By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
As we reflect on World AIDS Day, observed Dec. 1, we recognize the continued impact of HIV and AIDS within the Black community. The Rev. Dr. Renee McCoy, HIV and AIDS program manager for the African Americans Reach and Teach Health Ministry at the University of Washington, has been on the front lines of prevention, care and research since the virus emerged in 1981.
“The realization that people were dying and no one was caring compelled me to enter this field,” McCoy said. “At first, for the most part, we thought that the disease was killing only gay white men, but when you really looked at it, Black men and women were dying. When the virus first hit, we were 25% of the people who had AIDS, and at that time we were only 12% of the country, and that number has just gotten larger and larger. The majority of the people who are newly diagnosed with HIV are Black.”
During the height of the epidemic, McCoy said the absence of the Black church, a historically vital social institution, was deeply troubling.
“The church for us as Black people was more about religion, and since slavery, the church has been our social service agency where we build community. And then all of a sudden, I saw these institutions start to reject people. Black men and women who had been singing in their choirs and playing their instruments,” McCoy said. “The church just rejected them, based on somebody else’s judgment. I saw families that were rejecting their children, and that’s not part of Black culture. That’s not who we are, and I just saw us becoming some other entity in the world, and we just stopped being human.”
More than four decades into her work, McCoy said the current state of HIV in the Black community feels like “backpedaling.”
“It feels like we have gone back to the beginning on many levels. We kind of believe that HIV is not an issue for Black people, and yet it is,” she said. “We just are not talking about prevention and care, and have sort of closed our eyes and ears once again.”
McCoy said the lack of awareness and uptake of PrEP, a daily medication that can reduce HIV risk by up to 99% when taken consistently, is a troubling sign of stalled progress.
“We have a medication now called PrEP that can protect people from getting HIV, but we’re not telling people about that. Black folks are not accessing PrEP because we are not talking about prevention, and it just seems like we are taking the easy way out,” she said.
McCoy also said racism shaped the early response to HIV and AIDS and continues to affect outcomes in Black communities today.
“It made us expendable. I think that racism is what activated the spirit of that because racism drives everything in this country. It determines our opportunity, access to care, and how we feel about ourselves,” McCoy said. “The internalized stigma that has grown out of the racism in this country also impacts people who are living with HIV, because they feel that internalized stigma keeps them from understanding that they deserve better.”
“The greatest challenge now is convincing people who are living with HIV or who are at risk for HIV, of the value of their lives and that they do deserve better,” she said.
McCoy said her perspective on the disease has changed over time, shaped by both progress and setbacks, but her faith remains a constant source of strength and hope.
“My perspective has gone up and down. We see people starting to live again with HIV, but then at the same time it is a struggle to resist the weariness that happens, because just when you think we are going to take five steps forward, something happens,” McCoy said. “There is this demonic spirit that has sort of plagued us since the days of slavery. Although, God has always been consistent throughout and is a spirit of hope. God is and will always be faithful, and so it is our faith that keeps our hope alive. Hope is our greatest act of resistance.”
Looking ahead, McCoy said ending the HIV epidemic will depend not only on new technologies but also on increased awareness and testing.
“It looks like technological advances will certainly end the disease,” said McCoy. “But, it also looks like people who are being supported and remain in care, and also that we are really being proactive about prevention and taking it seriously. Thirteen percent of people who are living with HIV don’t know that they are, so we have to begin talking about the importance of being tested for HIV.”
