Check out this article on Mom Logic about media bias as it relates to race and missing children. I really appreciate their mention of the good works by Black and Missing But Not Forgotten. A blog dedicated to those that are missing and black. Thanks for all you do, Deidra! Unfortunately, there are many who say they are dedicated to missing persons, but none focus on missing minorities in general.
As stated by the Media Bias article, “Thousands of kids go missing each day — so why do we never seem to hear about the African-American children?” Great question, Mom Logic! Thanks for bringing this issue to the forefront.
As spokesperson for a missing mother, Lilly Aramburo from Miami, FL, this issue hits close to home. Lilly vanished 6/1/07. I’ve dedicated hundreds of hours trying to get media attention for Lilly… but because Lilly is a minority, we’ve only been able to get one newspaper article and one case alert on Nancy Grace! Thanks to the power of social media, we’ve managed to get some exposure. I don’t believe families with missing children and loved ones should have to go through such difficulty for a little media attention. It’s downright racist and wrong. Thousands of people go missing each month, they are all special to someone. But traditional media couldn’t care less. Someone told me recently, “All humans are created equal, but we don’t have the same rights.” As Lilly’s advocate, I know this all too well. My journey began with Lilly’s disappearance…noticing the flaws and injustice in our system. Being denied media coverage because Lilly’s case is not sensational enough, she’s not white or pretty or important enough to deserve a mention of her disappearance on the local news. I’ve been turned away by reporters and writers who say: “Best of luck in your search, but know that your situation is not unique.” Like I don’t know there are thousands of children and adults that go missing each year without a peep from the media…especially minorities and men. The media is out to make money and unless there is an upper income white family involved it isn’t likely to gain attention and even then the media still looks for some angle to latch onto. I wonder why so many newspapers are going out of business? It’s no wonder more and more folks are turning away from TV/cable news to get their news from the internet.