose the love of their partners if they ask to use a condom, as it could indicate that the woman does not trust her male partner (3E).