Every 10 minutes, someone in the U.S. contracts HIV. Half are black. In fact, 30 years after the discovery of the AIDS virus among gay white men, nearly half of the 1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV are African American men, women and children. A new Frontline special, "ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America," looks at one of our most preventable health crises. You can watch the documentary on WBGH 2 at 9 p.m. on July 10.
In the film, Phil Wilson from the Black AIDS Institute, said that one of the main causes of this epidemic was a culture of silence among the community.
"We all grow up with ‘don’t put your business in the street’ and ‘don’t hang out your dirty laundry’ and all these phrases around keeping secrets," said Wilson. "You don’t tell other folks how poor you are, you don’t tell other folks that you can’t pay the rent, you don’t tell other folks that so-and-so is sick, and you certainly don’t tell other folks that there’s a gay son, and you don’t tell other folks that someone in the family has AIDS."
In an interview with WGBH's Callie Crossley, Renata Simone, the writer, director, and producer of the film, said another cause was the crackdown on users of crack cocaine, which led to infections in the prisons.
"For people who aren’t familiar, the powder cocaine is a white drug, the crack is more of a black drug," said Simone. "So when you crack down disproportionately, and you make the penalties for crack literally 100 times the penalty for powder cocaine, you’re going to create a population in prison that’s more black than white, and that’s what happened, and yes, it had tremendous health implications, not only for the men, but when they got home, for the women, and for the children."
One young woman from the film suffering from HIV recalls her school's image of HIV as "a helpless kid in Africa and also a white, gay, skinny, skinny man." As she was taught, "HIV and normal didn't go together."
However, according to Simone, 85 percent of women who are infected with HIV are heterosexual.
"You can say, 'but for the grace of God, there go I,' you can say all sorts of it, but it really is true," said Simone. "This could be our stories."
As the film's title suggests, Simone believes that we have what we need to end the AIDS epidemic.
"We have the tools now," said Simone. "We have good drugs, we have awareness, we have people, we have leaders like Julian Bond in the film, we have people who are courageous enough to speak out and tell their stories in a way that will help everyone care about the subject, and I think it’s that assemblage of tools that will let us finish this."
Guest:
Renata Simone, writer, director and producer of Frontline's "ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America"
