In the News

By James Causey 

 

Charlie Sykes, WTMJ radio's conservative morning talk show host, has a problem with Congresswoman Gwen Moore recognizing Thursday as Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

 

Instead, Moore should point out that HIV/AIDS has had a tremendous impact on the entire state and nation, Sykes said. To single out blacks is wrong. We have gotten so used to Moore's actions on race, he said, that most of us tend not to realize what's behind them.

 

It didn't take long for his callers to chime in and say Moore was simply "race baiting." 

 

"Doesn't she represent the entire state?" one caller said.

 

Well, no, actually, she does not. The fourth district is dominated by the city of Milwaukee.

 

Here's my take: I would have a problem if Moore didn't recognize that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects the state's African American community. 

 

Here are facts for Sykes and his audience to consider: Nearly one-third of all new HIV cases in Milwaukee are showing up in young black men who have sex with men, and the HIV infection rate among black men is eight times higher than it is for white men, and almost nine times higher for black women than it is for white women.

 

Our politicians have been silent on this problem, and because of that many of the grass-roots efforts to target this at-risk group have fallen short. 

 

I realize Sykes would like it if Moore talked about the HIV/AIDS problem as a whole, but we are past that in our state. We need a call to action to face the 400 new HIV cases a year in Wisconsin. Nearly 40% of young, black, gay men in Milwaukee are infected.

 

We can no longer be silent. Silence kills. 

 

My column in Crossroads this Sunday will look at HIV/AIDS in this city and what needs to be done.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

To view this article online, please click here.By James Causey 

 

Charlie Sykes, WTMJ radio's conservative morning talk show host, has a problem with Congresswoman Gwen Moore recognizing Thursday as Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

 

Instead, Moore should point out that HIV/AIDS has had a tremendous impact on the entire state and nation, Sykes said. To single out blacks is wrong. We have gotten so used to Moore's actions on race, he said, that most of us tend not to realize what's behind them.

 

It didn't take long for his callers to chime in and say Moore was simply "race baiting." 

 

"Doesn't she represent the entire state?" one caller said.

 

Well, no, actually, she does not. The fourth district is dominated by the city of Milwaukee.

 

Here's my take: I would have a problem if Moore didn't recognize that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects the state's African American community. 

 

Here are facts for Sykes and his audience to consider: Nearly one-third of all new HIV cases in Milwaukee are showing up in young black men who have sex with men, and the HIV infection rate among black men is eight times higher than it is for white men, and almost nine times higher for black women than it is for white women.

 

Our politicians have been silent on this problem, and because of that many of the grass-roots efforts to target this at-risk group have fallen short. 

 

I realize Sykes would like it if Moore talked about the HIV/AIDS problem as a whole, but we are past that in our state. We need a call to action to face the 400 new HIV cases a year in Wisconsin. Nearly 40% of young, black, gay men in Milwaukee are infected.

 

We can no longer be silent. Silence kills. 

 

My column in Crossroads this Sunday will look at HIV/AIDS in this city and what needs to be done.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

To view this article online, please click here.