The National Crime Information Center found 90,000 Black women and girls were reported missing in 2020. Another 10,000 were reported missing in 2021. To call attention to the cases that have gone cold, local Chicago organizers worked with the families to create the “We Walk for Her” march. They marched for the fifth year Tuesday, per the Chicago Tribune.
Hundreds of Black women, holding signs of their loved ones who have either gone missing or been killed, took to the streets of Bronzeville to demand action and answers. The family of Nancie Walker have been waiting 20 years to find her killer. She was 55 when she went missing and was found 60 days later dismembered in plastic bags along the highway.
“My question today is how long is it gonna take before something is done, some justice is done for her? And when is it gonna be an urgency to the City of Chicago to find her killer?” said Walker’s sister, Myrna via the Chicago Tribune.
More on the march from The Chicago Tribune:
An analysis by the Invisible Institute, a nonprofit journalism organization on the South Side of Chicago, found that more than 8,400 people were reported missing to the Chicago Police Department in 2021. Almost 70% of those cases were of Black people.
“Missing persons cases is a Black issue,” said Trina Reynolds-Tyler, data director at the Invisible Institute. “But it’s really important to note that it’s a Black women and girls issue specifically.”
She said more than 3,000 Black women were reported missing in Chicago in 2021. “In Chicago, Black women and girls are reported missing more than any other race or gender,” Reynolds-Tyler said.
Tionda and Diamond Bradley were 10 and 3 years old when they went missing 21 years ago, according to CBS News. Kierra Coles was pregnant when she went missing in 2018. The names and stories are endless for the families in Chicago. The same energy put into finding Gabby Petito should be put into finding these Black girls.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot previously admitted the city must do more.
“We just have to be honest and say we don’t have a good track record when it comes to finding missing Black women and girls, supporting families and survivors, solving homicides relating to Black women. We absolutely must do better,” said Lightfoot, via CBS.