Bush Administration Should Better Address HIV/AIDS Crisis in Black Community, Editorial Says

Although the Bush administration's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa are "laudable," the administration "should pay more attention to the problem at home" and address the HIV/AIDS crisis in the black community, a St. Petersburg Times editorial says. Combating HIV/AIDS in the black community will "require navigating more turbulent social waters" by addressing "black people's lack of access to health care, the resistance to frank talk about the issue in black churches, persistent homophobia of some black clergy and the need to encourage safe sex, particularly among black women," the editorial says. Although some of these matters "aren't issues Republicans in Washington have embraced," the administration "can't ignore them if they are serious about curbing the spread of AIDS among black Americans," the editorial concludes (St. Petersburg Times, 6/6).