[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3079-3080]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 NATIONAL BLACK HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join my 
colleagues, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Dr. Christensen, Congresswoman 
Waters, Congressman Towns, Congresswoman Kilpatrick, and many of my 
other colleagues in support of the goals and ideals of National Black 
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
  It is unbelievable, Madam Speaker, to hear the numbers that are 
escalating now with HIV/AIDS in the African American community, which 
accounted for nearly 50 percent of all new

[[Page 3080]]

 HIV infections despite representing only about 12.3 percent of the 
population.
  The CDC estimates that in 2005, African American women accounted for 
over 66 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases among women and were 25 times 
more likely to be infected than white women.
  Drastic, drastic, drastic decisions have to be made. We may be able 
to address this question by educating, but I do believe we must 
confront the question of testing. In our high schools today we are 
finding that there are those who are proving to be HIV positive as 
early as ninth grade and as early as middle school. We have to address 
this question. I ask my colleagues to wake up and confront this crisis 
in America.

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