HIV/AIDS and sexual promiscuity in the African-American community
Star Parker:
Senator Clinton scored big with the Howard University audience at a PBS hosted presidential debate on Sunday when she suggested that racism is at play in the preponderance of HIV/AIDS in the black community.
In response to a question from National Public Radio's Michelle Martin about how "to stop" the spread of HIV/AIDS among black teenagers, Senator Clinton led off with, "If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country."
The spontaneous outburst of applause the senator got may have given her and her campaign staff warm fuzzies that she told the mostly black audience what they wanted to hear.
But Mrs. Clinton's pandering response showed a lack of courage and information to be honest about the real problems that are tearing up a wide slice of black America.
HIV/AIDS does not serendipitously arrive via the genetic code or any other external cause to which the one infected is a helpless and innocent victim. It is no mystery that a principal way in which this virus is transmitted and spread is through sexual behavior.
It is indeed a tragic truth that this vile infection is disproportionately ravaging the black community. But it is irresponsible to ignore, intentionally or otherwise, the truth that the incidence of sexually promiscuous behavior is disproportionately high in the black community.
Consider data in a report on sexual behavior, just released by the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Center for Disease Control. There was a study of a population of adults between the ages of 20 and 59 where information was gathered between 1999 and 2002. The study shows that black Americans are far more sexually active and promiscuous than their white counterparts.
The incidence of sexual activity before the age of 15 found among blacks, 28%, was double that of whites and the proportion of blacks found to have abstained from sex until age 21, 6%, was less than half that of whites.
Of the black males in the study, 46% reported more than 15 female sexual partners over their lifetime compared to 27% of white males. Also, 37% of black males reported having more than two female sexual partners in the previous year, compared to 14% of white males.
Among females, 13% of blacks and 10% of whites reported more than 15 male partners over their lifetime, and 19% of blacks and 9% of whites reported more than two partners in the previous year.
Neither Mrs. Clinton nor any of the other Democratic candidates paid remote attention to these grim realities in addressing the spread of HIV/AIDS among blacks. To do so would have suggested a role that private black individuals have in taking control of their own lives.
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posted by Adam Lawson @ 2:17 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
You're just copying everything on www.amren.com
Very good point, we (because I am an african american woman) do need to take responsibility for our actions and taking what it is that we deserve. Although i hate to categorize & generalize every black person into this group of people were speaking about...anyway at the end of the day a life altering disease is just that and as Americans we all should have the same right to health care and preventative methods in our communities. Even if it is a crack heads fault she got the disease, it isnt her unborn child fault...that child deserves a chance to live a healthy, normal life. WE (Americans) need to embrace one another and remember that this country is supposed to be the land of opportunity, not judgement and ridicule. If youre not part of the solution...youre part of the problem.
Simple solution:- Keep it in the holster and keep the legs closed. In my humble opinion, sexual expressions at an early age may be indicative of a need to establish one's identity in a society which palces more emphasis on what you look like than who you are. If black kids understood that their ancestors were builders, inventors, kings and queens, then perhaps they might be less likely to walk around dressed as though they were in jail on suicide watch.
You can't have a future without understanding or at least knowing the past. Less than a hundred years ago, there headlines in Southern newspapers detailing negro picnics where whites made souvnirs of body parts. Despite, we persevere by the Grace of God, only to wind up with our children butchered because of the colored bandana, errent stare or sneakers. Yes I am ranting and I am angry and it is appropriate to say be part of the solution, but that begins with a long hard look in the mirror.
Ancestory, not wearing bandanas or voting a president in who is black will not do 1 thing about the black aids epidemic. What will work is start taking responibility for your life, quit whining and stop the rampant moral decadence.
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