Venita Ray, Deputy Director

February 07, 2019: As a Black woman living with HIV, I always approach National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) with a little bit of dread. Each year, we, hear the same numbers: “Black folks represent 12% of the US population but almost 50% of people living with HIV in the US.”  

Today people across the country will talk about the state of Black people and HIV: some will say that we have come so far, “look at our progress.” Others will claim that, we have the tools to end this epidemic, “let’s just get everybody on PrEP and get all people living with HIV into treatment. It’s just that simple. Right?” And still others will try to shame Black communities, relying on misguided, stigmatizing – and frankly, racist- tropes about Black sexuality to call for behavior change.  

But before we can talk about solutions, we must first acknowledge that HIV is an epidemic driven by racial injustice. Once we start from that premise, the real work can begin.

Over the past few months, I am proud to have represented Positive Women’s Network in a group led by some of the most visionary Black advocates in the HIV movement today.  We convened because we realized that it is necessary do something that will shift the power dynamics in the south and acknowledge the state of HIV in our communities. We wanted to speak from a place that we rarely hear expressed – Black power.  

We didn’t create this epidemic, but we have realized that no one is coming to save us either. We must save ourselves. It is our hope that the vision we are putting forth into the world this year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day will fundamentally shift the types of conversations that usually occurs on NBHAAD – not just on Feb. 7th but every day of every year, until this epidemic is over for Black communities, because that’s when we will be able to truly claim victory on HIV.

Positive Women’s Network-USA​​ is a multi-racial membership organization of women living with HIV and folks of trans experience living with HIV. We are committed to racial justice, building power in marginalized communities, and fighting for policies that achieve equity and human dignity. This is what we do everyday. On this NBHAAD, we invite you to support Black power and leadership by reading the statement linked here​​. We all can commit to supporting real Black power and ending the HIV epidemic in the Black community. 

Read the full statement here.