On The Margins: Who’s Missing?
Marie: Can missing people be counted when they are invisible to begin with? It’s horrible to say that anyone is invisible – but we have all had the experience of being overlooked; and we’ve also been on the other side of not really seeing the person who just packed our groceries, or just stood next to us in the gas station. When one of them goes missing because of violence or trauma, who goes looking for them?
While they’re missing, what kind of things are happening to them?
Janet: I remember the Comedy Central episode of Jon Stewarts show when he illustrated his point that…..
“TV: y (minutes of media coverage) = Family Income x (Abductee Cuteness ÷ Skin Color) + Length of Abduction x Media Savvy of Grieving Parents” is the official formula for the indication of how much media airtime a missing child might receive. “
Cute and white is the message. As usual, I experienced what I call “couch outrage,” observing and vocalizing outrage from my sofa. Then a loud AMBER alert blares from my charging cell phone. Who’s the kid? What color are they?
According to Christina Maxouris, CNN February 22, 2020, there isn't an AMBER Alert for every child who goes missing. From the more than 3,500 cases of missing children in the state last year, there was one AMBER Alert.
Recently I wondered who is writing about this, and I found Jada L. Moss’ article in the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice at https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl
Current laws and policies are evidently either mimicking or causing the lack of coverage of Black missing persons cases in main- stream media and are thus failing at protecting missing Black girls and women. Legislatures must enact specific targeted laws and policies that allocate resources to the search and recovery of missing Black girls and women and promote the equal protection of all missing persons.
I wondered about indigenous and Hispanic boys and girls, women, and trans? Who’s counting them?
Marie: When we were a young family, I had a friend whose 12-year-old son would run around the streets of our neighborhood at 3 am with a fifth of whiskey in his belly –he was being abused….by family. And, he was invisible.
When his mom tried to alert the police, CPS, and lawyers, they called her hysterical. The perpetrator was so charming and such an ‘upstanding citizen’ that no one could appear to rely on the boy’s mom. The son could not articulate or accuse, his slurred words stumbling out without cohesion. His mom was, in fact, court ordered to allow her son to spend time with his abuser. He was invisible to the law.
Some fifteen years later, I can still remember searching for the boy, his mom and me carrying him to the car and rushing to the emergency room to get his stomach pumped. I can still hear the muffled voices and sobs.
Is he visible to anyone?
Now, as an adult, he is on his own – his past concealed from anyone who does not remember those days. Is he okay?
Janet: What’s new? There is a syndrome called The Missing White Woman Syndrome. You can see the racial disparity that is present in the investigation and allocation of resources in missing persons cases. According to Child Rights activist Katerina Canyon there are several unknowns including that many go missing without any witnesses.
“This leads me to believe that the kidnappers are either very good at what they’re doing, or the girls left on their own,” Canyon said.
https://www.afro.com/our-black-women-and-girls-have-gone-missing-but-few-seem-to-care/
Marie: It’s my belief that we have some responsibility for our fellow man. Sometimes this is simply a fine, active web of support – the “Good Morning” you give to a neighbor, the smile or nod. The clothes you donate to Goodwill, the apple you give to the homeless person in front of the post office. The eye contact and warmth you can project at the grocery store. Small things. They add up.
What can one person do? Stay awake. Live as if it’s worth paying attention.
Listen and get curious about the organizations that care about the boys, girls, trans, and women who fall off the margins and disappear.