The “Wear and Tear” of African Americans in Louisiana with HIV/AIDs: More Than HIV.

Abstract This article examines the results of a 2010 sample of HIV+ African Americans in Louisiana within the larger context of health, educational, economic and incarceration disparities in the state. Similarities and differences between the sample and the general population of African Americans in the state were noted with the numbers incarcerated in the sample being the most dramatic difference. Over half of the sample had been incarcerated in a state recognized for its penchant for using the police and incarceration to control African Americans. The article concluded with attempts to connect the dots between vulnerability to HIV due to childhood trauma, a weathering from racism from an early age, educational deprivation, and policy choices such as abstinence-only sex education that raise the risks for young African Americans in Louisiana.