Out of Control: AIDS in Black America is the first national network TV documentary that examined the major causes of the AIDS epidemic in the Black communities in the United States. In this 1-hour special documentary of ABC News, reporter Terry Moran interviewed many experts and politicians, including Phil Wilson, Dr. David Malebranche, Dr. Louis Sullivan, and Gwen Ifill. Through the research, Terry Moran presented five major reasons, i.e., ignorance, government failure, sexual behavior of Blacks, conservatism towards homosexuality and sex, and lack of leadership, which made AIDS out of control among the African-Americans (Arledge, 2006). The growing prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Black America is the serious health issues in the US which demands proper attention and effective measures to avoid it from escalating out of control in the future (Arledge, 2006).
Often it is assumed that HIV/AIDS is prevalent in Africa and other third world countries. This misconception is so widespread that no one has ever thought that it would be so serious health issue in the United States itself, affecting economic and social stability. Before watching this documentary, I was also influenced by this stereotype and it was quite shocking for me to find out that over 52% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the US were involved African-Americans, which made up around 15% of the overall US population. AIDS is the major cause of mortality among Blacks. Also, African-Americans are 8 times more likely to get infected by HIV compared to whites. The rate is even staggering among the Black women as they are 24 times more likely vulnerable to the disease than their white counterparts (Arledge, 2006). These statistics simply show the seriousness of the issue. Despite it, there are hardly any measures taken by the US government to deal with the issue, which is more distressing. In the Documentary, when Gwen Ifill confronted the US vice-President Dick Cheney and Democrat challenger John Edwards in 2004 about the massive prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Blacks, shockingly, both were not only unaware of the epidemic but also, similar to the majority of the masses, interpreted it as the issue of third world countries (Arledge, 2006). Such ignorance of people in power is actually a major concern.
Certainly, it is a commendable effort of the ABC News team to acknowledge the issue and bring it in the limelight. The mentioned five major reasons of the growing prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the African-Americans are truly basic triggering factors. However, it failed to analyze another crucial reason, i.e., widespread practice of unprotected sex among the Blacks. Even though homosexuality is considered taboo in African-American culture, the unwillingness of the majority of gay black men to practice safe sex remains unanswered. As stated by the HRSA research study, unprotected sex practice of gay, bisexual, and straight black men is one of the major causes of high rates of HIV/AIDS among African-Americans (HRSA, 2013, p. 4-7). It is definitely an important factor which requires necessary attention while analyzing the epidemic of AIDS in Black America.
Overall, Out of Control: AIDS in Black America is an eye-opening documentary which has effectively highlighted the most neglected yet most threatening health issue in the American society. By analyzing major causes of high rates of HIV/AIDS among the Blacks, the documentary has successfully shattered many stereotypes and misconceptions associated with the issue. The documentary may prove useful in spreading public awareness and help the authorities to adopt necessary measures to tackle the issue.
References
Arledge, E. (Producer & Director). (2006, August 24). Out of Control: The AIDS Epidemic in Black America [Documentary]. USA: American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
HRSA (2013). A Living History African Americans: The Ryan White HIV-AIDS Program. hab.hrsa.gov, 1-14, PDF Document. Retrieved from http://hab.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/issues/African-Americans.pdf
