Each one of these sisters should be allowed to teach sex-ed classes in inner city schools. Their words, and experiences, and shift the tides in our favor!

Thanks for writing such a great commentary on such an alarming trend. I read recently that over one million people in the US are living with AIDS. More needs to be done to educate about this terrible disease. What is even more alarming is the rate at which black heterosexual women are contracting the disease from partners who are either on the down-low or who contracted it in prison or the like. Great article.

@ Shadow & Janet, much obliged for stopping by. I knew that HIV and AIDS were impacting the Black community in a devastating way because of the "down-low" and prison sexuality, but I had no idea until the CNN Black in America series.

I know that many found the series mediocre at best (I'm not included in the many), but if the series contributed in any way to bolster the cause - well this is a good thing.

I heard yesterday that 1 in 4 people have HIV and most don't even know they have it. I work with a staff of about 20 and if this statistic is even half way correct, that would leave me to believe that there is a great possibility that at least one of us - if not up to 5 - has the virus and doesn't even know it.

As they say, statistics don't lie - they simply tell what is and what is the probability. Much like the statistic of women contracting breast cancer is about 1 in 8. In my work circle alone there have bee 5 women diagnosed with breast cancer and in my social/familial circle there is another 5. That's a total of 10 with 6 of them being African-American.

We have to take on the responsibility of taking care of ourselves and being educated to do just that.