by Morgan Jerkins for The Guardian

The other day, I was walking back to my Harlem apartment when I stumbled upon a very shocking sign in front of a black church. It read:

Interview by Michelle Denise Jackson

When we discuss the issues that Black women and girls face today, it’s hard to know where to begin. In the past year, there has been national discourse around police brutality and state-sanctioned violence executed against Black men, women, and children. We’re familiar with names like Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tanesha Anderson, and Rekia Boyd. There have also been ongoing conversations around gender-based and sexual violence, with high profile cases like Janay Rice’s on-camera beating at the hands of her then fiancé, Ray Rice. Or the ongoing investigation of Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who raped and sexually assaulted dozens of women while on duty.

by Matthew Desmond for The Washington Post

Patrice is, in many ways, typical. A low-income woman, she’s struggling to find affordable housing in Milwaukee. The 24-year-old single mother of three shares a two-bedroom apartment with her mother, her three young children and her three siblings. It’s on the same block as abandoned buildings and memorials for victims of shootings. The back door does not lock, the kitchen window is broken, the toilet and shower remain stopped up for days, and the apartment crawls with roaches.