A local senator is hoping missing persons cases in the African American community will get more of an immediate response.
He argues they’re often ignored or categorized differently than others.
His proposal for a new alert system could help one mother whose son is currently missing -- feels about it.
A California state senator from Inglewood wants to make it easier to get the word out about missing black women, girls, and youth because he argues their cases get much less attention from law enforcement and the media than others and their families receive little to no help.
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“How often do you turn on the TV and you see a black child missing? Very rarely. But usually, when there is someone missing, a young child or a young adult woman, it’s usually someone non-African-American.” Senator of California’s 35th District Steven Bradford District 35 said.
Senate bill 673 or the “Ebony Alert,” as it's also called, would create a new alert system, similar to an “amber” or “silver” alert but instead for missing black women, girls, and youth.
“It’s a great disparity as far as what resources are committed to African American women and girls. Many times, girls under the age of 25 who come up missing, especially from 12 to 18, are listed as “runaways.” Whereas a white counterpart is listed as “missing.”
Law enforcement may activate an “ebony alert” under several circumstances, including:
- If the missing person is between 12 to 25 years old
- Suffers from a mental or physical disability
- Is a victim of trafficking or kidnapping
Lori Nelson says her son, Jesse Foulks has been missing from the l-a area since September 2021 telling us that law enforcement and local news outlets have not been helpful.
Ms. Nelson applauds the idea for an “ebony alert” and hopes it can be extended to people like her son as well because she argues the black community struggles for help with missing persons cases.
“This is someone who was in contact with family. Loved his family. And said nothing was more important than family. So, he didn’t just walk away. But that’s the attitude that I think we get in the Black community,” Nelson said. “Last words to me was, ‘Thank you, love.’ That’s my son. That he would call me Mama or Love.”
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Senator Bradford says he is hoping the bill makes it to the senate floor and then to the assembly from there.
