How Much Does A Black Girl Cost?

There’s a reason the demand for underage Black girls is so disproportionately high. The supply is too.

There’s a street in Houston, Texas known as Bissonnet Street. It’s a 19 mile stretch of road that starts in the prominent Museum District and ends right before you cross the southwestern county line. The Houston Press named the historic road the “Best Route in The City”, and travelers far and wide remain drawn to its ethnic diversity and cultural variety. At any given time on any given day, a drive down Bissonnet Street puts you in the heart of the action of one of Houston’s busiest commerce districts.

For miles, the hum of hurried traffic offers a shrill soundtrack for the cinematic site that is busy Bissonnet Street. Car tires hug the roughly paved road as they reach a 1.3 mile stretch between Beltway 8 and Southwest Freeway. And eventually, the cars slow to a snail's pace as drivers and riders gawk at the adolescent attractions that line the city sidewalks. It’s one thing to hear about young girls being kidnapped and coerced, sold into human trafficking, it’s another to see them hobbling down busy side streets in women’s lingerie.

As the tardy bells sound from the speakers of Best Elementary nearby, young girls start their day with a strut down the crooked sidewalks of what’s referred to as the Bissonnet Track, Houston’s most…