Some factors why black women are infected with HIV at higher rates than other women.
They are more likely to be poor. That can cause people to prioritize daily survival over long-term health concerns such as buying condoms, putting them and their partners at risk for HIV infection.
Less likely to get tested. African Americans are less likely on average than white Americans to get tested or seek proper treatment upon diagnosis.
More likely to hide high-risk behavior. Because of some long held stigmas many African Americans are more apt to conceal risky behavior – such as men having sex with men or IV drug use.
SOURCE: amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research
A Clayton County jury Tuesday convicted a Stone Mountain man of reckless HIV, knowingly exposing a woman to the virus, sparking a new round of talks about personal responsibility in the age of AIDS.
The case, the first of its kind in Clayton, has garnered widespread attention, especially among public health groups who continue to push the importance of safe sex and getting tested regularly.
Craig Lamar Davis was found guilty on two counts of reckless HIV, a felony in Georgia. He was taken into custody pending his Feb. 21 sentencing where he could get as much as 20 years in prison. He also faces similar charges in Fulton County involving a second woman, who also testified in the Clayton case. Both women, like Davis, were African Americans.
For black women, the group that leads the nation in the percentage of new HIV cases, the Clayton trial has ignited a parallel conversation about men like Davis. Some metro Atlanta families say they intend to use the Davis case as a teaching moment with their teens, many of whom don’t see HIV/AIDS as the scourge it was in the past.
In 2010, black women accounted for nearly two thirds - 64 percent - of all estimated new HIV infections among women in the United States, even though they only account for 13 percent of the female population, according to a study released by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in March 2013. By the end of 2010, six in 10 of all women living with an HIV diagnosis were black, the report said. The report also noted that recent data indicate that, as with women overall, new HIV infections among Black women are on the decline.
The Clayton case hits home for some.
Stephanie L. for instance, has been living with HIV for 16 years, after she was infected by a longtime boyfriend. Like the two women who testified in the Clayton trial, she didn’t suspect her boyfriend was HIV-positive. She said the Clayton case can be a lesson for all women to make sure not only are they tested but that their partners are tested as well.
“I questioned myself, what part did I play? Was I so trusting that I didn’t demand that this person use a condom?” said Stephanie, 50, who asked that her last name not be used. “It’s the responsibility of both people. I hope (women) get the fact that no matter what, it’s up to you to take care of you. If you’re slightly uneasy, use a condom. If he stayed out too late one night, use a condom.”
Last week the two women testified Davis, a 43-year-old owner of a pressure-washing business who was active in numerous metro Atlanta churches, never told them he had HIV when they had sex with him.
The woman in the Clayton case says she has not tested positive for HIV. The woman, who has brought similar charges against Davis in Fulton County, says she has the virus and got it after having sex with Davis. She told the court she had been celibate 15 years before having sex with Davis in 2012.
Kia Smith and her girlfriends have been following the Clayton case closely.
“We often talk about sexual health and the best ways to prevent disease and stay healthy,” the 32-year-old Ellenwood resident said Tuesday. “You can’t always trust your partner to self-reveal pertinent information.
“Be proactive. Ask the hard questions,” she said. “More importantly, have date night at the doctor’s office and get tested together. If your partner’s not willing to do that, he or she may have something to hide.”
AID Atlanta has fielded more calls in recent years from African-American churches and organizations to provide information about HIV/AIDS and testing.
The Clayton case and others like it “can have an impact about what people know and think they know about HIV,” said Neena Smith-Bankhead, director of education and prevention services at AID Atlanta. “We’re always concerned that when information comes out, that it doesn’t hamper our efforts to get people tested.” The organization sees more African Americans and more young people being tested these days.
In addition to knowing your own status, “make sure you know the status of the person you’re engaging with. We each have a personal responsibility to do what we can do to protect ourselves and others,” Smith-Bankhead said.
The Clayton case highlights why HIV and AIDs remain a public health concern.
“The sad part is that we will still see cases like this, “ said Gina Wingood, a professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and part of the Emory Center for AIDS Research.
“These days when you think of relationships, you have to think of your safety,” Wingood said. If your partner refuses to get tested or disclose his status “that says a lot right there. Maybe he’s not the person you want to be intimate with.”
Alisha L. Gordon, a 31-year-old master of divinity candidate at the Candler School of Theology from Decatur, said that while the case received no mention in her church pulpit, it has surfaced with regularity among her circle of friends.
Because the church often shuns talk of sex and sexual orientation, Gordon said many people are still in hiding about their sexuality and unwilling to address it in a healthy way. While church leaders may be hesitant to talk, news of the case has circulated throughout many area churches. Davis was known to attend numerous churches, even overseeing a men’s ministry at one church, according to the woman in the Fulton case.
Gordon worries about the impact Davis’ action has had on the church in general because he was so active in them.
“The greatest damage that Mr. Davis could have done is not to his own personal spiritual reputation, but the lives of the women he infected and the dozens of Christians who will have to reframe their faith narrative, trying to reclaim what they believe to be true about the Christian faith and God.”
Bonita Johnson works with teenaged girls at the non-profit Enchanted Closet. She said many teens in the program believe that since there are medicines that allow people to live with HIV/AIDS, contracting it is no longer a big deal.
“We have to continue to raise awareness and to drive home the point that we all must take responsibility for our health,” Johnson said. “There are (predators) out there who don’t care about how they negatively impact your life, and they may come wrapped in a nice, clean-looking package professing to be someone in a respectable profession just to make you their prey.”
Staff writer Shelia M. Poole contributed to this article.
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