In just a few days, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will become the first woman vice president, the first Black vice president, and the first vice president of Indian descent (so many firsts!). Vice President-elect Harris will also be the first graduate of a historically Black college (HBCU), Howard University, to serve as vice president. Read more on what her historic win means for HBCU students.

*Content Warning: Grief and loss, racism, racial violence*

  I was 12 when my 17-year-old brother died. He was not shot by police or targeted by white supremacists, but racism killed him. Richard had bipolar disorder, and our family relied on Medicaid for health care. After a brief stay in one of very few mental health facilities that accepted Medicaid in Chicago, he became extremely ill with a high fever and trouble breathing. We took him to the hospital, where he was not tested or x-rayed.

Instead, he was given an inhaler and told to take ibuprofen. When his condition worsened, we went back to the ER, where staff diagnosed him with pneumonia in both lungs. He was admitted to the ICU and put on a ventilator. Five days later, as my mother and I finally took a break from living in the ICU to shower and change clothes at home, Richard died.

It is not a question to me whether Richard would have received better care if he wasn't Black. There is a straight line from his Blackness to the health care options available to him to his treatment to his death.

Racism is a public health crisis. It manifests in dramatic inequities in health outcomes across the board — including three times the rate of COVID-19 infections among Black people and more than twice the rate of deaths as white people. It manifests in the daily grind of discrimination and stress on Black bodies. It manifests in where we live, the health care available to us, and how we are treated. It manifests in which mothers must mourn sons who died too early, which sisters grow up without brothers.

It's great that you're thinking about how to keep you and potential partners safe. Your high-risk HPV status means you have a higher chance of passing on the virus. HPV is the most common STD — it's easily spread from sexual skin-to-skin contact. You get it when your vulva, vagina, cervix, penis, or anus touches someone else's genitals or mouth and throat — usually during sex.

HPV can be spread even if no one cums, and even if a penis doesn't go inside the vagina/anus/mouth. There's no cure for HPV, but there are things you can do to make sex safer, like using condoms and/or dental dams each time you have vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Condoms and dental dams aren't as effective against HPV as they are against other STDs like chlamydia and HIV, but practicing safer sex can lower your chances of spreading HPV.

You can also speak to your partner about getting the HPV vaccine — it can protect them against certain types of HPV that can lead to cancer or genital warts.

— Attia @ Planned Parenthood