For Black men, who already feel imperiled, there is yet another sobering wake-up call — prostate cancel: “More Black men get the disease, and more Black men die from the disease,” warns Harry Belafonte, the celebrated singer and entertainer; who went public last year on national television. Before Belafonte learned he had prostate cancer, he recalls, “Somehow I felt quite omnipotent. Just untouchable. And then when my doctors told me I had it, it gave me a huge pause to focus in on what that really meant.”

Sidney Poitier, world-renowned actor; Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, D.C., and former civil rights activist Kwame Toure (a.k.a. Stokely Carmichael) are living with this malignancy. Sadly, Robert Johnson, well-known executive editor of Jet magazine, died of the disease a few years ago. Such tragedies strike close to home, and we wonder about our own risk. Unluckily, prostate cancer; like scores of other health problems, disproportionately strikes African-American men.

Black men, rich and poor, are dying at alarming rates from this treatable cancer. The “sex gland” cancer’s impact on our families and communities is far-reaching. It exacts a heavy toll in grief, pain and hardship. Most Black people have a relative or friend living with this illness–or one who has died from it. And no wonder: According to the American Cancer Society, Black Americans have the highest prostate cancer rate in the world.

Over the past 25 years, the incidence in Black men has doubled. The rate of prostate cancer is about 37 percent higher in African-American men than in Whites, and they are more likely to develop the illness at an earlier age. More than 6,000 Black men die each year from prostate cancer, a rate that is rising–a shocking reminder that we are at particularly high risk for tumors of a gland that most Black men know little about. One man, who at age 75 learned he had prostate cancer, recalled that it was the first time he had ever heard of “this prostate gland.”

It is not surprising that considerable ignorance exists among Black men about prostate cancer. Until recently, health programs have done little to educate the Black community about this killer disease. As a result, too few go for regular checkups when early detection of a prostate tumor increases the chances for successful treatment. Black men’s life expectancy is already shorter than it should be due to high rates of heart disease, stroke, homicide and AIDS. The risk of prostate cancer is yet another reason Black men must become more conscientious about their health care.

Many Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer report that ignorance and “macho” attitudes deterred them from medical checkups that included a digital rectal exam and routine blood screening. Dr. Richard Majors, a Black psychologist, put it bluntly: “Many Black men feel that it’s one thing to go to the doctor; but it’s another thing to have somebody stick something in your behind.” One man told a reporter he’d “rather die than have a test for prostate cancer.”

To some males, a psychological stigma surrounds this cancer, often stemming from misconceptions. For instance, Phillip Gant, a Chicago prostate cancer survivor and support group leader; reports that many Black men believe this cancer is “a venereal or other communicable disease that has sexual connotations.” He observes that wives and girlfriends who believe such myths shun their partners from fear of “catching” the illness. A number of men and their families feel such a stigma about cancer that they never reveal the diagnosis to anyone, even after the person’s death.

Fear and embarrassment about a disease that includes the genital area run-deep. While women are accustomed to rectal exams during routine pelvic exams and childbirth, men are not. Though there is no reason to feel their masculinity is threatened by a complete physical examination, many men do. Others avoid checkups even when symptoms are present because they expect pain to accompany cancer. Harry Harris, in a Time-Life Medical video, explains: “When I was told I had prostate cancer, I said, `Wow. Do I? I don’t feel anything. How do you know?’ I had not experienced any pain whatsoever…none.”

Too many Black men stubbornly deny their risk for cancer. A campaign to overcome apathy and increase awareness of prostate cancer is overdue. African-American men, both young and old, need to become knowledgeable about the prostate gland.

The prostate gland is located just below the bladder. It is a walnut-shaped gland, approximately the size of a chestnut. It surrounds the base of the urethra (the tube that carries urine and semen through the penis). The prostate plays a role in sexual function by supplying part of the seminal fluid needed for ejaculation.

Non-cancerous conditions can also affect the prostate. Symptoms such as pain and urinary problems can develop from infections or from an enlarged prostate, particularly in older men. These illnesses require medical treatment but are usually not life-threatening. On the other hand, prostate cancer can kill if uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells spreads to nearby tissue and throughout the body.