Black Girls Missing & Alternative Facts

Ok so hopefully your timelines have been inundated with the news that there's "an increasing number of Black (and Brown) teen girls are missing in urban communities, specifically in DC." And if you haven't heard about this heart-wrenching issue, blame media for doing what it does best - discriminating against issues that impact us all. Either way, there's a problem.

BUT I say all of that to say - the story and the timelines floating around social media hold a degree of alternative facts (translation: false or not completely truthful information). 

Now, the truth in it all is that there is an indescribable, and even unbelievable, amount of missing Black and Brown girls and women throughout our communities. And most cases go unreported for many reasons, while others are reported incorrectly, diminishing the urgency and severity of the missing person's condition. 

I'll be honest - when hearing about this seemingly "new" escalating problem of missing girls, I was tempted to quickly re-post screenshots about the issue to "get the word out;" after all, most of the information was co-signed by reputable celebrities and media outlets that I respect, but I just couldn't re-post without doing my own research. So I read and researched to understand what exactly was going on. 

So here's the breakdown: This is not a new issue. Media recently stated that 14 young girls were reported as missing at a rapid rate. Yet, documentation states that this was an alternative fact - that there has not be a "sudden" incline of missing young girls. The DC police department noted a significant decrease in their missing teen cases. (Trust me, I'm not here to argue numbers because as we all know the issue is still, in fact, an issue. Therefore, a decrease doesn't mean anything unless it's zero.) The reality, according to police documentation, is that due to their new method of informing the public about missing children/teens and usage of technology and social media to spread the word quickly, assumptions are misguided, inviting people to believe that there's a sudden increase of missing girl cases. 

Media also eluded to the public that the missing girls were kidnapped, but official documentation stated that the majority of the missing cases were voluntarily (i.e., runaways) and returned to their home shortly after being reported missing. Personally, I could care less about whether the girls voluntarily or involuntarily left. Missing is missing, and any child who voluntarily, or involuntarily, leaves her home signals a definite problem. Furthermore, according to Derrica Wilson, co-founder of Black & Missing Foundation, Inc. and former police officer, the majority of the missing Black teen cases she's encountered were wrongly classified as runaway cases which do not afford them an Amber Alert; while adult Black disappearances are typically linked to criminal activity, which aren't addressed with urgency. So you see, the problem is so much bigger than the numbers.

Much of the folks on my timeline criticized mainstream media for not covering the missing teens stories on a larger scale. A lot questioned why there wasn't an Amber Alert issued for such an urgent matter. But the reality is there's an actual process and proper protocol for issuing an Amber Alert, which explains why the tool wasn't utilized under these recent circumstances, primarily because Amber Alerts are issued for abductions and the recent/current cases were classified as runaway cases. See? The problem is bigger than we think.

The point of this post is not to discredit the issue of our missing black and brown girls. Their cases (and lives) deserve national attention ALWAYS. And one missing child is one too many. Additionally, we have to make sure we're not contributing to the spread of false information. We live in times where everyone wants information quickly, and we often re-post information or form an opinion before doing our own investigation to weed out the alternative facts, which only forms a ridiculous cycle of misinformation. Just last night, people throughout my timeline were re-posting that "64,000 Black women are currently missing throughout the country." Yet those same people failed to note, mention, or realize that number is erroneous and was a reported stat from as far back as 2012; therefore, this number is not current. But like I said early on, this post isn't about numbers or stats; it's about us being so quick to re-post misinformation.

Bottomline: Regardless of the number - big or small - or the reason, our girls are missing. Kidnapping and human, organ, and sex trafficking are all very real. And when it comes to our Black and Brown babies missing there's a huge disparity in how cases are handled, regarding attention and urgency.

In all of the alternative facts, the good that has come out of this is that people care, are showing concern, and expressing anger about the reality that someone's daughter, niece, granddaughter, and cousin are missing. We're talking about it. We learning about it. We're asking "How can I help?" So while the details and justification appears to be debatable, let's not negate the fact that Black and Brown people are missing - somebody's baby didn't come home last night. 

To learn more about the missing Black population (and to help), visit Black & Missing Foundation, Inc.