The Black AIDS Institute held its media roundtable for black journalists this past weekend, and there was hater-a-thon aplenty for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Oh, many good things happened, of course. Ideas and information were exchanged about the disproportionate impact HIV and AIDS have had on the black community. Strategies were proposed. Some 70 student journalists from historically black colleges and universities got to network with 70 professional journalists.
Given all the positive developments, a Cheney hater-a-thon wasn’t necessary. But there it was.
First, roundtable attendees were shown a video clip of comedian and actress Mo’Nique on a recent Tavis Smiley show. Smiley set up the question nicely, asking Mo’Nique what she thought of Cheney’s admission during the vice presidential debate that he wasn’t aware that black women were 72 percent of newly reported cases of HIV infection.
Mustering all the outrage and indignation she could, Mo’Nique asked “Where have you been, dick?”
Perhaps having his brain turned to mush from viewing “Soul Plane,” Mo’Nique.
During a couple of roundtable discussions, the issue of Cheney’s lack of knowledge came up, with the attending comments of disdain and derision. Basically, the attitude was: How dare Cheney not know this?
Well, how dare we have such a misplaced sense of anger and priorities?
Let’s cut to the chase here. Data provided by several presenters at the roundtable determined that the increase in the HIV virus among black women came from heterosexual sex and intravenous drug use. And let’s be even clearer: Cheney didn’t infect one of those black women.
But heaven forbid we should get angry at the men who are infecting black women, no matter what their color is. That would smack too much of directing the anger where it should be directed. It would suggest that maybe those two words inimical to the liberal thinking that permeates too much of black America — personal responsibility — might be a factor here.
And to suggest that black folks who put themselves at risk of getting HIV or AIDS act more responsibly is a little too Bill Cosbyish.
But the Black AIDS Institute’s own literature advises readers that behavior is the one way to either get — or not get — the virus. What, exactly, would those who harrumphed about Cheney’s ignorance have a President Bush or a Vice President Cheney — or a President Kerry or a Vice President Edwards — do about a crisis that stems largely from the bad choices some black folks are making? And, more importantly, why would we want them to?
I’m sure Cheney — and Bush and Kerry and Edwards — doesn’t know that black men and boys in Baltimore kill each other with a passion that almost approaches religious fervor. There have been well over 200 murders this year, and we may hit 300 by year’s end.
Is stopping this carnage the responsibility of the president and vice president? Or should the citizens of Baltimore — our elected officials, judges, parents, teachers and law enforcement officials — figure out what’s wrong and try to solve it?
There’s an easy answer: the stupidest person in Baltimore is more qualified to solve the problem than the smartest person in Washington, D.C.
Similarly, the crisis with the rise in HIV and AIDS among black women — and the disproportionate impact on all black people — is not a matter for Bush or Cheney or Kerry or Edwards. It can best be handled in the states where the crisis is most prevalent. Roundtable attendees learned this past weekend that most of those states are in the South, where the number of new HIV cases has risen while stabilizing in other regions.
Six of the 10 states with the highest HIV/AIDS rates are in the South. Some 15 to 19 percent of people in the region live below the poverty line. The South has seven of the 15 states with the highest unemployment rate and nine of 10 states with the fewest high school graduates.
AIDS is the leading killer of black women in the 35-44 age group. My guess is that process started long before Cheney became vice president.
The issue isn’t what Cheney does or doesn’t know. The issue is what we know.
And what we plan to do about what we know.
