I came to The New York Times in 1992, 29 years ago this summer, as the first intern in its graphics department. I arrived in Manhattan, a little Black boy from a hick town in Louisiana, and it blew my mind. I arrived weeks after the Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King beating, and just before the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade. The city was under the control of the first Black mayor in its history, David Dinkins. In 1992, a staggering 33,590 Americans died of the disease as it became “the number one cause of death among men aged 25-44 years,” according to the C.D.C.

Source: New York Times July 18, 2021 15:00 UTC