American Indian Awareness Week on April, 2024: Anyone else tired of a Black History Month?

American Indian Awareness Week 2024. May 14-17: American Indian Awareness Week May 14-17: American Indian Awareness Week. Posted by. Brian Lynn

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There is an easy solution to being annoyed with Black History Month.

Commercials and programs on television are solved by the Art of the OFF button. I.e., turn off your television. I have perfected this Art. My television is gathering dust in the closet and has quite a coating by now. I am living proof that a person can actually survive without television.

Celebrations? Another simple solution: excersize your right to not go.

Museums? See the above.

American history, to me, should include everything. I wish that American history taught everything, but it does not. I know enough about American history, by my OWN studying, to know that what I was taught in school is not sufficient. This includes Black history. What I was taught in school was so sanitized and so much left out that it was useless.

Did you know the Scottish were brought here and enslaved, for example? How much about the Native Americans were you taught? American schools sanitize American history.

I like what you had to say in the end about the well-Educated American but what any group, or person, chooses to call itself is up to them.

Now, I wish more ethnicities had some sort of awareness day/week/month. My ethnicity not only does not have a day, but most people do not think we really exist or that we are a "lifestyle", not a genetic people.

*shrugs*

Should we get rid of Black History Month?

No. That's your personal opinion but we live a race base country. If you Google and did a little bit more research, you will know other ethic group have month or week for their heritage too. I don't think a person who isn't of that heritage should tell a minority group how to celebrate their heritage. R u 4 ending St. Patrick's Day? America is a melting pot and I think that’s what make us great. I don’t understand why everyone always complain about Black History month when each month there’re celebration for some ethic group. Who is going to decide to end it. I don't minorities especially African American will let that happen. If you don't want to teach your children or yourself about tolerance and understand, that's your right but others feel differently. §

FYI

Black History Month was created by the African American scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The celebration is intended to inform the public and recognize famous African-Americans who made significant contributions to American culture and society.

Significance

Black History Month is a celebration that provides a way for the general public to learn about the contributions of African Americans in American culture. February was the chosen month because it is the month in which many African American figures were born.

Celebrations

Educational institutions use Black History Month celebrations as a tool to raise awareness of the contributions of African Americans to American society. The celebrations also feature famous African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass and Langston Hughes.

Cinco de Mayo - Mexican Holidays May 5th.

European History Month

AIDS a conspiracy against blacks?

WHAT????

HIV is spread by having unprotected sex and sharing drug needles. While it is true that the virus is spreading fastest in young, black women it is because they are not insisting their partners uses condoms. The virus was not created to devastate the black community.

In the United States, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a health crisis for African Americans. In 2002, HIV/AIDS was among the top 3 causes of death for African American men aged 25–54 years and among the top 4 causes of death for African American women aged 25–54 years. It was the number 1 cause of death for African American women aged 25–34 years [1].

The primary mode of HIV transmission among African American women was heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use [2].

Of the estimated 145 infants perinatally infected with HIV, 105 (73%) were African American (CDC, HIV/AIDS Reporting System, unpublished data, June 2005).

Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001–2004 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61%) were African American [4].

Of the estimated 80,187 African Americans whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001–2004 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 49,704 (62%) were males, and 30,483 (38%) were females [4].

Race/ethnicity of persons (including children) with HIV/AIDS diagnosed during 2004

AIDS in 2004

African Americans accounted for 20,965 (49%) of the 42,514 estimated AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States (including US dependencies, possessions, and associated nations) [2].

The rate of AIDS diagnoses for African American adults and adolescents was 10 times the rate for whites and almost 3 times the rate for Hispanics. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for African American women was 23 times the rate for white women. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for African American men was 8 times the rate for white men [2].

The 178,233 African Americans living with AIDS in the United States accounted for 43% of all people in the United States living with AIDS [2].

Of the 48 US children (younger than 13 years of age) who had a new AIDS diagnosis, 29 were African American [2].

Since the beginning of the epidemic, African Americans have accounted for 379,278 (40%) of the estimated 944,306 AIDS cases diagnosed [2].

From the beginning of the epidemic through December 2004, an estimated 201,045 African Americans with AIDS died [2].

Of persons whose diagnosis of AIDS had been made since 1996, a smaller proportion of African Americans (64%) were alive after 9 years compared with American Indians and Alaska Natives (65%), Hispanics (72%), whites (74%), and Asians and Pacific Islanders (81%) [2].

Note. Based on data from 35 areas with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting.

Race/ethnicity of persons (including children) living with HIV/AIDS, 2004

Note. Based on data from 35 areas with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting.

RISK FACTORS AND BARRIERS TO PREVENTION

Race and ethnicity, by themselves, are not risk factors for HIV infection. Even though HIV testing rates are higher for African Americans than for other racial and ethnic groups [5], African Americans are more likely to face challenges associated with risk for HIV infection, including the following.

Sexual Risk Factors

African American women are most likely to be infected with HIV as a result of sex with men [2]. They may not be aware of their male partners’ possible risks for HIV infection, such as unprotected sex with multiple partners, bisexuality, or injection drug use [6,7]. In a study of HIV-infected persons, 34% of African American men who have sex with men (MSM) reported having had sex with women, even though only 6% of African American women reported having had sex with a bisexual man [8].

Lack of Awareness of HIV Serostatus

Not knowing one’s HIV serostatus is risky for African American men and their partners. In a recent study of MSM in 5 cities participating in CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance, 46% of the African Americans were HIV-positive, compared with 21% of the whites and 17% of the Hispanics. The study also showed that of the participating MSM who tested positive for HIV, 64% of the African American men, 18% of the Hispanic men, 11% of the white men, and 6% of multiracial/other men were unaware of their HIV infection [9].