The Media and the Tragedy of Missing Black Women
by MichelleHuxtable
This movie was made in 1991 and sadly what Ice Cube said then, is still true now. “They had all this foreign s–t. They didn’t have s–t on my brother, though.”
So often we turn on the news and are told about the violence outside our door. The war in Iraq is raging on and soldiers are dying. Soldiers are coming home and are not able to deal with society and are instead dealing with depression. Life all around sucks is the message.
And then a white woman goes missing. The media is up in arms. Interrupting Family Guy with their breaking news and in depth analysis on how she was kidnapped and police are doing everything they can to get her back. Think really hard with me for a second. When’s the last time a black woman went missing?
I know right?! Contrary to popular belief black women aren’t somehow more immune to being kidnapped. We haven’t developed this force field powered by black power that keeps us safe. Black women are going missing, too. It’s just that nobody is told about it.
This article over at BV Black Spin talks about how missing Blacks get less media attention. An excerpt:
The stories of missing white women and girls, such as Lacey Peterson, Elizabeth Smart and JonBenet Ramsey are covered as national, even international, news. But I live in New York and have never heard of the cases of Sasha Davis, Jarib Bennett and 4-month-old Selah Davis. All three, from the Bronx, N.Y., went missing in February 2008, after visiting some friends in Rochester, N.Y. Their car was later found abandoned.
The article is a good one and talks about why America has an obsession with white women who go missing and not those of color. AverageBro also wrote a great article about how really we just don’t care, “Missing Black Women? Uhhh, Seriously, Who The Heck Cares?”
These articles are recent. From 2009. Are you aware that there is a serial killer in Cleveland who kidnapped and killed 11 Black women? Yeah that can’t be newsworthy. Do you know who Mitrice Richardson is? How about Stepha Henry? Exactly. And I truly hope this doesn’t sound like I think I’m superior because I know about these people because I only recently learned of them as well. Nobody knows about them. That’s the problem.
Dave Chappelle is That Dude and I should write an article on him and here’s why. First of all he’s a genius. There’s this saying that goes something like, “Make them laugh and while their mouths are open, slip in the truth.”[1] He basically lives by that whether he knows it or not. So in this clip from his stand up act he talks about when 15 year old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped and went missing for nine months.
Her story got turned into a movie by the way. At the same time a 7 year old black girl went missing and got basically no media coverage. Watch the clip it’s only 2 minutes long and it’s great. As expected with Chappelle comedy, there’s cursing so… there’s your warning.
Now don’t get me wrong. A missing person is a missing person. It’s sad and needs to be dealt with. So don’t think that I’m against the media talking about when white women go missing. I’m glad people care enough to alert the media and citizens of their disappearance. My obvious issue is with the lack of that same passion and concern for women of color.
Why does nobody care? The question isn’t even Does America care about Black women? It’s Why doesn’t America care? And when I say America I’m not even pointing a finger at “The Man” who is bent on oppressing us and letting us go missing. I mean you! Me! Everybody! What’s really going on?
[1] I may have butchered that quote but I can’t find it so oh well. The meaning is still obvious.
Comments
I love that your first complaint was interrupting Family Guy. LOL in real life. It’s true though, the one I hated the most was the woman that “disappeared” before her wedding and really just left. They always assume the kid ran away, and grown women…..idk what the excuse is.
Ha it’s true! It always interrupts that one show you wait for all week. And yes I hated that case too. Turns out she just had cold feet. Wow.
As soon as you said Family Guy, I remembered the episode when they said something about a little white girl dying and in the news report went something like this:
Reporter: “The bus tipped over and one of the victims was nine year old Becky Gundersen.”
Crowd: “Awwww.”
Reporter: “Wait, Im being informed that it’s actually Becky Guitierrez.”
Crowd: “Oh.” *walks away*
Man in the crowd: “That’s not news.”
So yeah, I agree with you. And I’m sick of white people who commit crimes and blame a black man and the whole world goes on a man hunt (a la Susan Smith).
Gotta love Dave Chappelle…that clip was too funny and so true. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get more people to care about the disappearance of black woman and children, for that matter. Many of us are going to have to keep our eyes and ears open and inform others about these disappearances. Social media is such a powerful force; perhaps we can’t count on the media to inform others, but we can use our various SM accounts to spread the word. Perhaps if we can drum up enough of an uproar, the media outlets will take notice?
BTW, you now have a new reader; keep up the great work Michelle!
wow I haven’t seen that episode but it’s so true.
Thank you! And I agree. We just have to use our own outlets to start the manhunt and pray that the media catches on and chooses to help.
I lived in Rochester during that time, and if their car was found abandoned in Rochester, I heard nothing about it. It’s amazing that these things don’t create any sort of news across America. Particularly with children. A child is a child, and all of them, no matter how much money their parents have to spend on their search, should be found.
I don’t know where to begin. Yes; MSM is somewhat at fault, but so is the community as a whole. There needs to be more concern at the local, state and from the families. too often some families don’t know where there children are or should be. They’re ‘oblivious’ to all the signs of trouble, of depression and lonliness etc,
I know that the question isn’t “Does America care about Black women?” But I had an experience today that shows me the answer is no.
I’m walking on campus and I cut through a parking lot. A guy and his friends are standing around a pick up truck leaning on it and shooting the breeze. As I’m headed in my direction a white girl is headed the opposite way. As the girl and I cross paths, the guy diverts his eyes so he wouldn’t make eye contact and doesn’t speak or acknowledge my presence. (this is the South. If you won’t speak, atleast nod or give a tiny smile). I would have dismissed this as being rude and probably race-based.
But the way his face lit up when he caught sight of the other girl…his demeanor was a complete 180. From “what’s this? oh black girl. lemme look away before she looks at me…wait! who is THAT?” It just reinforced what I already know to be true: Black women are not women in their eyes. Sometimes we’re hardly people. But most times, we’re invisible or don’t exist.
And until that changes, missing black girls will not receive media coverage.
I didn’t want to make my previous post any longer but I wanted to mention:
A girl from my high school went missing. Of course, she didn’t receive any coverage outside of the city her college was in and our hometown. It’s really depressing.
(in response to both comments) Wow. Great comment. I know what you mean by the southern hospitality comment. So you’re saying it’s more sex-based than race-based. That’s sad but I think historically it has always been that way. When we (Blacks) were fighting for rights, black women still weren’t able to get the same treatment as black men. And it’s a shame that it hit so close to home for you.
I think in that situation is was a combination of sex and race. I’m not a woman to that guy because I’m black. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the issue in a situation is race or sex, but he made it quite clear that to him “Black” and “Woman” are mutually exclusive.
I agree that fighting for Black rights meant fighting for Black MEN’s rights. Not that Black women haven’t benefited from all of it, but sexism is still rampant in society as a whole.
Im not too anxious to fight for B,ack male rights. It may not be fair or the correct response, but all too often Black women are fighting for their own rights, alone. Why must their be all this energy to save our men, but less effort to save the women? I dont want either to suffer more but Im sorry, Black men have to make more of an effort to save themselves.