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Natalie Wilson
Co-founder/COO
Natalie and her sister-in-law and co-founder Derrica Wilson have shed a much needed light on the issue of missing Black Americans. Their Black and Missing Foundation highlights the massive disparity in attention given to Black Americans that go missing, and vows to do something about those disappearances.“The Black and Missing Foundation was started because of a necessity,” Natalie told CNN during a 2021 interview. In the United States Black women make up just 13 percent of the female population, but accounted for 35 percent of all missing women in the United States, according to the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. However, generally little attention is paid to Black people who go missing. According to a study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, titled “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” found that Black people received the least amount of media attention of any group. Wilson’s foundation provides resources and tools to families with missing loved ones and helps them navigate a media and police ecosystem that too often leaves them behind. They also offer ways to report missing individuals and search for someone who is missing. For Wilson’s pioneering work to call attention to the issue of missing Black Americans and her commitment to do something about it, she more than earns her spot on The Root 100 list.