Episode Transcript
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On this edition of the Colorbetween the Lines.
I'm, speaking with GrisellHoward, and she's giving
a wake up call aboutthe impact of HIV and AIDS
in the black community.
Hey, it's Esther Dillard withthe Color between the Lines
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where I speak with authors,writers, producers and thought
leaders who have a blackand brown perspective.
In this edition of the Colorbetween the Lines, I'm
speaking with a woman bythe name of Grisell Howard.
She's the board chair of theBlack AIDS Institute, and
she hasn't written a book,but she sure could with all
the knowledge she droppedon me in our last conversation.
She wants to raise awarenessabout the impact of HIV and
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AIDS on the black communityand how there are new tools
out there that not onlyimpact homosexual black men,
but really impact It's, laheterosexual black women.
That HIV is not a gay disease,that HIV specifically in the
black community impacts andaffects all of us because if
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one community member has hiv,then we are all impacted and
that HIV is a preventablevirus that currently is
disproportionately impactingthe black community.
And can we define black?
May we?
Sure.
Black community is obviouslyAfrican Americans, but it is
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also our, immigrant brothersand sisters who hail from
Caricom nations, the WestIndies as well as Africa.
So that is the diasporato the continent.
If you identify as blackor as an African descendant,
you should be articulate inunderstanding the facts of HIV
and the myths of of hiv.
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And today we havean opportunity to bend
the tide of HIV in all our,black communities.
The CDC reports that,black heterosexual women
account for about 50%of the new HIV diagnosed
diagnosis among women.
What factors have you foundin research that contribute to
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this disproportionate impact?
And, and what is BIAdoing, I should say BAI
doing to address thisalarming statistic?
The black.
AIDS Institutehas a long history steeped
in communicatingwith black women.
We're the first HIV AIDSorganization in the country
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to assemble a conferenceexclusively, for black women,
about black women.
And if you allow the timelineto go back the 40 years when
HIV frightened the world,frightened science, and
specifically ravaged thehomosexual gay community, the
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messages were messages thatforced our community, black
women, to almost not listen.
Why?
They said it was a gay disease.
We received the messagesthat HIV was not
about us and for us.
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And then I usher you intoa time, when Oprah Winfrey
and others finally glommedon that this was an epidemic.
And unfortunately, ratherthan that episode being
impactful and informativefor the entire community,
it took a salacious bet.
And that salacious bendwas when Oprah
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Winfrey ushered in J.L.
king rather than actuallythe founder of the Black
AIDS Institute, because he wason the stage as well.
And that would have beenthe opportune time to say,
black people, we all needto be in this together.
HIV is contracted through sex,IV drug use and bodily fluids.
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That means it can attackor attract anyone fair anyone
is susceptible that engagesin high risk behavior.
Let me say it like that, that.
2.
IV drug use.
IV drug use is a way youcan contract the virus.
Exchange of bodily fluids.
Very simple, right?
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However, if you don't knowthat, the myth become true
and rapidly spreadfaster than the facts.
So then you had fear.
Oh, you can't drinkwater in my house.
Oh, you can't use my bathroom.
Oh, I can't.
Hug or kiss you.
Oh.
Oh.
We can't bury our loved ones.
That still occursin some countries.
So with all of that said,the first messages about HIV
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went against our culture.
And now here we are, 40 yearslater, still battling myth,
shame, stigma, which is alsoa word that's not really ours.
We really don't use the wordstigma in our community
because we're allstigmatized because we can't
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unzip our black skin.
But let's speak aboutwords we know share.
Shame, fear,Okay, I'm going to ask.
There is, you know, reallybig concern now because
your organization dealswith black women and deals
with black people and aids.
And now we havean administration which does
not want to give funding toorganizations that deal with,
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quote, air quotes, dei.
How are you going to be ableto, I guess, ride this tide
and still help yourcommunity when you have
individuals who arebasically trying to cut off
funding in many ways?
the double edged sword and wemust speak truth at all times.
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The Black AIDS Institute isuniquely and unapologetically
black, addressing HIVin all sphere and segments
of the black community.
And in the currentconstruct, HIV is not gay.
The administration is targetingand focused on on lgbtq,
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queer and other organizationsand nonprofits that focus
on the LGBTQ community.
In the state of hiv, weare speaking about health
and wellness,and that is an entitlement
of every citizen of theseyet United States.
And I will give you this tidbitbecause it's factual.
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Earlier I referenced thatthe Black AIDS Institute
held the first blackwomen's conference on hiv.
The title of that conferencewas called Sisters
Get Real about hiv.
It was a national conferencesupported by public
and private organizations.
One of our earliestfunders was Mr.
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Donald Trump, known as todayPresident Donald Trump.
My name is Griselle Howardand I must inform you that Mr.
Donald Trump, nativeNew Yorker, was one
of our earliest sponsorsof, the Sisters Get Real
about HIV and aids.
This national campaignwas a billboard campaign.
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It was also a black women'sorganization campaign,
representation from everytraditional hiv, you know,
every traditional blackwomen's organization and
augmented by HIV organizationsand those doing the HIV work.
Most success at that timehappened to be black Muslims.
So we also had middle schoolstudents supported
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by actually, movie stars.
And so Hollywood showed upas well as daytime tv because
many people were impacted.
So people who were passionateabout, social work,
people who were passionateabout foster care.
So we were trying to bringin the full nucleus
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of where black women showedup to give the message.
Middle school students camefrom Los Angeles county,
high school students camefrom Los Angeles county.
And the women representationcame from around the country
as young as 18 to 90.
And in that meeting, we thoughtwe were addressing all the
spheres of black America thatwe as black women could go
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back in our community and say,hey, this is not just about
gay people.
Hey, the people that contractthis virus aren't bad people.
What do you say isthe biggest challenges that
black women facein accessing HIV prevention,
testing and treatment?
How can community leadershelp address those barriers?
We can level, set and demandthat the messenger matters.
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Once you, agree thatthe messenger matters,
then you must have somecultural fluency.
Black people are notlone wolves.
We're like grapes.
And so have you ever seenone grape on a plate
that you want to grab?
And it looks appealing?
So you must allow us to cometogether as black people
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and then allow us to go intoour self selected dialogues.
What do you mean, Griselle?
I mean allow young blackmen who have sex with men
to have a conversation.
Allow women over the ageof 50 to have a conversation.
Allow Big Papa over 55to have a conversation.
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Why?
Because when HIV representeditself or presented itself,
there was no performanceenhancing drugs, no Viagra,
no, say Alice We did nothave the superhighway in a
way that you had TikToksocial media.
So pornography hasplayed an interesting role
for the youngs.
And then lastly, we didnot have this open acceptance
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of, group sexand partying and free love.
So we first must refreshour hard drive within HIV
and say black people,what you heard 40 years
ago is not true today.
Why?
Because we have biomedicalinterventions, we have medical
technology that allows forpeople to love who they want,
when they want safely.
And we also allow people whohave been impacted by hiv,
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living with HIV to live long,thriving lives so it's no
longer a death sentence.
We need hip hop to come back.
We need hip hop to come backhard and bring the messages
that they brought50 years ago, 30 years ago.
Come on.
Everybody was rapping about it.
Everybody was singing about it.
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Today, mom's the wordin fact, it's reversed if you
look at love and hip hopand the housewives
They could be our biggestpartner and just show
all the love lust that.
and lux and oopa lux.
Now safely.
Let's talk about it again.
Let's talk about the STIs.
Here's a fact I'd likeyou to think about.
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Prep the pre prophylacticthat if you are HIV negative
and you choose to engagein high risk activities,
you can take this one pilla day and love safely.
The cautionary tale to thatis, is that you still are
not protected from othersexually transmitted viruses
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that are ravishing thecommunity that have shown up
post Covid to really beresistant to drugs.
Gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia.
That's the conversation.
And if we don't have thatconversation, we will continue
to be the smallest populationwith the largest impact
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and adverse results of hiv.
You talked about those,those medications.
And my understanding is thatonly about 13% of black people
get are that are in needof this, are able to get
prescribed this medication.
Why is that and what is beingdone to kind of fix that?
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So I'll submit to you, and thisis not a popular belief, but I
will submit to you, we have.
Have two things.
One, continue to ensure peopleknow about PREP and pep.
No one ever speaks about PEPin the black community.
Oh, what is that?
That's the oops pill.
So should you go out and yoube outside, and then
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you come inside and say,oh, girl, I wild it out.
Have an HIV test.
Should you test negativefor hiv, you can actually
take a pill that allows youto have that Oops.
You will continue to bescreened for the virus of HIV
for about six months, or, youknow, unfortunately in rape
cases and things like that.
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This is a drug that they give.
However, in our community, wedon't know it as an HIV Plan
B, but the young people knowabout Plan B for pregnancy.
The men and the women.
We recently had an amazing,community activation
at Historically Black College.
And the youngs were linedup for plan B drugs.
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They weren't aware that therewas a prep and a pet, so.
What we will say is this.
When the original prep drugswere introduced, the FDA did
not approve them for women.
Why, women were not evenin the clinical trials.
Now, you can shake your head,but this is America.
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And as Derrick Bell said,the face at the bottom
of the well is the faceat the bottom of the well.
And so if we're black women,we're the woman
to the invisible man.
What do I mean?
Richard Wright said it.
If the black man's invisibleand I'm his woman, then
I'm the invisible womanto the invisible man.
So.
Oh, no one ever thoughtto put black women
in the clinical trials.
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Why?
Pharmaceutical companies.
Pharmaceutical companies wentfor who the largest portion
of the population impacted.
Who is that?
That is men whohave sex with men.
And because we're speakingunapologetically black.
That's young black menwho have sex with men.
And we have to refreshour hard drive again.
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Young people don't run aroundsaying they gay any longer.
They taught us, new adjectives.
What gender?
Non binary fluid.
Asexual.
Shall I go on?
So if we.
The messenger matters.
So when I say the firstdrugs didn't think about
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us, we're trailing again.
When the first HIV casescame out, we didn't even
have a name for hiv.
We were calling it grid.
And I love Sheryl Lee Ralphbecause she was there then
with Bai and others,and she's still here today.
And so when we were runningaround the country screaming
the alarm for black womentogether, we remind people
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we always were trailingin the appropriate messages.
Care and treatment.
Well, you talked a little bitabout combating stigma
and how that your organizationhas been doing that.
How would you say now?
What can everyday individualsdo to help destigmatize this
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HIV and AIDS in theirown communities, particularly
within religious or culturallyconservative spaces?
So.
I'm charmed and privileged,lived enough living a charmed
and privileged life enoughto have been surrounded
by some of the most brilliantblack women on the planet.
And many of the courageousones even identify
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as black feminists.
So what they would say is,if you're not talking
about your money every day,if you're not speaking about
your health every day,then you're not living.
And advocacy today isso important, Right?
So we must talk about HIVthe way we talk about
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our hair and our nails.
We must speak about HIVthe way we speak about
the hottest, most, egregiousthings in TikTok X
and every other social media.
This must becomean everyday conversation.
Why?
We must also speakabout truth to ourselves.
Okay?
We say stigma, stigma, stigma.
But you know what?
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Speak to some young gay people,especially some young,
same gender loving black men.
They will tell you theydidn't leave their house
to be stigmatized.
The first time they weretreated poorly or called out
their name was in their familyor in their community.
So we must stop that and wemust care about one another.
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And listen, we all make choicesthat people don't agree with.
However, our livesdepend on this.
The race depends on it.
Why, there was a Star warsmovie that didn't have
any black people in it.
People say, oh,James Earl Jones.
No, his voice was in it.
You didn't see him.
And at, the rate we'regoing, if we don't
eradicate hiv, and when.
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I mean eradicated, I mean,there are persons living
and thriving with hiv.
There are persons who,who don't know their status.
So we must address that.
Everyone should know theirHIV status the way they
know their Social Securitynumber or, you know, your PIN
for your bank card.
And today maybe the PIN forthe bank card is passe also.
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So what is your, you know,what is your, IG address?
Know it that well?
Know your status?
Essence, the Black AIDSInstitute, took HIV
testing to essence.
So when we started screening,women started reporting they
had never been screened.
And then they wentto reporting that, well, my
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doctor never asked meabout my sexual practices,
behaviors and beliefs.
So, primary care physicians,we have a huge opportunity
to educate primarycare physicians to insist
that women have the hiv.
Test.
How many times you go tothe gynecologist and they say,
it's time for HIV test.
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It's time.
It's time.
It's time for yourSTI screening.
So become your ownbest advocate.
Self love.
Let's agree we're going to loveourselves as a community.
We don't have to agree witheverything in that community,
but agree we're going to loveourselves enough so that young
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men and women can love safely.
And, you know, I'man elder in training.
I want to get it whenI want, how I want, as
long as I want also.
And so, teach me how.
Why?
Because we're meetingwomen over the age of 50
who are divorced.
Covid had a huge divorcerate, and now they out
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the house too, y' all.
And they don't know that theyneed to be having safe sex.
They need a condom.
Because Most women over50 are certainly not
running out to get prep.
It's not marketed to them.
They're not evenaware it exists.
However, they knowthe commercial.
Lastly, speak tothem, market to them.
Why?
I use the one commercialall the time.
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Y' all seen the couplewalking down the street
with the beautiful goldenIrish sleep dog?
They come home, beautifulbathroom, wallpaper, and they
put the dog in the bathtub.
How many black womenyou know put their dog
in their bathtub?
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I don't know any.
So the messenger matters.
Give us culturallyappropriate messages.
And let's not deny the factthat in our communities,
black women lead the charge.
If you enjoyed this episode,please subscribe
to the Color betweenthe lines on iHeartRadio,
YouTube or wherever youget your podcasts.
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I'm Esther Dillard.