Young mother killed after revealing HIV status to new boyfriend
By: Lisa M. Smith
African-American News&Issues
Today, there are approximately 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic’s beginning, and that disparity has deepened over time. Blacks account for more new HIV infections, AIDS diagnoses, people estimated to be living with HIV disease, and HIV-related deaths than any other racial/ethnic group in the U.S. Black women are most likely to have been infected through heterosexual transmission, the most common transmission route for women overall.
Sadly, an estimated 10 people worldwide contract HIV every minute. 40,000 Americans are newly infected with HIV each year. Houston ranks 8th nationally in the number of total reported AIDS cases. African-American and Hispanic women together represent less than 25% of all U.S. women, yet they account for more than 78% of AIDS cases reported to date among women.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over a million Americans are currently living with HIV. The CDC also estimates 25% of Americans living with HIV/AIDS are unaware of their HIV infection status. According to Dallas County Health Officials, Black women make up 22% of the population in Dallas yet, the group accounts for 71% of all female HIV cases (7 out of 10 women in Dallas are living with HIV).
Recently, in Dallas, Tx, Cicely Bolden, a 28-year old mother of two, was killed by her boyfriend, 36-year old Larry Dunn, Jr. The two recently began dating. Dunn, admitted that he went to Bolden’s apartment and after having sex, Bolden revealed to him that she was HIV positive. Naturally upset after having unprotected sex with Bolden, Dunn went to the kitchen retrieved a knife and stabbed her. Her kids came home from school to find their mother’s partially naked body on the kitchen floor. They ran to a next door neighbor crying and saying, ‘Something’s wrong with mama!’ When Dallas detectives questioned Dunn about the murder of Bolden, he stated, “She killed me, so I killed her.” He also admitted to burning his clothes and the knife he used and tossed them in a dumpster at a Waffle House restaurant. The burned knife was retrieved. Dunn is being held on $500,000 bond.
Instead of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, no one was right in this situation. Ms. Bolden was wrong because she failed to tell him that she had the virus and Mr. Dunn was wrong because he killed her before being tested for the virus. There are cases where one person has HIV/AIDS and someone they have had sex with did not contract it. Former basketball player Magic Johnson contracted the AIDS virus. His wife, Cookie had a child and neither of them contracted the virus, so anything is possible.
Black people, we have to wake up and smell the coffee. When will we understand that if you have HIV/AIDS and knowing sleep with someone without protection, it is considered to be a crime and individuals will get procecuted in the state of Texas with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Texas, along with 35 other states will prosecute to the fullest extent.
When will we understand that it is important for you to have enough respect for yourself and the other person, not to put yourself in that situation in the first place? Exposure of others to risk or endangerment with these viruses is killing off the Black community.
The father of Cicely Bolden’s children said she had contracted HIV within the last couple of years. (Her children are 8 and 9 years old.) Cicely is the only person who could have changed the dynamics of this deadly situation. She couldn’t look past what she wanted at the time (sex). She should have told Dunn from the beginning about her being HIV positive. However, Dunn did not have to kill her and allow her children come home from school to find their mother’s deceased body on the cold kitchen floor.
I always chant the chorus to a song by rapper Yo-Gotti, Women Lie, Men Lie. In the song he raps, “Women Lie, Men Lie, Numbers don’t lie.” I switched it up a bit and say, “Women Lie, Men Lie, STDs and Kids don’t lie.” I always say that women and men can lie all day long, but if someone catches or spreads a STD or if a man gets or the woman becomes pregnant, that’s a lie that can not be hidden by no means. Eventually, the truth will come out and someone will get hurt, either physically or emotionally.
I hear so many different stories about people getting “burned”, etc. No, its not only Black people who are catching and spreading STDs and AIDS/HIV. However, we are the majority of the ones sitting in the doctor’s offices and free clinics getting treatments. All of this could easily be avoided if you simply wear condoms. In fact, if you are sexually-active, wear condom, point blank….period.
How many more Cicely Bolden situations have to occur to make the Black community get a clear understanding how serious this is?
