California will become the first state in the nation to enact a law to combat the crisis of missing Black youth and young Black women by creating an “Ebony Alert” notification system.
The heightened awareness of human trafficking comes on the heels of an HBO documentary that finally spotlighted the world of the Black and Missing Foundation, headed by Washington, D.C., based sister-in-law’s Derrica and Natalie Wilson.
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.
Derrica Wilson and her sister Natalie noticed what had become the norm for mainstream media when it comes to the plight of missing women and girls of color: there was little to no media coverage. As a result, in 2008, Derrica and Natalie founded the nonprofit Black and Missing Foundation with a mission to bring awareness to missing persons of color and to provide vital resources and tools to missing person’s families and friends.
“She was already excited about becoming a mother,” Karen Phillips, Kierra’s mother, told ABC News shortly after Kierra disappeared. “That’s all my child ever wanted, to be a mom and accomplish all the things she set to accomplish – to have a nice paying job which she had, to get a new car which she bought, to move into her own apartment which she did, and to become a mother which she was about to.”