I just read a story that made me cringe. The story was about a Black man who knowingly infected women with HIV. It wasn’t the story that made me cringe. Rather, it was the ignorant comments made by people after the story. There were people who talked about how White women should avoid Black men. There were people who said that they felt the women got what they deserved by sleeping with a Black man. There were many racist comments and many people who felt that they were somehow “protected” because they weren’t having sex with “the wrong” kind of people.

The comments made me sick. They didn’t make me sick just because they were racist. They made me sick because they were just plain stupid. Instead of realizing that people of all races, economic backgrounds and income levels can get AIDS, these people were insinuating that somehow staying away from one race or another could protect you from AIDS. That idea is just so stupid. AIDS doesn’t care how chaste you are. It doesn’t care if you don’t sleep around. It doesn’t care if you don’t like Blacks. It doesn’t care if you don’t like Whites. AIDS doesn’t care if you are big. AIDS doesn’t care if you are small. AIDS doesn’t care if you are smart and AIDS doesn’t care if you are dumb. AIDS is not only for Blacks and being White is not an AIDS vaccine. The only thing - and I mean the only thing that will protect you from AIDS - is NOT getting the bodily fluids of an infected person into an open area on your body! Period! Sex is not the only method of transmission even though it is the most talked about and staying away from a particular group of people because of the color of their skin is NOT going to help you.

Here is the comment I wrote for that article.

Listen people - don’t be fooled. This isn’t a “black” issue. AIDS does not care about race, social status or financial status. Ladies please don’t think that having sex with just white men will protect you. Philippe Padieu was a white man who knowingly infected white women. Nushawn just happens to be black. Tony Perkins of Greenwood, Indiana is white and he knowingly infected women with AIDS. Ladies please don’t think that race has anything to do with AIDS. Please don’t lull yourself into a fall sense of complacency because you don’t date “those” kind of people! “Those” kind of people can be ANYONE. You cannot look at someone and tell they have AIDS and you can’t think that race is the deciding factor. Protect yourself - UNPROTECTED SEX CAN KILL! This isn’t funny and it isn’t a game. Having sex with someone who is HIV positive can change your life. Please, please, please don’t make this a race issue. That kind of talk is dangerous. Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Africans - it doesn’t matter. We ALL have to protect ourselves. Please don’t be fooled.

Here is the actual article:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/man_who_spread_aids_virus_may_remain_UIkOppwxDl30mQo0Uh8XFO#comments

Being a racist and thinking that will protect you from getting AIDS is very stupid. There are White people with AIDS and Black people with AIDS and there are many other types of people with AIDS. Thinking that anything protects you is just so very stupid. Please don’t be stupid enough to believe that dating within your own skin color offers you any protection. Please….