In blog entry at Black America Web, blogger Jackie Jones examines the media's treatment of missing black women over the last year. She points to several examples of when they were ignored in comparison with the high-profile cases of missing white women. One source says it is because the media do not value the lives of black women.
While the cases of Robyn Gardner, a white woman from Maryland who disappeared in Aruba while vacationing there, and Michelle Parker, the white Florida woman who disappeared after an appearance on “The People’s Court” over a dispute with her ex-fiance, garnered major publicity, the disappearance of Detroiter Kalisha Madden on Nov. 28 did not.
Derrica Wilson, co-founder of Black and Missing Foundation, Inc., a Hyattsville, Maryland-based nonprofit, told BlackAmericaWeb.com, in a story about Madden’s case, that "When there’s a missing person of color, they associate the person with negative information. It just seems like our lives are less valued."
Wilson co-founded BAMFI with her sister-in-law out of concern about the lack of coverage given to Tamika Huston, of Spartansburg, S.C. Huston’s 2004 disappearance — just a year before teenaged Natalee Hollway went missing in Aruba during a class trip — generated little coverage outside of South Carolina. Huston’s family struggled to spread the word about the missing 24-year-old woman, while Holloway became a household name.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, approximately 40 percent of all missing persons are people of color.
Read Jackie Jones' entire blog entry at Black America Web.