Have you met a minister, elder, or even pastor that has AIDs or HIV positive? You are probably stating, NO! But if you did what would you do? What if the very man or woman teaching you about not fornicating is doing just that?

I know that’s quite a few questions to ponder. However, I don’t want you to over analyze your church leadership but I do want to discuss the topic that seems to be taboo in the church, AIDs. Yes we’ve heard sermons were ministers mention AIDs is something you could get if you have sex outside of marriage. The unfortunate part is that these messages are geared toward the young generation only. As if the adults are obsolete from having sex outside of marriage… That’s another post!

As you may know HIV/AIDs is directly affecting Black Americans. Ian Landau senior editor of Everyday Health writes, ” …in 2011, the prevalence of HIV in Washington, D.C., was higher than that in Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia or Congo.” Now that’s just ridiculous! As a Black American I find it my duty to educate my community about the affects of AIDs/HIV. We must first realize this is not something impacting Africa only, gay men, or drug addicts. Our stigmas with HIV/AIDs has caused the Black community to be ignorant of the direct impact HIV/AIDs has on all of us.

Before closing I want to encourage those who are HIV positive or have AIDs that no matter how to obtain the disease you are able to prevent spreading it. For more information and Support In Your Area. If you are reading this and not sure Know Your Status.

The other night like some of you I watched the PBS Frontline documentary “Endgame: AIDS in Black America.” There were numerous stories but the one that inspired this post is below…

CALL TO ACTION: Know Your Status and Educate Others