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This paper explores the lived experiences of former NBA player Magic Johnson, and the late 'Godfather of Gangsta Rap' Eazy E to examine how their everyday realities as Black men with different socioeconomic opportunities around the Civil Rights era affected their fight against HIV. Johnson contracted HIV nearly 30 years ago, and continues to live a healthy, productive life. Eazy E on the other hand, contracted the virus around the same time and later succumbed to AIDS. The differences in the lived experiences of the two men warrant scholarly attention, particularly now amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Their differences in social position, stemming from the uneven inequities of the culture and racialization of poverty, much like the wider global epidemic of HIV/AIDS itself, are crucial in the spread and survival rate of those that contract HIV. Overall, then, this paper aims to address the following research question: how do social issues of space and racialized poverty affect the lived experiences of African Americans with HIV? This paper will examine the production of social space and spatial structural violence, as well as racialized poverty, and their effects on likelihood of infection and survival of HIV and infectious disease more broadly.

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