The Underlying Truths of HIV in Our Black and Brown Communities
[Music]
i’m
only human how many of us have ever
heard or said this phrase before
do we think about what this phrase is
actually saying
you know as a noun the word human is a
human being especially someone is
distinguished from an animal
or in science fiction an alien
this phrase gives us room to be patient
with ourselves as we acknowledge that as
humans we’re still whole and valuable
even in unfortunate situations
today join me in a journey as i walk
through the three underlying truths of
hiv in our black and brown communities
now i’m a guy who forgets a whole lot no
honestly i know you’re probably at home
thinking to yourself how is this guy
giving a tedx talk if he forgets so much
and trust me if i told you about all my
forgetful adventures you’ll probably
fall off your seat laughing at home
but if you’re like me a guy who forgets
a lot
i try to remember the three underlying
truths of hiv by putting them in an
acronym
s m h now i already know what you’re
thinking
shaking my head right all right well
you’re close
all right not really the smh stands for
stigma
minority stress and health disparities
and it’s important that everyone knows
about this acronym because hiv is not
just an issue for some people
it’s your issue it’s the community’s
issue
it’s the world’s issue and while this is
an issue that we’ve been combating for
years on end
hiv still is not as black and white as
we all hope it would be
many times hiv is mistakenly thought to
be interchangeable with aids which is
far from the truth so today we’re going
to comb through some of that together
the first letter in hiv stands for human
human human immunodeficiency
virus this virus compromises one’s
immune system
while interfering with the body’s
ability to fight off organisms that
cause disease
aids or acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome
is the most advanced stage of hiv that
leaves the body vulnerable for
life-threatening infections
now i know this sounds confusing trust
me because i’ve been there before
but try thinking of it like this without
being in care
and adhering to medication hiv can
progress to aids
and as it’s important to know the
difference between the two it’s
just as important to know about the data
behind it and how it’s affecting our
communities that we live in
in the state of wisconsin one in three
or 35 percent of black gay men are
estimated to be living with hiv
in their lifetime compared to ten
percent of
gay latino men and four percent of the
white counterparts
this trend of black gay men being
disproportionately affected goes all the
way back to the beginning of the aids
epidemic
and according to the wisconsin hiv
surveillance annual report
during 2019 ethnic and racial minority
groups made up just
18 percent of the state’s population
while accounting for 68 percent of new
hiv diagnosis
but why is that black men know what hiv
is
we know what condoms are we’ve been
conditioned to look at this data
and hold it at its face value instead of
thinking of the data as if it’s a
as if it’s an onion with multiple layers
of findings that give us a true scope
into how to really truly alleviate the
problem
now don’t get me wrong i’m not bashing
data we need data
it’s our starting point but i think it’s
imperative that we pull back those
layers to truly identify and capture
the why so let’s lean forward a little
bit
how do you define the disapproval or
discrimination against someone based on
their sexuality or the characteristics
the first word that comes to my mind out
of many is homophobia
because we see it every day but this is
not the word i’m looking for
second word that comes to my mind is
racism the suppression and oppression of
a people from generation to generation
and as that word is important to know
and understand
that’s still not the word i’m looking
for the word
less described and that best fits this
description
is stigma also known as the silent
killer
see stigma serves actively throughout
our everyday ways of life
it’s the stain of ignorance that
includes two other components
prejudice and treating others in ways
that disadvantage the already
stigmatized person
in the part that is the most important
to remember in respects to this
conversation
is the fact that many health conditions
are associated with stigma
including hiv stigma creates pathways to
unfavorable social conditions
hiv transmission and health consequences
for same-gendered loving men of color
a stigma fuels discrimination that
creates unfavorable social conditions
and when an individual is faced with
these unfavorable social conditions
that increases the risk of risky
behavior which then in turn
increases the risk of hiv transmission
for example due to stigma and anti-gay
discrimination
many same gender loving men of color
hold negative internalized ideas and
expressions about
their sexuality due to their family and
or friends
we call this internalized homophobia
being that these men have been
conditioned to view hiv in such a
stigmatizing way
they may not feel safe or comfortable
having conversations about safe sex and
getting tested with their partners
thus increasing the chance of hiv
transmission so picture it
living in a world where you combat
society’s ideology in which
you are not normal and often treated
differently because you have the
audacity to be
well you
what internal discomfort would you bring
on to yourself
would you be able to grow and prosper
and thrive to your fullest capacity
this is the example of millions of
people in our country today
is best measured by the minority stress
model
this model by dr ian meyer proposes that
sexual minority health disparities
can be best explained in large part by
stressors caused by a hostile and
homophobic culture
which then can lead to a lifetime full
of maltreatment
harassment discrimination and
victimization
now stress is an inevitable feeling that
we have throughout our lives
at one point in our lives or another we
look for that new job or
look to move our family into that new
house some of us have babies while the
others
we have puppies this is dahlia
this is my baby and she’s adorable
but she also could be very stressful
these are all examples of positive
stressors that we
encounter all the time throughout our
everyday ways of life
but we also encounter negative stress
also known as distress
throughout our lives as well and while
my dolly here is adorable as a positive
stressor
i’m pretty sure we don’t look at our car
breaking down or a recent death in the
family and think to ourselves oh that’s
adorable
so try to think about how stress can
look for someone who looks differently
than you
not as able as you or even love
differently than you
think of your everyday stressors now
imagine a lifetime of a burden of stress
added to that balance due to your sexual
identity
imagine going to the doctor and bearing
the embarrassment because they
automatically assume
outcomes due to who you love imagine
inquiring about safer sex practices and
getting that gut-wrenching feeling when
they mistake your sexual identity
or imagine wanting to try out for the
football team
and not doing so because you’re scared
of the ridicule and judgment that will
come behind it
those are the experiences of millions of
people
around the world but when i get to
peeling that onion
i start asking myself important
questions one of them being i wonder
what gateways this opens for same gender
loving men of color
what disparities does minority stress
produce for same 211 men of color
health disparities are differences that
are preventable in respects to the
burden of different diseases
you know we hear of these disparities
all the time black women have the
highest infant mortality rates in the
country or
african americans having the highest
rate of diabetes in the country
these differences range from
opportunities for primary health
to access of resources for disadvantaged
populations
when assessing this more we see how this
could ultimately impact one’s
access to medical care due to medical
mistrust and other factors
and throughout the history of our
country it’s no secret that people of
color have been oppressed and suppressed
in many different ways systematically
now imagine how that is for someone who
is of color and identifies as gay
bisexual or queer that’s two strikes
and in 2017 a sample of us adults found
that lgbt people of color were twice as
likely to report discrimination based on
their identity
when applying for jobs and when
encountering the police
now this may seem intolerable to the ear
because these are people’s lives we’re
talking about
real actual lives
and as a way to alleviate this factor
many people rely on their close
relationships where they find love and
comfort
how many of us find love and comfort and
voice of reason within our families
okay friends
religious institutions
now what if i told you these same places
where you found love
support and guidance were the very
places where you face
exile ridicule and judgment
and so many homes around this country
there are millions of young gay men
especially of color who face this
treatment
the society’s norms that we’ve been
conditioned to champion just are not
conducive to the very lives that they
affect
so today we have millions of young gay
black men walking this earth beautifully
designed as is
not only to face ridicule from a larger
society
but to come home to a mirroring image of
what society perceives them to be
now i ask you again when looking at the
data
do we look at these things
working in public health i’ve met so
many amazing people that brought so much
joy to my life many of these people have
been impacted by the stigma minority
stress and health disparities that we
just talked about
but while thinking about everyone that
i’ve met one person sticks out to me the
most
his name is tyrell
terrell grew up in oak creek wisconsin a
suburban city outside of milwaukee just
about 25 minutes away from here
when getting to know terrell he told me
about his story of his younger years and
how he didn’t feel safe and comfortable
in his classrooms
from being teased in school to being
called a at home tyrell just
didn’t feel like he belonged anywhere
then terrell started telling me about a
story about how his adult years evolved
and how he
navigated through dropping out of school
losing his job his car
and battling the then toxic cycles of a
relationship
i remember thinking to myself how is
this young 27 year old man so resilient
after all his turmoil but then it got to
the point of his experience that i was
not expecting
after terrell got out of his toxic
relationship he went to his doctor to
talk about a pill called prep
prep short for pre-exposure prophylaxis
is a pill that people without living
with hiv take once a day to prevent them
from contracting the virus
tyrell said all he did was have to go to
his doctor and have an important
conversation about the pills for him and
do some simple blood work
but i just couldn’t believe that there
was actually a pill this effective at
protecting people from contracting hiv
that’s when terrell found out something
that would change his life forever
terrell waited a couple days to get his
lab results and the doctor called and
said that everything was
negative except for one thing terrell
tested positive for hiv
as i watched terrell spiral down a deep
depression he told me that a lot of
things contributed to his outcome
hiv stigma played a huge role in how
terrell felt about having important
conversations about getting tested in
safe sex with his partner
he also felt like other factors like
lack of inclusive sexual education
due to minority stress living out of
survival
due to health disparities all played a
role in this outcome
that was the last of bad news for
terrell
see terrell started working for a
community-based organization that
focuses on
equity and health for the same gender
loving men of color just like him
here is where terrell learned about
personal and professional development
while learning of many safe sex
interventions
it became a place for terrell to be
himself
a place for guidance a place
to be alive and whole
those words since that day have been
engraved in my heart
to be alive and whole
well today i’m alive and whole standing
in front of you all
not only because i know tyrell because i
am tyrell
my name is stacey tero clark and i’m
only human
just like you but it always didn’t feel
this way
one day around the time of my diagnosis
i was visiting my mom
and she could tell that my morale was at
an all-time low due to my recent
diagnosis
so she told me to go outside and ask me
what i felt
i said mama i don’t feel anything
standing out here in 10 degree weather
with snow on the ground
then she told me to close my eyes and
feel the small gusts of wind
and ask me if i felt weak of course i
said yes because at that point i felt
like i had nothing left
but then she said something that would
eventually turn
my pain into my purpose
she said baby that wind is like your
strength
just because you don’t see it does not
mean it doesn’t exist
have faith with that faith
i am now in a position to provide so
many same gender loving men of color
where opportunities that i did not
have but i can’t do this work alone
how many of you have heard of the
butterfly effect
this theory suggests that with a change
as small as a grain of sand that you
could create
change in a different part of the world
the example best used is when a
butterfly flaps its wings
it creates a natural disaster on the
other side of the world
when i thought to myself this is the
craziest thing i ever heard in my life
who would actually believe that when a
butterfly flaps their wings in kansas
they would create a hurricane all the
way in the atlantic ocean
just from flapping its wings so you know
what i started doing
i waited
i continued to wait
then it all came so simple and small to
me
me being intentional in how i respond to
stigma was me flapping my wings
me educating my family and friends of
the true
facts about hiv is me flapping my wings
and well what i’m doing here in front of
all of you today
well i’m flapping my wings only to know
that
somewhere somehow someone is receiving
this information that they would not
have received
that’s the power that we all have
you don’t have to be living with hiv to
fight the fixed notions of stigma
suppress the actions of minority stress
or alleviate health disparities for same
gender loving men of color
in this world little by little we create
the change
that we want to see so in this moment
right now being man or woman
cisgendered or transgender gay or
straight
black white or brown you have the
ability to either
fan the flame of stigma or quench the
flame
so i ask will you flap your rings with
us
because hiv is not just the issue for
some it’s your
issue too in fact when we look at the
root of the acronym smh
we see how communities treat and see
people who are living with hiv
and so we say in solitude with the many
shades of us
i am strong
i am resilient
i am human so will you join us
will you flap your wings because hiv is
your issue too
thank you