Rock Star Bono Says Poverty and Emasculation Cause HIV in the African-Amercian Community
Bono, lead singer of U2, met with Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from Oakland, today to discuss the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Oakland. "Bono called Oakland's African American community the epicenter both of an HIV/AIDS epidemic and of the resistance to that epidemic after meeting Friday with patients, service providers and clergy."
Bono said that although he's "just at the beginning of a conversation" on HIV/AIDS in African-American community, he believes that poverty and the "emasculation" it causes — men engaging in reckless sex and drug abuse to counter their feelings of socio-economic helplessness — are a root cause of the disease's spread.
"Emasculation" sounds like homophobia and scapegoating to me. Bono is blaming DL men for the HIV epidemic in the African-American community. It is becoming well known among HIV activists and educators that focusing on DL behavior actually misses the real and more risky behavior causing the epidemic. That behavior is promiscuous heterosexuality. But, I do agree with Bono that poverty and drug abuse are huge contributing factors to the high rates of HIV infection in the African-American community.
I wonder if the reason Bono chose to target "emasculation" as a cause of HIV was because he was meeting Rep. Lee and other community leaders in Allen Temple Baptist Church. The Church and homophia go hand in hand.
Bono met with these African-American leaders to promote his organization One, which is connected with the Product(RED) campaign Bono and Bobby Shriver launched last year with American Express, Converse, Gap, Giorgio Armani, Motorola and Apple. Ironically, the funds raised only go people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa, not African-Americans in America.
There is definitely not enough conversation about the relationship between poverty and the AIDS epidemic. It is unfortunate that this was not an opportunity to talk about that more seriously. I am also wondering how much the image of the Africana community being "too matriarchal" is feeding into Bono's thoughts on "emasculation."
Reply to this
""Emasculation" sounds like homophobia and scapegoating to me. Bono is blaming DL men for the HIV epidemic in the African-American community. It is becoming well known among HIV activists and educators that focusing on DL behavior actually misses the real and more risky behavior causing the epidemic. That behavior is promiscuous heterosexuality. But, I do agree with Bono that poverty and drug abuse are huge contributing factors to the high rates of HIV infection in the African-American community."
Oooh the poor black man is so oppressed and emasculated until he cannot help but have unprotected sex to make himself feel whole. BU___SH____! and the crap about Matriarchal households doesn't fly either. Stop making excuses for irresponsibility. Everyone should know by now that Aids is a deadly disease transmitted through unprotected sex. So why make excuses for anyone who is willing to jump in bed in this day and age with no protection. When people do this, they are living in the here and now. If black men are suffering from a sense of having a foreshortened future to the point of risking a death sentence from a disease, then the conditions within those communities need to change. They aren't fearing being hung in trees by the Klan. They are fearing being murdered by another black man. Poverty shouldn't make one say, "oh let me go out and sell drugs." Also, if there was indeed still Matriarchal households, it definitely wouldn't be an option. Matriarchs are dying out and being replaced with nihilistic mothers who are either new age slaves to the system or who have been used and abused by black men to the point of not even being able to rely on God for a spiritual outlet. Bono needs to keep his work in Africa and not even bother commenting on black America because the dynamics are much too complex.
Reply to this
i am confused as to where the homophobia discourse enters...is saying emasculation is linked to hiv/aids the homophobia or where...please locate the homophobia in that comment. b/c couldn't he be speaking about promiscuous heterosexual people when he said reckless behavior?
Reply to this
"Emasculation" is a heterosexist concept. Its premise is that any situation where men are not in total control will weaken them. Keep in mind also that the group of men most stigmatized as HIV carriers in this culture are gay men; "real" men don't get HIV. In other words, because Black men are emasculated they are not real men, and because they are not real men, they are getting HIV. Can you see how this notion would be homophobic?
What's even more offensive is that in this context, the person labeling African American men as emasculated is a wealthy famous white man. Now how does Bono know this? When did he become an expert on Black men in the United States, or Black men anywhere for that matter? What gives him the authority to speak to any man of color's experience? He (presumably) was there in Oakland to observe and listen, not to make definitive pronouncements on a political reality he knows nothing about.
By the way, why is the HIV/AIDS question focused on Black men's masculinity at all? Why aren't white male supremacy or capitalism on the table for examination? Why do we consistently ignore systemic power when we are tackling social problems like HIV?
Reply to this
Drugs and HIV are two major problems of the present world. They are even more serious when they come together. Bono is doing a great job, there are so many people that could learn from that...
Reply to this
Poverty is something which can make people to do everything they like or not. When one is suffering from poverty, means lack of resources, poor financial condition he/she may takes some wrong steps which lead them towards the path of destruction. Prosecution is one of the major problem which causes HIV, and the reason of it is "poverty". It is not a legal business like, finance,currency">http://www.forexfloor.com">currency trading, insurance, or teaching but yes it is a business which is well known and spreading this disease known as "HIV". I t should be our own responsibility to avoid such actions which are trying to destroy the human identity. We must necessary steps to avoid these hazards.
Reply to this
Many thanks for this wonderful post,raising some of the most common and the most dangerous problem of today's world, which is HIV and poverty respectively.
Reply to this
I agree!!!!
Reply to this
I totally agree with Bono. It's clear now that poverty is the main cause of all those diseases that occur to the people living in Africa. He's right and I admire him and his crew a lot for what they've done until now for the habitants there.
Reply to this