Unapologetic Man Gets 21 Years for Knowingly Infecting Women with HIV

[Akyeame Kwame]

Unapologetic Man Gets 21 Years for Knowingly Infecting Women with HIV



Date: Monday, November 07, 2005
By: Monica Lewis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

A District of Columbia judge labeled him an “outlaw.� Those within the black HIV prevention community consider him a danger to society.

Now Sundiata Basir will be known by a prisoner’s number after receiving a 21-year sentence for having sex with women without telling them he was HIV-positive, a status he’s known about since 1996.

While it is believed that Basir, 34, has had unprotected sex with countless women, four of his partners, including a 15-year-old girl, have been diagnosed with AIDS, a predicament for which Basir offered no apologies. Ironically, Washington, D.C., the city where Basir once served as assistant to a deputy mayor, has the nation’s highest rate of AIDS cases, with one in 20 residents infected with the disease.

One AIDS activist said she was “flabbergasted� that someone would place another human being in such a dangerous situation. Gary Bell, executive director of BEBASHI (for Blacks Educating Blacks about Sexual Health Issues) agreed, adding that he believes some serious messages about the dangers of unprotected sex simply aren’t getting to those who need to hear them.

“In this day and age, we preach over and over about the need for people to protect themselves and the need to know the status of people you’re sexually involved with,� Bell told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I have to ask why that information isn’t being taken to heart.�

Bell stressed that he doesn’t fault Basir’s victims, but he wishes people would use sound judgment when making a decision that, ultimately, could mean life or death.

“I’m certainly not blaming the women because they were victimized,� Bell said, acknowledging that Basir is certainly not the first individual to hide their HIV status from a sexual partner. HIV-positive prostitutes have been charged with attempted murder, and several men and women have made headlines for their sexual indiscretions and the risks they placed on others.

For more than two decades, the nation has seen the devastating impact that HIV and AIDS have. But despite major efforts to increase testing, offer treatment to those who have been infected and provide various educational programs to prevent the spread of the disease, there are still too many people who believe that it can’t possibly happen to them, Bell said.

“I talk to people, and when I tell them the statistics and the impact HIV has on heterosexuals and African-Americans in general, they just don’t believe me,� Bell said, maintaining that far too many people in the black community continue to dwell on conspiracy theories and the like.

“There’s just a disconnect between what they’re hearing and what they choose to believe,� Bell said. “You try to start up a conversation about HIV, and people just don’t want to think about it. It’s depressing and scary and all these things, but it’s keeping us from adopting the kind of behavior we need to have to be safe.�

Ronald Beavers, a Los Angeles-based psychologist who specializes in counseling HIV-positive patients, agreed with Bell that people just don’t want to talk about AIDS. It’s an obstacle that falls in line with how the black community deals with health problems in general, Beavers told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“African-American men, especially, are very reluctant to speak, period, about their health because of social improprieties,� Beavers said. “You can even take this back to slavery and the social dynamics of that period.

“For most African-American men at that time, if the master knew they could speak or read, something heinous would happen to them, from castration to some other terrible act,� Beavers added. "It’s like the old adage, ‘Children should be seen and not heard.’ Black men just don’t like to talk about things or make their conditions known to others.�

Like many of the people Beavers treats, Basir was likely very angry with having to face the fact that there is no cure for a disease that has invaded his body.

“It’s like a person says, ‘Someone gave it to me, and I’ll get them back by giving it to everyone I can,’� Beavers said, trying to explain how emotionally devastated someone could be after learning they’ve been diagnosed with HIV. “I’m not justifying it, but it really does come from a distorted sense of values."

Sandra Ross, Ph.D., a psychologist based out of White Plains, N.Y., said it’s very important for people who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS to get some sort of counseling, in addition to taking medication to keep them as physically strong as possible.

“I think that it’s such a nasty illness that most people probably could deal better with some counseling,� Ross told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I mean, not everyone with AIDS needs counseling, but I think it could certainly be helpful. People do stuff like this for different reasons, but sometimes, they can get so angry that a person is just in such a fit of rage."

Ross believes that people like Basir could be in such denial that they become psychotic and unaware of exactly what they are doing.

Bell agreed that Basir may have benefited from counseling, but he added that he’s leery about attempts by some to establish severe laws for people who knowingly have sex with others while not being upfront about their HIV status.

“I’ve seen backlash from things like this, and what it's become is a modern-day witch hunt, forcing people to reveal their status,� Bell said, acknowledging that programs geared toward outing one’s status are often likely to force people underground.

“What I want to happen is for people who do what [Basir] does is to be prosecuted with the laws we have now. But what we really need is a renewed understanding of HIV and who’s at risk.�

“It’s a shame that it takes a case like to this to bring this matter to the attention of people,� Bell concluded. “But the number one thing each individual has to do is stop ignoring the issue. Stop thinking it’s an issue that only affects other people, and learn as much as you can about it. The bottom line is to get tested and know your status.�