Posted by: Travers Johnson for BET’s YOU(TH) VOTE

WAKE UP BLACK

PEOPLE!!!!

A recent Black AIDS Institute report says that 1 out of every 2people living with HIV in America is black.  That’s right: almost 50%!!! This is a HUGE problem, as the black population as a whole only represenst 1 in 8 Americans.

The report also said that the rate of HIV in black Americans rivals that of HIV/AIDS rates in some African countries.  WOW! (Click here to check out the CNN article on the report.)

I don’t know what it’s going to take for us to get this through our heads!  HIV/AIDS is not a gay disease, it’s not a way-over-there-and-out-of-our-reach African continent disease, it’s not a myth.  HIV and AIDS NOW BELONG TO US!!! 

And this isn’t the West Nile Virus.  People aren’t going around getting stung by mosquitoes and catching it—they’re getting stung by poor sexual choices.

Something else that bothers me is that NEITHER BARACK OBAMA NOR JOHN MCCAIN have really touched this issue.  Not too shocked that McCain hasn’t, but Obama definitely needs to stop tip-toeing around the issue if he wants his voters healthy enough to go to the polls!!!!

So tell me: Do these statistics shock you?  Do you feel that the presidential candidates have paid enough attention to this issue?  Are you HIV positive? Do you know someone who is?

Hit me up to break it down.  Also check out my video above to watch me take a HIV test and to learn more about HIV testing procedures. 

This is a terrible shame—GET TESTED,

—TRAVERS

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