Morris Singletary’s HIV diagnosis didn’t stop him from educating others. Instead, he created PoZitive2PoSitive, a nonprofit that gets important messaging surrounding HIV to communities of color, whether the topic is about prevention, medication, or stigmas.
Singletary spoke with rolling out about HIV/AIDS in the Black community and gave prevention tips.
What should the Black community know about HIV/AIDS?
I would like for people to know what PrEP is. PrEP is pre-exposure prophylaxis. I’ve been to many places, and not many places like to use condoms, although we have them, and you can get them for free. I want people to know that if you want to swing for chandeliers and not use protection, there’s PrEP. You can still get the other stuff like STIs and STDs, but you won’t get HIV.
Just in case you have a good weekend, and you’re not on PrEP, but then you find out someone may have HIV, or you just don’t know, there’s PEP, which is post-exposure prophylaxis. This is most important and we don’t talk a lot about that. You have up to 72 hours from the point of entry. If you’ve got to get on PEP, go ahead and get on PrEP. We can literally get rid of HIV if people who are taking their meds take their meds, and people who don’t have it, when we get together and still swap DNA, we don’t have to exchange HIV with one another. On the prevention end, watch out for yourself and have honest conversations. Those of us who live with HIV, we got what it takes.”
How often should people get tested?
If you had sex yesterday and you get tested today, I’m not sure that it’s going to show up today. But I will tell you this. If you’re having sex, just go ahead and get tested. You can get HIV tests for free, and they will send one to your home. You can scan a QR code, and then next thing you know, you have all the things that you need. We’ve made it too easy. If you’re a friend of mine, and you’re not watching this, you are now responsible for the health of not only yourself but the people who love you and your community.
What do you think is the biggest myth about HIV/AIDS?
PrEP is not only for people who are same-gender loving; PrEP is for humans. [Suppose] you have a cavity or an extremity, and you use either one of those to do anything together. [In that case,] I want you to consider PrEP. PrEP is not just a pill or an injectable; it’s a strategy, which means it’s ongoing. You need to go check on your liver and your kidneys, because there’s some powerful medicine going on inside your body. As we continue to advance in science, you need to continue to do that.
The other myth is that people who are living with HIV are dangerous. We have a compromised immune system; you’re more dangerous to me than I am to you. What that simply means is someone living with HIV, they are not undetectable, or their viral load is at a place where they can easily get a cold; you need to protect yourself a little bit stronger.
The last one is that we are contagious. The only thing that’s contagious is my smile. That’s what I want to pass, and I hope you pass it on to someone else. I always say that if you live with HIV, or if you have somebody that’s in your life who’s living with HIV, you should be 10 toes down for them.
