'The Root' explores the issues faced by women in the US who disclose they are HIV-positive

In the end, Bolden’s death is another tragic reminder of the constant fear and violence that so many people living with HIV/AIDS, especially black women, face on a daily basis in the United States — violence that is a direct consequence of the stigma and ignorance that HIV-negative folks create and perpetuate, yet are unwilling to own up to and admit is a problem. “Cicely Bolden’s murder is, for women, what Trayvon Martin is for the black men,” says Dixon Diallo. “Another man is going to get off lightly or completely for killing a woman for disclosing her status, and in no day or any country should that be acceptable.”