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In blog entry at Black America Web [12], 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. [12]
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