I hopped on Instagram in the wee hours of the morning, and scrolled past a news story about dozens of D.C. area black and latino girls who have recently gone missing.
I started to search the hashtag #MissingGirls and #MissingDCGirls, and didn’t find much, aside from this post on Entertainment for Breakfast.
I searched and searched for a news story on Time, CNN, or even Fox 5 DC, who recorded this heartbreaking video…
And all I could find on the bigger outlets were images of Trump and photos of the London terrorist attacks. Yes, those are certainly newsworthy and my heart goes out to any innocent victim. But why wasn’t there even a mention, one post about these girls?
Not one to just rely on internet chatter, I went online to search for facts. @Kehlani (in a post she’s since deleted) said, “64,000 young black/Latino girls are missing in the US, lately heavily in the D.C. & Chicago area.”
I did my research and indeed found a statistic on 64,000 black women missing in the US according to a 3 year old report on News One. Can you believe every story about the current epidemic of missing black girls in D.C. has been downplayed and treated as social media hype?
According to the Washington Post, “D.C. police officials said there has been no increase in the numbers of missing persons in their jurisdiction. “We’ve just been posting them on social media more often,” said Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Rachel Reid. According to local police data, the number of missing child cases in the District dropped from 2,433 in 2015 to 2,242 in 2016. The highest total recently, 2,610, was back in 2001.”
The article treats missing teens as if they were inconsequential. No meeting has been scheduled with Trump, though his Cabinet secretaries will be made available? My guess is no meeting will be scheduled because nobody cares!
Do you think a ‘fake epidemic’ could cause the young lady in the video above to cry so bitterly? Would all these people gather in a room for a fake epidemic? If their hearts truly weren’t aching for missing sisters, nieces, friends, and daughters?
Not only do our lives not matter, but it seems that even when we try to spread awareness about human lives lost, we are treated as hysterical but not logical. How dehumanizing is that?
It is so sobering to live in a country where International Puppy Day could overshadow the lost lives of young black and latino women. Where, in an article about a heated Town Hall Meeting about missing women of color, related articles are ‘Most Teens Voluntarily Leave Home‘ and No Increase in Missing Persons in DC. Fox 5 DC even wonders if raising awareness has backfired. HOW? How could raising awareness of young women who are legitimately missing backfire? Sure, some do leave voluntarily, and some do return home. But what about the ones who don’t? What about the ones who are raped or killed? Will we say their names?
So there it is. Let that marinate.
Today, I practiced giving a keynote speech that I will deliver on Sunday. At the end, I encouraged everyone listening to find that inner fighter and winner within, and to shine their light on the world.
As I looked at the video of the young woman crying at the Town Hall meeting, I realized that we need more support, protection, and encouragement than we can ever imagine. And if we don’t take care of ourselves and each other, treat each other with love and respect, and hold up our sisters as valuable entities who deserve the basic right to live, breathe, and occupy space in the world, no one else will.
Love & Light,
