This story is a work of fiction.  Names characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination.

David Grier (Davey G) grew up in Hunters Point, a tough inner-city neighborhood in San Francisco.  David walked the walk and talked the talk.  He fashioned himself a gangsta, he was more like a wanksta.  He slung rock out of the projects.  His hangout was the local fish grill.  He had a table in the back, this is where he conducted all of his business.  Davey had a little juice, he also preferred his own company, less chance of getting busted.  Davey was known for his quick temper.

He was also known to crave the love and respect of the local ballers, Davey wanted to be like them.  You could always find Davey decked out in his NFL jersey, cap turned backwards and his air jordans.  He slung enough crack one summer to purchase a used whip, he got a Firebird with fly rims.  Davey was flossing all over the hood with one of his wifey's in the passenger seat.  His sex drive was so high that he encouraged women to have babies by him, just another notch in his belt, he had no intention of taking care of his kids, it was all about ego and manhood.   He had two baby mama's, Ebony and Jenny.  Women got out of line, Davey did not hesitate to put the smack-down.

She called 911 before he grabbed the phone out of her hand.   Davey was arrested.  This was his second strike.  While he was in the back of the cruiser, he thought, damn, the laws have strengthened on assaults against women and domestic violence, in the future, I may have to hire a hardcore dyke to keep my women in line.  His Uncle told him that he was turned down for employment with the State because he had a domestic violence conviction on his record although it was a misdemeanor, they usually decline you for a felony, domestic violence is the only misdemeanor exception they turn you down for.

Davey was led away in handcuffs.  On the prison bus, he realized, he better hookup with a homeboy doing time in San Quentin, Davey could get protection from Big Walt and his crew.  Davey was processed at the reception center and led to his cell. His cellmate was an old timer who kept to himself.  Later that day, Davey was let out for recreation, he found Big Walt on the basketball court.  He approached him with a smile, show me some love homey, Walt pushed him back, you better step, that kid you robbed and paralyzed, he my little cousin.  He stuck in a wheelchair for life, you on your own in here, I'll make sure of that.  Davey returned to his cell agitated and jumpy.  He began to watch his back.   The next day, his fears came true.  He was ambushed in the shower and sodomized by three prisoners.

His mother answered his letters and sent him care packages.   Davey was released, he was disappointed, no one was there to greet him outside the gate.  He understood why his mother was not there, she worked two jobs, but where were his women?  He would have to get both of them in line.  He headed for Ebony's house.  Ebony answered the door, Davey lunged on top of her, he felt someone pulling him off, he looked up to see a cop in uniform, Ebony's new man.  The cop slammed him into the wall and told him "Don't ever come around here again, don't ever call, if you see Ebony out in public, keep walking, if you break any of these rules, I will personally send you up on your third strike."

Davey arrived at Jenny's apartment, she looked out of the peephole, she would not open the door, she told Davey, I took a restraining order out on you, if you don't leave, I will call the cops and have you arrested, go find another woman to beat on, you are a coward, real men don't beat women, I am not a punching bag.  Davey muttered under his breath "fuck bitches."  Davey took a bus to the Castro (gay district) in San Francisco and picked up a male hustler, they went to a seedy motel in the Tenderloin.  Since Davey was a top, he didn't really consider himself gay or bi.  Afterwards, Davey arrived at his mother's house, at least she was glad to see him.  Over the next few months, Davey slept with men and women.   He would take a bus over to the Eastbay, head to a park in Berkeley, cruise the gay men, have sex in parked cars or in the bushes.  On one of his park excursions, he was approached by a porn producer.

He also had unprotected sex with these women.  He met another undercover brotha named Kirk who lived with a woman but dated men on the downlow, he also got turned out in prison.  They started hangin.  They went to the Russian River for a gay event and received blow jobs while they rode the hot air balloon.  When they returned to San Francisco, their genitals were sore from having so much random sex.  They decided to attend the Gay Parade in disguise, their attire was thugged out.  Baseball caps turned backwards, bling-bling, sunglasses and jerseys.  They picked up two out of town men, the men were attracted to their roughneck thug appeal.   They double-dated, went out to dinner and finished the night in seperate hotel rooms with the men.

These inmates never tell their wives or girlfriends about their same sex encounters and a large majority of these women get infected with the AIDS virus.  Davey confided in Kirk about his HIV status, Davey was taken aback when Kirk admitted that he was also HIV positive.   Davey looked at him in shock and asked, why are you still having unprotected sex?  Kirk answered, someone gave it to me, I don't give a fuck who I give it to.  Davey was uncomfortable with his answer but would soon adapt to his philosophy.

Davey tried to attend group meetings and he went to a few black churches.  The churches were not set-up to offer any type of counseling or support for black people living with AIDS, he had to go to the gay community to get pamphlets and counseling. During one of his counseling sessions, a counselor told him, "I counsel many HIV positive men, I can go out to a nightclub with my girlfriend and I see these same men trying to pickup women."  Davey was shocked at the statistics in the black communities across the country. He also learned that many blacks considered AIDS a gay disease.  Some black men had a superman mentality and some black women continued having sex without protection.

Teenage pregnancy in the black community did not decrease despite the increase in AIDS infections.  Davey was upset that the black community was not set-up for AIDS education or prevention.  Davey realized that he was part of the problem, he would not continue to spread the disease, he would ask GOD for forgiveness.  What had he been thinking?  He would also talk to Kirk about his reckless behavior.   Davey went to the pharmacy to fill his meds.  A new employee from the neighborhood recognized the prescriptions as AIDS medications.  Davey's illness became the talk of the neighborhood.  His ex-girlfriend Jenny called "you reap what you sow, what goes around comes around, ain't karma a bitch?"   Although Jenny and Ebony hadn't slept with Davey since his release from prison, they both decided to take a AIDS test.

Their tests came back negative.  Several women from the hood tested positive.  A cluster of new AIDS cases was also reported in the Castro district.  Davey received death threats and decided to stay in- doors and watch movies.  The following year he was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.  Kirk would die from the disease and his live-in girlfriend would test positive.  Davey had breakfast with his mother one morning, she left for work, he began to feel weak and nauseated.   He had a migraine headache and decided to take a nap, he never woke up.   Davey died alone.  Three people attended his funeral, his mother and two children.

Half of HIV patients worldwide are women.   African-American women are being infected at alarming rates.  Many of these infections stem from ex-convicts.  AIDS is also running rampant in prisons and African-American communities across the country. Blacks makeup 13 percent of the U.S. population and account for 38 percent of all AIDS cases in this country.  Black women and children account for 60 percent of all new AIDS cases.

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