by Juleyka Lantigua-Williams
Fade
To
Black
The only thing worse than knowing that your child has
vanished is accepting that your loss is not a priority to those
in a position to help. While mainstream media continues
to turn its back on our young, Black and missing, it’s time
for the community to stand up for our lost loved ones.
>FACES OF THE LOST ROW 1 Alexis Patterson, 7 | Jaliek Rainwalker, 12 | Asha Degree, 9 | Andrea Cabrea, 14 ROW 2 Amir
Jennings, 1 | Diamond Bradley, 3 | Patrick Alford, 7 | Tarasha Benjamin, 17 ROW 3 Gabrielle Swainson, 15 | Reuben Blackwell, 3 |
Bianca Jones, 2 | Adji Desir, 6 ROW 4 Jhessye Shockley, 5 | Tionda Bradley, 10 | Phylicia Barnes, 16 | Keiosha Felix, 15
JETMAG.COM 27
Missing
Iquilla Degree’s alarm
went off at 6:30 am.
33.8%
of those missing are Black
Source: FBI
She went to wake her young son and daughter, who
shared a room. Her boy jumped up as usual to get
ready for school, but his sister’s bed was empty.
Degree checked the kitchen, every closet in the
house and the family’s two cars, but Asha was not
there. She and her husband desperately called
relatives, but their precious child was nowhere to
be found. “That’s when I went into panic mode,”
recalls the heartbroken mother of the morning her
then 9-year-old daughter went missing.
AP Photo/The State, Tim Dominick
Asha Degree is one of about 800,000
children younger than 18 who are reported missing each year, according to
the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children (NCMEC), the
Congress-sanctioned clearinghouse
for such cases. About 150,000 of them
are Black. That’s 17 of our daughters,
sons, nieces and nephews gone
every hour of every day.
Statistics like these reflect stark facts
about African-American children who
vanish, like raindrops falling down
shadowy street drains. Oftentimes, the
family’s anguish is multiplied by mainstream media’s reluctance— or outright
unwillingness— to dedicate a fair
amount of coverage to cases involving
people of color. “I see more White children profiled than Black,” reveals
Patricia Williams, a case management
previous spread: images courtesy FBI; Black and missing
Without a Trace
search & rescue:
A flyer in Columbia, SC requesting
information on the disappearance of
18-month-old Amir Jennings.
supervisor at NCMEC, who has been
involved in 1,622 recoveries (the majority found alive, and a handful deceased).
“We do have some critical cases that
I’d like to see more attention for.”
“I’ve seen instances in which national media is far more responsive when a
White person is the victim and a Black
one is the aggressor,” adds Columbia,
SC Police Chief Randy Scott, who
worked two high-profile cases involving
African-American boys. One was
18-month-old Amir Jennings’ disappearance in December 2011. The other
was the alleged beating of a White teenager by Black teens several months
earlier. “The media descended to cover
the latter story. They were definitely
trying to make that incident racial,” he
says. “It’s frustrating that I could not
get the same coverage for Amir, a small,
defenseless child.”
At press time, Amir’s whereabouts
were still unknown. But his mother,
Zinah Jennings, was found guilty of
having involvement in his disappear-
ance and sentenced to 10 years. While
most assume a stranger is responsible,
many abductions are perpetrated by
someone the victim knows. Such was
the case with Tamika Huston, a young
Black woman who went missing in
Spartanburg, SC, in 2004. Her remains
were discovered a year later and DNA
evidence proved her ex-boyfriend,
Christopher Hampton, was responsible
for her murder.
Taking Control
Huston’s disappearance struggled to
get any local or national coverage. Meanwhile, when a young White woman
named Natalee Holloway went missing
sometime later, her story dominated the
airwaves for months. Such blatant media disparity inspired sisters-in-law
Derrica and Natalie Wilson to found the
Black and Missing Foundation, Inc.
(BAM FI) in 2008. With backgrounds
in law enforcement and public relations,
the duo have helped locate, or provided
JETMAG.COM 29
Missing
sister soldiers:
(left to right) Black and Missing Foundation, Inc.
founders, Natalie and Derrica Wilson.
ed abduction, and in 89 percent of child
abduction murders, the victim was
killed within 24 hours.”
Another overlooked factor that could
prove dangerous— and sometimes
deadly— for Black kids who go missing
is the actual officer who takes the initial
report. Experts revealed that children
of color are more often classified as runaways, so an Amber Alert is not issued.
As a result, investigators’ response time
is not as immediate. This lack of urgency also happens in adult cases.
“We worked with some folks who had
family members missing where police
told them, ‘Your loved one will return
when the drugs wear off,’” says Derrica,
who emphasizes the need for better
training, starting at the police academy
level. “The victims were essentially
classified as drug addicts and truants
so the police reports were not taken.”
Preparing for the worst is a parent’s
best defense against an abduction
1. TALK candidly and regularly about
the danger of strangers and any adult
who asks youngsters to keep secrets.
2. TEACH children to memorize two to
four emergency contacts (including
parent’s number, 911 and home address).
3. UPDATE photo albums with current,
clear pictures of your child so he or she
can be easily identified.
4. CREATE a code word that all
adults— even recognizable faces— must
state to confirm permission to escort
your child anywhere.
5. IDENTIFY routes to local safe
zones, such as police stations,
firehouses and trusted neighbors. Power of the People
Everyone involved in searches agrees
that prompt and widespread coverage—
local, national, television, social media
and Web— can have a direct impact on
a developing case. A prime example is
Mishell Green, who was missing for
about six months. Eighteen minutes
after Derrica Wilson appeared on The
View to spread awareness about her
disappearance, BAM FI received a call
that told them exactly where the
16-year-old was. “In that case, the media’s impact was immediate and very
powerful,” Natalie Wilson concludes.
photo by Germaine Nelson
closure to, the relatives of 119 missing
people. Bamfi.org has also become a
valuable resource for families as well
as an up-to-date archive of ongoing
investigations.
Despite the organization’s success, it
still faces obstacles. Take the case of
North Carolina native Phylicia Barnes,
then 16, who disappeared in Baltimore
during a family visit in 2010, for example. “It took 10 days for the local media to report the story,” remembers
Derrica, who worked with the family to
get exposure. “We were getting the door
slammed in our face.”
Sadly, Phylicia’s lifeless body was
found in a river four months later. It’s
another chilling reminder that getting
media coverage in a timely manner can
mean the difference between life and
death. An FBI brief prepared for JET’s
investigation states, “in 76 percent of
child abduction murders, the victim was
killed within three hours of the report-
Before Your Child
Goes Missing
Sometimes one relevant outlet picking up the story can have a domino effect.
“We’ve witnessed other kinds of traumatic cases in which Black-owned
media have done in-depth reporting that
has prodded mainstream outlets to pay
attention,” says Hampton University
journalism professor Wayne Dawkins,
who worked as a reporter for more than
20 years.
That’s what happened with Asha
Degree’s story. “Once the local news
found out we were going on The Montel
Williams Show, one of them flew a reporter up for an interview too,” remembers Iquilla Degree. “The White ladies
that go missing get more attention. I
don’t try to speculate. I know if you ask
them they will say it’s not racial. Really?
I’m not going to argue. I have common
sense.”
Keeping Hope Alive
While mainstream media is slow to
change, Black-owned outlets are beginning to lead the charge. TV One’s Find
Our Missing, which launched in 2012
and is produced in collaboration with
BAM FI, has taken a bold step toward
bridging the gap. “We think it’s our job
to keep an eye out for our people— it is
our responsibility,” explains Tia Smith,
the co-executive in charge of production. “Our people bleed, our people feel,
our people need coverage.”
This glaring media lapse affects us
all. The same village charged with raising a child must also protect him or
her— in the formative years and
throughout his or her entire life. In 2012
alone the National Crime Information
Center recorded 45,907 disappearances of African-American adults.
It’s been 13 years since Asha Degree
vanished from her bedroom and her
family is still no closer to answers about
where she is or what happened. But they
remain hopeful. “The police don’t think
my daughter is still alive,” says Iquilla
Degree. “But I believe in God and if she
were dead, He would have told me somehow. I believe she’s still alive.”
For extended interviews with our
experts, visit jetmag.com today
JETMAG.COM 31