February is a time to honor Black history, resilience, and progress. It is also a moment to confront an uncomfortable truth: in New York City, equity in health, family stability, and community well-being is still shaped by race and zip code. For too many Black families, structural inequities continue to limit access to care, not because of individual choices, but because of where people live and how our systems are designed.
San Francisco's Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. is not a romantic place. Its ground floor courts can upend defendants' lives. The exterior is an austere reinforced-concrete monument to 1960s utilitarian architecture. In 2017, feces literally streamed down its walls. Still, it is a crossroads for love in all its forms, filled with parents, partners, and children waiting to see loved ones. This is true at any time of year, but particularly as Valentines' Day approaches.
"It is very expensive to be sheltering in place," Yusra Murad, a communications organizer at Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, told Truthout. Murad's group is a Twin Cities-based tenants' rights collective that is one of the groups leading the call for the eviction moratorium.
