As the national testing day approaches, 2 Florida authors raise questions about an often taboo subject.

BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN
FLORIDA COURIER

National HIV/AIDS Testing Day is June 27 and Blacks, especially African-American women, make up a disproportionate and growing number of HIV/AIDS cases in Florida. The reason: Blacks tend to learn of their HIV status at a later stage of the disease and postpone medical care.

African-American women account for the far majority of new AIDS cases among women at 67 percent in 2004. White women account for 17 percent and Latinos 15 percent.

Within 10 years, the numbers have steadily increased among women. In 1994, 23 percent of AIDS cases in Miami-Dade were among women. In 2005 that figure increased to 31 percent. In Broward County, women account for 26 percent of the cases.

The National Association of People with AIDS, the lead organization for the day, estimates that 250,000 people in the United States have HIV and are not aware of it. National HIV Testing Day is an opportunity for people nationwide to learn their HIV status and to gain knowledge to take control of their health and their lives.

Pastor hopes churches will see the light
Dr. Tony F. Drayton, pastor of St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Riviera Beach and author of “Transformation and The Church: A Push Toward Acceptance Within the HIV/AIDS Pandemic,” hopes to light a fire under the feet of many congregations, politicians, prophets and policymaker who have been slipshod when it comes to tackling the often taboo subject of HIV/AIDS.

“The unwillingness to address the issue is contributing to the steady increase of people infected and dying with AIDS/HIV in African- American communities,” he told the Florida Courier. “I think it is because we are not educated about the severity and how important education is to prevent the disease.

Now with the medication available people are living longer. The message may be misinterpreted that it is not as bad as it is.

“They may still think it’s a gay disease and a curse from God. The stigma and shame is still strong. Black sexuality has always been a stigma. We don’t deal with sexuality as early as we should, especially from the primary institutions like the family and the church.”

Is it a conspiracy?
Drayton is working to increase HIV/AIDS testing within the Black community and has taken 18 people to statesponsored HIV/AIDS education and testing classes.

“Start where you are. They completed the 40-hour course and can now become testers and educators to allow people to become more aware of how it’s transmitted and the importance of getting tested and knowing your status,” he said.

Winston Hale’s book “Dance with the Devil: The AIDS Conspiracy” asks the question: What if AIDS is a disease unleashed in the Black community by the government?

“Is it germ or genocide, manmade or natural, fact or fiction or is it a conspiracy? Let the reader decide,” Hale told the Florida Courier. Hale’s question is one that is commonly asked in the Black community.

15 years of research
“We are suspicious of the medical industry, especially Black males,” he explained. “It started out as a gay disease in San Francisco and now it has spread to Black heterosexual woman. How did that happen?”

Hale, a South Florida-based journalist, spent 15 years researching and writing about AIDS worldwide. Although his book is fiction and weaved around a love story, it includes historical facts on AIDS and its transmission.

The book crosses several cultures, half a dozen countries and five cities. Hale includes a personal note to readers in the book, which is the message the National Association of People with AIDS will be urging for the June 27 testing day: “Get tested. Take action and protect ourselves to save lives and thwart the hand of lethargy.’’