Nobody reads these posts, but I don't care, because I Have Ativan and Am Lit Up Like a Christmas Tree.
So, as I pointed out the other day, no one in any position of power gives a shit about missing black women. Or missing black girls. (Or murdered bisexual teens.)
No, they really don't care, except for when they want to make a big show that they do care, and Nancy Grace can wring her hands and lament, for the last three minutes of her broadcast one night, that something's just gotta be done; it's a shame, this inequality. Google "Laci Peterson," you'll get 572K hits. Google Natalee Holloway, you'll get 918K.
Google Tamika Huston. 3,760 hits.
This is what the more cynical among us call Missing White Woman Syndrome. It helps , if you go missing, to be young, white, and female. And not a prostitute.
And another thing: It's not just black women who are getting short shrift. It's men (men of every color, actually, but men of color especially). From the article I mentioned above: FBI statistics show that men are slightly more likely than women to be reported as missing, and that blacks make up a disproportionately large segment of the victims. As of May 1, there were 25,389 men in the FBI's database of active missing persons cases, and 22,200 cases of women. Blacks accounted for 13,860 cases, vs. 29,383 whites.
This may or may not be accurate. I'm not the mathy statistics person around here, but let's take a look at the FBI's missing persons info from 2006 here.
297,392 minority missing persons (classified as Asian, black, and Indian). I divided the UID in half and added that in; should be a fair estimate. Of this figure, almost 265,000 of those people are black. There are 528,780 white missing persons, but this figure includes Latinos (and while biologically that's accurate, it's not the most precise breakout). Anyhow, if African Americans are only 13% of the population (as of the 2000 Census), why the hell do they account for 32% of all missing people? I don't think we'll ever know, because Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren clearly don't give a shit.
Now, if you look at number of missing persons over the age of 18, divided up by gender, we've got slightly under 100K men and just over 74K women.
My question, if it's not already obvious, is if there are a disproportionate number of adult people of color disappearing every year, more than half of them male, then why do so many "missing persons" websites look like this?
Why did Romona Moore (Google hits: 1,320) have to suffer for days with a shattered jaw, cheekbones, facial bones, "broken ribs, a fractured hip bone, a broken nose, bruises, and numerous cuts (one 10 inches long) caused by, among other instruments, scissors." And cigarette burns on her face. And a fractured skull. In someone's basement. Tied up with duct tape and clad in a t-shirt.
(For additional reading, visit Black and Missing but Not Forgotten.)
No, they really don't care, except for when they want to make a big show that they do care, and Nancy Grace can wring her hands and lament, for the last three minutes of her broadcast one night, that something's just gotta be done; it's a shame, this inequality. Google "Laci Peterson," you'll get 572K hits. Google Natalee Holloway, you'll get 918K.
Google Tamika Huston. 3,760 hits.
This is what the more cynical among us call Missing White Woman Syndrome. It helps , if you go missing, to be young, white, and female. And not a prostitute.
And another thing: It's not just black women who are getting short shrift. It's men (men of every color, actually, but men of color especially). From the article I mentioned above: FBI statistics show that men are slightly more likely than women to be reported as missing, and that blacks make up a disproportionately large segment of the victims. As of May 1, there were 25,389 men in the FBI's database of active missing persons cases, and 22,200 cases of women. Blacks accounted for 13,860 cases, vs. 29,383 whites.
This may or may not be accurate. I'm not the mathy statistics person around here, but let's take a look at the FBI's missing persons info from 2006 here.
297,392 minority missing persons (classified as Asian, black, and Indian). I divided the UID in half and added that in; should be a fair estimate. Of this figure, almost 265,000 of those people are black. There are 528,780 white missing persons, but this figure includes Latinos (and while biologically that's accurate, it's not the most precise breakout). Anyhow, if African Americans are only 13% of the population (as of the 2000 Census), why the hell do they account for 32% of all missing people? I don't think we'll ever know, because Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren clearly don't give a shit.
Now, if you look at number of missing persons over the age of 18, divided up by gender, we've got slightly under 100K men and just over 74K women.
My question, if it's not already obvious, is if there are a disproportionate number of adult people of color disappearing every year, more than half of them male, then why do so many "missing persons" websites look like this?
Why did Romona Moore (Google hits: 1,320) have to suffer for days with a shattered jaw, cheekbones, facial bones, "broken ribs, a fractured hip bone, a broken nose, bruises, and numerous cuts (one 10 inches long) caused by, among other instruments, scissors." And cigarette burns on her face. And a fractured skull. In someone's basement. Tied up with duct tape and clad in a t-shirt.
(For additional reading, visit Black and Missing but Not Forgotten.)
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