HIV Infection: The Rate Among Blacks Doubles

Michael L. Ford, Th.D.

D.Min. Christian Counseling
26 February 2005

Jeff Donn, of the Associated Press, reported this unhappy statistic yesterday: The HIV infection rates have doubled among blacks in the last ten years while continuing unchanged among whites. This has not escaped the attention of practicing homosexuals. This very week I had a client in counseling who remarked it seemed to him that having blacks as sexual partners seemed more risky than having whites.

            The question is why do we have an increase in that part of American society? Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attributed the high rate among blacks to such factors as drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care.  I think they have missed the point about some of the more important factors.

            As a counselor, I am keenly aware that within American society, there are divisions of societal norms that have a tendency to follow racial lines. More blacks are likely to grow up in a home absent any sort of permanent father figure than are whites for instance. This changes the culture within which blacks develop significantly. The reason black homes are more likely to be absent a male figure has one very big reason. That is, the welfare system drove a generation of men out of the homes. They had to leave to begin with so that their struggling families could receive help and that condition has continued so long many believe that kind of life is normal.

            There is good reason to believe the statistics on AIDS infection are accurate. They were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys, containing the most complete HIV data available in the country. Researchers at the CDC compared 1988-1994 data with figures from 1999-2002. The surveys however looked only at young and middle-aged adults and excluded such groups as soldiers, prisoners and homeless. The final numbers probably underestimate true HIV rates in this country. But they show the AIDS virus at 2% of blacks, while it is at the same time 0.2% among whites. The overall U.S. rate is at 0.4% meaning that blacks stand out among other segments of the population. When you see such a difference you need to ask yourself what is the difference between black Americans socially and other segments of the population?

            Many black children are being raised by single mothers, grandmothers, and aunts. They grow up in an atmosphere where no male is role modeling loyalty to one wife and self sacrifice for the sake of family. Instead they know permissiveness and self gratification as a single goal in life. Rising infection rates among blacks comes as no surprise, but it has not been politically correct to point out that within a cultural segment that has almost eliminated the virtues of fatherhood and commitment to family, where such things as gangster rap has originated, and other music of anarchy and sensuality is prevalent, is also where the greatest results of sexual sin are being seen.

            Government agency heads that deal with AIDS think the solution to the growing problem is getting more people into treatment for the fruits of their sin. All that really does is prolong lives so self indulgent people may continue to spread their infection. What is really needed is a concerted effort to return to the black community, indeed the nation as a whole, the fundamental virtues related to family and sexual purity taught in the Scripture. But since it is not politically correct to acknowledge God and His precepts in life government funded scientists will continue to grasp at straws of false hope while society sinks. Nearly one million people in the United States have contracted the AIDS virus since the outbreak began in the early 1980s. About 40,000 people test positive each year, and more than 18,000 die. Trying to combat and eliminate the disease has been one of the most overfunded research projects in history. But the root causes of the problem cannot be addressed because it is not acceptable to tell the truth about the root causes of the problem and the sins that it stems from. The AIDS problem will continue to be a real issue in American life until the exclusion of moral responsibility is lifted and people are once again told God was right when He told us through His prophets that whatsoever you sow, that also shall ye reap, and also that when you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind.

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Michael L. Ford, Th.D.

D.Min. Christian Counseling
26 February 2005

Jeff Donn, of the Associated Press, reported this unhappy statistic yesterday: The HIV infection rates have doubled among blacks in the last ten years while continuing unchanged among whites. This has not escaped the attention of practicing homosexuals. This very week I had a client in counseling who remarked it seemed to him that having blacks as sexual partners seemed more risky than having whites.

            The question is why do we have an increase in that part of American society? Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attributed the high rate among blacks to such factors as drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care.  I think they have missed the point about some of the more important factors.

            As a counselor, I am keenly aware that within American society, there are divisions of societal norms that have a tendency to follow racial lines. More blacks are likely to grow up in a home absent any sort of permanent father figure than are whites for instance. This changes the culture within which blacks develop significantly. The reason black homes are more likely to be absent a male figure has one very big reason. That is, the welfare system drove a generation of men out of the homes. They had to leave to begin with so that their struggling families could receive help and that condition has continued so long many believe that kind of life is normal.

            There is good reason to believe the statistics on AIDS infection are accurate. They were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys, containing the most complete HIV data available in the country. Researchers at the CDC compared 1988-1994 data with figures from 1999-2002. The surveys however looked only at young and middle-aged adults and excluded such groups as soldiers, prisoners and homeless. The final numbers probably underestimate true HIV rates in this country. But they show the AIDS virus at 2% of blacks, while it is at the same time 0.2% among whites. The overall U.S. rate is at 0.4% meaning that blacks stand out among other segments of the population. When you see such a difference you need to ask yourself what is the difference between black Americans socially and other segments of the population?

            Many black children are being raised by single mothers, grandmothers, and aunts. They grow up in an atmosphere where no male is role modeling loyalty to one wife and self sacrifice for the sake of family. Instead they know permissiveness and self gratification as a single goal in life. Rising infection rates among blacks comes as no surprise, but it has not been politically correct to point out that within a cultural segment that has almost eliminated the virtues of fatherhood and commitment to family, where such things as gangster rap has originated, and other music of anarchy and sensuality is prevalent, is also where the greatest results of sexual sin are being seen.

            Government agency heads that deal with AIDS think the solution to the growing problem is getting more people into treatment for the fruits of their sin. All that really does is prolong lives so self indulgent people may continue to spread their infection. What is really needed is a concerted effort to return to the black community, indeed the nation as a whole, the fundamental virtues related to family and sexual purity taught in the Scripture. But since it is not politically correct to acknowledge God and His precepts in life government funded scientists will continue to grasp at straws of false hope while society sinks. Nearly one million people in the United States have contracted the AIDS virus since the outbreak began in the early 1980s. About 40,000 people test positive each year, and more than 18,000 die. Trying to combat and eliminate the disease has been one of the most overfunded research projects in history. But the root causes of the problem cannot be addressed because it is not acceptable to tell the truth about the root causes of the problem and the sins that it stems from. The AIDS problem will continue to be a real issue in American life until the exclusion of moral responsibility is lifted and people are once again told God was right when He told us through His prophets that whatsoever you sow, that also shall ye reap, and also that when you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind.

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