Related articles and links |  1 of 5

Brothers and Sisters, When a future generation of black scholars conduct their historical research on the moral and political life of U. S. black leadership in the final decade of the twentieth century, how shall they judge our performance regarding the AIDS holocaust in the sub-Saharan Africa? How shall our inaction—especially the inaction of black men—withstand the judgment of history? What verdict will our descendants render upon their ancestors who stood by silently as a generation of African children were reduced to a biological underclass by this sexual holocaust? No doubt they will find that a few lonely voices spoke out such as Julian Bond and Ronald Dellums, but will they not ask whether we as a leadership class could not have done more?

Such questions must now be publicly confronted in the face of a human tragedy which is, in some respects, more devastating than the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Charitable scholars may situate our failures in this crisis in a comparative context. In other words, they will note that in the twentieth century we were not the only leadership class to collapse in the face of a genocidal catastrophe. Earlier in this very century others, when faced with the threat of genocidal destruction failed, whether due to paralysis, denial or disbelief, to respond in defense of their own people. The moral and political failures of others, however, will not be a sufficient explanation for why the most powerful and influential black leadership class in the world failed to act decisively in defense of their women and children.

AIDS is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. The urgent need to leverage every resource available to us to combat the spread of AIDS in Africa has been incontrovertibly documented. According to a powerful Boston Globe series written by Wil Haygood and Kurt Shillinger in October, the number of AIDS orphans in Africa will reach 13 million by the year 2001. In Zimbabwe alone the number of orphans is 670,000, with 50,000 more being added to that number each year. Each year, ten times more Africans die from AIDS than are killed in all of Africa's military conflicts combined. The numbers are horrifying: Of the 5.6 million new HIV infections in 1999, according to the United Nations Program on AIDS, fully 4 million were in Africa. Half were among young people ages 15 to 24, and far more than half of those afflicted were female. Two-thirds of the AIDS cases in the world are now in sub-Saharan Africa. One adult in 4 in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Botswana now has the HIV virus. Half of these cases in sub-Saharan Africa are women. The numbers are so massive in southern Africa that life expectancy is likely to drop to 45 years within the next five years after climbing to 59 in the early 1990s. In the past five years—according to a U. S. Census Bureau report—life expectancy in Zimbabwe has dropped from 61 years to 39 years; in Botswana it has fallen back from 60 to 40, and in Kenya the situation is very similar. As unbelievable as these statistics are things are only getting worse. A survey of pre-natal clinics in one southern province in Zimbabwe indicated a 67 percent infection rate for the women there. In Zambia there are communities of only the elderly and the very young; the rest have been obliterated. The AIDS epidemic is even contributing to the deforestation of significant areas—because of coffin construction. All this means that in southern Africa we are witnessing the creation of a virtual biological underclass. In this situation in which millions are perishing, the behavior of the citizens of the affected countries is profoundly troubling, by virtue of its escalating effect on the epidemic. For example, it is reported that in South Africa a woman is raped every 26 seconds, contributing to the 1,600 people a day who are infected with HIV. Just as disturbing is the rumored source of the increase in the rate of rape; a spreading myth that sexual intercourse with young girls can cure or prevent the disease. Behind the statistics on rape lurk facts that are in some respects just as ominous. In sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS is transmitted primarily through heterosexual contact. Widespread promiscuity, essentially fatal behavior, is often typical. The Boston Globe series quoted the head of the United Nations AIDS program for Eastern and Southern Africa as saying: "Without addressing behavior, the response to prevention strategies will always be limited." Promiscuity and rape now objectively function as weapons of suicidal mass destruction. In such a context of cultural decay, abstinence and sexual fidelity appear as revolutionary concepts. In too many cases African leaders have not confronted the problem of AIDS: the South African government has spent only $13 million on AIDS education and care programs in the last 5 years. At the same time they are spending $6.5 billion on three new submarines and other military hardware. Not a single African head of state attended the recent international AIDS conference in Zambia, including the president of the host country. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, but an example of a pattern of deliberate neglect by these leaders. While these African nations obviously do not have the resources to treat AIDS victims using the extremely expensive cocktail of drugs now widely available in the West, their efforts at public education have clearly failed to communicate to the masses of citizens the urgency of the situation, and the exigencies of preventative behavior. Deep-rooted cultural patterns are implicated in these issues, which call for sensitively crafted solutions. It does not appear that many African governments have engaged the issues at this level. One example of modest success for the African nations is Uganda. The government's campaign there, led by the President, Yoweri Museveni himself, has led to a dramatic decline in the rate of HIV prevalence, from 28 percent to 13 percent. The key to the success of the campaign is seen as being an effective public education campaign focused on openness in confronting the disease, and the ready availability of testing and counseling. Despite Uganda's progress, President Museveni has again called for a re-invigoration of the anti-AIDS campaign. Uganda's example proves that much can be done and that African heads of state in particular must do more to bring this crisis into full public view in their nations. Elleni West, head of the Ethiopian AIDS Project, and Cornel West, University Professor at Harvard University, convened a major conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in Fall 1999. This conference was the largest ever convened in Ethiopia regarding AIDS prevention. Such excellent efforts must be replicated throughout Africa.

next page... |  1 of 5

January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44