Page 1 / 2 - Home

On the plus side, a number of black leaders were interviewed, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bishop T.D. Jakes. Their interviews were among the best parts of the special because their willful ignorance has helped spread the disease.

Jackson was visibly uncomfortable about his silence regarding HIV and tried to deflect the argument. “Every football coach has fumbled the ball,” he shrugged, which certainly will go down as one of the sound bites of the decade.

Jakes, a popular Dallas-based televangelist, also had a pithy remark: “The Apostle Paul didn't write about HIV or AIDS. So we don't know how to navigate those waters.” Jakes almost seemed uncomfortable around the issue, and, the producers were clear to point out that he routinely almost never mentions HIV or safe sex in his sermons that are delivered to tens of thousands.

A number of other prominent black clergymen were interviewed, such as the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III of New York City's Abyssinian Baptist and Boston's Rev. Eugene Rivers. Both concede that the black church has not done enough—which is a major admission.

However, Rev. Butts is shown preaching that the community needs to stop “all the promiscuity that is characteristic of American heterosexual and homosexual behavior.” Promiscuity does not cause HIV and, unfortunately, preaching that it does and ignoring safe sex and testing has been par for the course among many black clergy.

Speaking of the interviewed subjects—Rev. Rivers was an odd choice. Although he spoke eloquently on the church's need to become more proactive—“The conspiracy of silence on this sexual, moral and cultural crisis is suicidal”—the producers were strangely silent on why Rivers has become a prominent voice in the AIDS epidemic. That's because he is an outspoken critic of gays and was a huge supporter of the president's Federal Marriage Amendment.

These asides should not suggest that the Primetime special was totally off-target. Even though it devoted more attention to the threat of black women becoming infected, it did focus considerable energy on one of the primary factors in spreading HIV among blacks: Fear around men having sex with men and homophobia. The reporter, Terry Moran, provided enough statistics on infections, but it would have been stronger if they drove home the point that male-to-male transmission was more prevalent.

Up until now, the majority of the media have demonized black men in the HIV crisis—“as though brothas somehow invented HIV on their own and chose to infect black women”, observes Keith Boykin. This program did not necessarily go there. A number of HIV positive black women were interviewed—only one or two spoke of the need to practice safe sex.

The late Peter Jennings was seen interviewing a round table of positive black men. One of the men related a chilling anecdote about his own history; he had been married and living on the “down low” and knew of his HIV positive status for a full year before telling his wife. Jennings didn't say anything but his arched eyebrow spoke volumes.

That was the major question remaining after watching Out of Control: AIDS in Black America: With all the information that is readily available, and, so many black men and women that are infected, why do so many of us continue to practice unsafe sex? At the close of the special, Terry Moran offered a few suggestions. He said that the tide could turn by challenging a popular culture that too often celebrates misogyny, irresponsibility, and anti-gay bigotry. That's a start.

Rod McCullom is a writer and television producer, formerly with ABC News. His blog,
Rod 2.0, covers black gay culture and pop culture.

Page 1 / 2 - Home