It’s no surprise the Rev. Al Sharpton is traveling to Baton Rouge this Friday to speak about the relationship between AIDS and civil rights.
Baton Rouge has the highest number of AIDS case rates per capita in the country, with New Orleans following at the fourth-highest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As it turns out, civil rights and the HIV/AIDS epidemic are intertwined in many different ways.
In a 2012 blog post for The Huffington Post, Sharpton addressed the key correlation between location, economic standing and race in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
“Some studies even suggest that a person living in Mississippi with AIDS is 50 percent more likely to die from it than a person living in New York with AIDS,” Sharpton wrote. “This is a travesty.”
One of the sources Sharpton used for his post also mentioned that black males in Mississippi are actually 10 times more likely than white Mississippians to die from HIV/AIDS.
In addition to the disproportionate diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in the black community, the Department of Health and Hospitals reports that men who have sex with men are the primary risk factor for new HIV diagnoses in Louisiana.
These statistics suggest already stigmatized and oppressed groups don’t have access to the proper education and materials, such as condoms or sterile needles, that could thus prevent them from infection. Then, once they are HIV positive, there is an inadequate effort to treat and provide health care to these individuals.
Well, this is the case. Why else would it be less likely for heterosexuals and white men and women to receive HIV diagnoses?
In my research, I stumbled upon an online comment that bluntly stated HIV/AIDS is popular amongst African-Americans because of “single-parent homes and lack of personal responsibility.” Aside from being racist, this is also completely untrue.
Although black men and women don’t necessarily partake in riskier behaviors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states there were 486,282 African-Americans compared to 435,613 Caucasians who were diagnosed with AIDS in 2011.
Our neighbor state, Mississippi, seems to be especially bad at caring for its HIV/AIDS-infected citizens. Out of its nearly $5 billion budget, Mississippi only dedicates a morsel of that to HIV/AIDS programs. Representative John Hines commented on his state’s view of individuals living with HIV/AIDS, saying, “Legislators in Mississippi don’t see it as a public health crisis; they see it as a punishment for an unhealthy lifestyle.”
Unfortunately, a big portion of HIV-positive individuals are unaware of their infection. Testing and treatment centers need to be placed in areas regardless of the neighborhood’s socioeconomic status or racial makeup.
Ample health care should be provided to all sick people, regardless of class, race, gender or location. It is outrageous to know that if I were HIV-positive, I would have a better chance of survival if I moved to San Francisco or New York, where this type of prejudice doesn’t infiltrate the state’s health care system.
We have the tools and technology to eliminate the spread HIV/AIDS. The state you live in, the color of your skin and your choice of sexual partners should not have anything to do with your chance of contracting HIV.
SidneyRose Reynen is an 18-year-old film and art history freshman from New Orleans.