There can be no worse feeling for a parent to not know where their child is. Though it was over thirty years ago the terrifying feeling I felt has never left me. I was in downtown Los Angeles at the garment district with my daughter and three other children who I was babysitting and for what seemed like a brief moment, I was distracted and momentarily lost sight of my daughter.
The estimated number of missing persons is simultaneously incomplete and cringeworthy. One count suggests that of the more than 600,000 individuals currently reported missing, more than 200,000 are individuals of color. Still, Natalie Wilson and her sister-in-law Derrica Wilson founded the Black and Missing Foundation forge ahead to bring attention and closure to the ever-growing number of cases in minority communities.
“…while this nation espouses the valuing of children in general, this does not appear to be the reality as evidenced by the failure to act in the face of the onslaught of mass school shootings from Sandy Hook to Stoneman Douglas where the majority of those killed were middle class white youth,” said Dr. Ronnie A. Dunn, an interim chief diversity and inclusion officer and associate professor of urban studies at Cleveland State University.
Missing Burundi Teens Highlight Media Blind Spot towards the Black Community