This is the first article in a three-part installment focused on the intersection of gendered violence & communities of color. Be sure to check back into Better Manchester for the remainder of the series.

Pride Month is officially here and communities across the country are coming together to celebrate and recognize the resilience of LGBTQIA+ individuals historically and to this day. Pride Month takes place in June to honor the Stonewall Uprising of June 1969 in New York, NY.

Unique, vivacious, educated women from all walks of life, yet they share three things in common. They were Black, pregnant and, tragically, all died in childbirth due to pregnancy related complications.

On April 20, 2021, Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts for the murder of George Floyd last May.

“Incredibly disheartening. Shocking to a degree.” These are the haunting words of Tam Vu, a University of Connecticut student and member of the Vietnamese Student Association, describing her emotions on the recent mass shooting in Atlanta, which took the lives of eight people, six of who were of Asian descent, according to USA Today.

High school was only a mere five years ago for me, but it feels like a distant memory. I remember running track after school every day, eating spicy chicken patties for lunch, and always being late to my first period history class.