Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
We have to do something! Black children and women are disappearing at an alarming rate, and remain missing four times longer than their white counterparts. For 15 years, the Black and Missing Foundation has been sounding the alarm about the discrepancies in media coverage, law enforcement resources and community engagement. Lawmakers are now beginning to wake up and listen.
Just last month, California, a state with one of the highest percentages of missing people of color, launched the Ebony Alert system, which will help amplify cases of missing Black children and young Black women. The new statewide alert system will go into effect on Jan. 1.
We believe it’s a step in the right direction as it will garner much-needed media coverage of cases that typically go under the radar. It will also force state law enforcement officials to take a closer look at their policies and procedures. It could also create an opportunity to enhance training around missing persons investigations and enhance cultural diversity and sensitivity in how law enforcement approaches cases involving missing people of color.
The current nationwide Amber Alert system is often not enough in many cases and has limitations for activation. With an Amber Alert, the missing child must be 17 or younger, and law enforcement must believe that the child has been abducted and is in imminent danger. There also has to be enough descriptive information about the child and the abductor to trigger the alert. Unfortunately, many Black children are classified as runaways and therefore don’t meet the Amber Alert qualifications. Young Black women also fall through the cracks of the national alert systems because they are too old for an Amber Alert but too young for a Silver Alert, which covers…
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