AIDS Doesn't Discriminate, So Why Do We? by Joel Savage

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


AIDS Doesn’t Discriminate, So Why Do We? isn’t a novel, though it certainly would make quite an interesting story. Neither is it a biography. What author Joel Savage has crafted is a very real look into the lives of victims of the AIDS epidemic that has plagued the world since before the dreaded disease was actually identified.

Savage introduces readers to Benta, a woman living on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark. When Benta is diagnosed with the AIDS virus, her family and friends desert her in the moment she needs them most.

We also meet young Nkosi Johnson, a boy of only twelve years when he loses his life to the disease. But Nkosi was unlike most children his age. This boy took his fight—and the fights of other victims—into the public arena, challenging politicians and others to step up and make a difference in this battle. Nkosi even went so far as to chide the president of his nation, Thabo Mbeki, before thousands attending the 13th International AIDS Conference in South Africa, for the politician’s mishandling of an epidemic already responsible for the loss of millions of lives across the African continent.

Author Savage tells the stories of other lives touched by the disease. He so powerfully exposes the bias of those who would turn their backs on loved ones and strangers alike, based solely on a doctor’s diagnosis. Had these individuals been told they had cancer, would they still be deserted by those who claimed to love them?

AIDS is a dark chapter in modern history. Joel Savage points out how this one disease seems to give permission to discriminate against its sufferers. This is a book that everybody should read. I recommend it highly.




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