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