AIDS and the African American Community

Three decades after the AIDS virus was first reported among gay white men, nearly half of the one million people in this country infected with HIV are black men, women and children! If you don't find that startling, you should, especially since African Americans only make up 12.6 percent of the U.S. population. Why are these numbers growing? We'll discuss the AIDS epidemic with filmmaker Renata Simone who explores this issue in depth in her latest FRONTLINE documentary on PBS "ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America." We'll also talk to Marvelyn, a popular star athlete who contracted AIDS as a teenager from her boyfriend. She says she was totally ignorant and feels let down by her home, school and community. Also joining us is Rosalin Johnson: STD Program Supervisor for the Virginia Department of Health. Later in the show, we'll look at some of the positive things happening in the African American Community when we take a behind the scenes look at the project actor/filmmaker Tim Reid is doing with Norfolk State University Students. It's all on Another View, Friday, July 6th at noon on 89.5 WHRV-FM or stream us at whrv.org.