On March 23, 2017, 14 girls in the District of Columbia went missing all within 24 hours. This news may be shocking to those who are not on social media because of the fact that this horrific incident has zero media coverage. This has not been on any news channel and there has been no amber alert sent to any cellular phone.
These 14 girls are of African American or Latinx descendent. Many members of society believe that this is a major reason why these girls are not receiving the media attention that they deserve. In the past, we have witnessed many missing children cases such as Jaycee Lee Dugard and Etan Patz. These cases changed the world because of how intense the search for these children were with Etan Patz actually being featured on the side of a milk carton. It can be argued that every major missing child case that has been broadcasted to the world has involved middle to upper class caucasian children.
What is happening today is not a normal missing child case, this is turning into an epidemic of different young girls showing up missing everyday. This is a danger to society, especially to African American and Latinx females. The media and us as a society have a duty to shine light on this growing epidemic and to force law enforcement to do something about it.
Black members of Congress are calling for the Justice Department, led by our newly appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey to gather the necessary resources to find out if this is an anomaly or a dangerous trend that must be stopped.
I spoke to my mother, who never goes on social media, about this case and she had no idea about the missing girls. This proves that we have a media problem in this country. We would rather focus on Tom Brady’s missing Super Bowl jersey than 14 missing human beings. The media focuses on ratings when we need to encourage the media to report on news that matters.
These girls matter. These girls lives' matter.
More and more celebrities have come forward on social media platforms to address this issue and to gain attention towards these girls. You do not have to be a celebrity to make a difference. Call your local news channel and ask them about putting this story on the air.
Also, know the victims’ names, faces, and stories and share them on social media. The DC Police Department twitter has posted a list of the missing girls along with their names and faces.
