In 2017, there have already been 501 cases of missing children in the Washington DC area. 38 of those cases are currently open. Black lawmakers have asked the FBI to open an investigation as to why there is an increasingly large number of missing Black and Latino girls. In their letter to FBI director James Comey, they plead, "devote the resources necessary to determine whether these developments are an anomaly or whether they are indicative of an underlying trend that must be addressed."
With so many girls missing, why has there been such a lack of media coverage? 37% of children missing in the US are black according to the Black and Missing Foundation. When teens of color go missing, they are assumed to have run away rather than be victims of abduction. This hackneyed idea is both uninformed and harmful.
Children of color should get the same attention as their white counterparts do when they go missing. There is an undeniable disparity in reporting when it comes to missing people of color. Co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation Natalie Wilson says: "We noticed that a lot of African American children that go missing are initially classified as runaways. They do not get an Amber Alert or media coverage."
People have taken to social media with #MissingDCGirls to voice their concerns:
