A new decade for our youth only means more problems our youth have to face, some known and some unknown. Outside of dealing with education issues and violence, our youth have many health issues to combat that stem from not only from the previous decade but decades prior. Still if we as Americans are going to win this war on our youth once and for all this decade we must all work together like never before. For instance, while the youth in Chicago are continuing to be plagued by violence and the youth in Detroit have educational issues to mainly worry about it, it is clear that health issues throughout this nation will perhaps be one of the major hurdles our youth face this decade.
While reading an article in the Michigan Citizen last week, I saw a headline titled “Rising teen HIV rate prompts concern.” While the article only spoke of the HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, rate amongst black teens in the state of the Michigan. The truth is that this issue is something that all Americans should be concerned about especially since our youth today are having sex like never before in our nation’s history. Still depending on who you are, the major problem isn’t that teens are having unmarital sex but the real issue is that they are having unprotected sex on top of having unmarital sex.
Since I can only speak of my home state of Michigan and the problems we face in terms of dealing with 85% of new cases being among black teens. It is very alarming for the African American community to see that 85% of new cases are black teens but whenever there is a problem in the black community, it seems to hit black males even harder. 62% of new cases are among African American males who had sex with other males accords to the Department of Community Health which released a report for World AIDS Day, saying the rate of new cases among 13-to-19 years old in Michigan more than doubled between 2003 and 2007.
Still Michigan is following the national trend of increasing HIV diagnoses among teens. This is why this type of news is not just a problem or Michigan but it is a problem that all of us in America must deal with this decade once and for all. Since HIV and AIDS were introduced to the world, it seems as if it has been on the increase in American especially amongst the African American community more so than any other community. Now this doesn’t mean there is some conspiracy or something but the truth is that like the unemployment rate disparity in this nation, their also exists a health disparity but better than that, there exists a communication within the African American community.
Just think about when Earvin “Magic” Johnson came out in the early 1990s and said he had the HIV virus, many in the African American community didn’t know how he contracted it yet alone what it actually was. Now nearly 20 years later, when you look at the African American community and the fact that the teen HIV rate has doubled than it is clear that many African Americans are not speaking about the HIV and AIDS issue as they should be. However this doesn’t mean that we as a nation can’t combat this trend because the truth is if our youth is our future than we must deal with the rising teen HIV rate now rather than later.
The abstinence only programs of the Bush administration did not prevent teens from having sex and didn’t put a dent in the teenage pregnancy rate, so learning from that, we as nation must now not only talk about waiting for sex but we must stress the importance protection to our youth who indulge in it. Now more than ever we have to educate our youth about not only HIV and AIDS but all STDs but this must be a community driven effort that starts in the home and school but is talked about in the barbershop, beauty salon grocery store, gas station and the church. Education and community awareness have to be ongoing and renewed with every new generation of youth if we are to decrease the rising teen HIV rate.
So if we are to win this war on our youth, we have deal with not just educational problems and violence but we must deal with health issues such as the rising HIV rate. We must deal with it starting today by talking to our youth about using protection especially if they indulge in sexual activities. While some might say, we should tell our youth not to have sex: point, blank, period. Simply telling them not to have sex is not good enough because our youth today are starting to indulge in sexual activities at a younger age just about every year on average. While 20 years ago, the average age for when a teenager had sex probably was 15 or 16, today it is not even in teen years, the average is more so 11 or 12 according to many surveys.
Thus, if we are to fight the rising teen HIV rate not only in Michigan but as a nation, we must start discussing the dangers of sexual activities and the importance of either waiting to make mature decisions or at least using protection if partaking in the activities. In fact, we should even stress to our youth to consult with their parents before partaking in sexual activities but this line should be coming from parents and guardians. Nonetheless we are all responsible for trying to put a dent in the rising teen HIV rate because it takes a village to raise a child and it is time we all start doing our part to raise our children of the village properly.
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