Does God hate us or do we hate ourselves?

I find myself asking this question quite a bit these days. I just read an article that DC is “ground zero” for HIV/Aids in African American women (see www.Essence.com). Obviously, I’ve always known the alarming statistics for the rise in the epidemic in our community. But reading that inspired me to write about it. How can this be?? What is REALLY going on? Between drug use and unprotected sex with multiple partners, I really just can’t understand what the f*ck is happening here. Are we in denial about the facts on how it is spread? Do we accept it and just don’t care and decide we’ll deal with it then? Are men really lying about their heterosexuality in alarming numbers as it is reported over and over again? Sigh. What makes us behave in ways that cause our destruction over and over and over again? Do we hate ourselves and our families so much that we would play Russian roulette with our lives on such a consistent and wide spread basis, or does God just hate us so much that he’s allowing this massive destruction to hit our communities? I can talk about economic and racial inequalities, injustices, etc. But at the end of the day isn’t it really us that is responsible for our livelihood? How much can we blame on the white man? I dunno dude..I’m just thinking “out loud” so to speak and I am very disheartened…and even more than that perplexed. Someone brought up and interesting thought recently and asked if it’s possible that black people could be extinct. My initial reaction was no, of course not. But today, at 7:20pm I’m not so sure anymore…..