While she has now admitted she was never kidnapped, initial reports of Carlethia “Carlee” Russell missing made major news and went viral on social media in mid-July. Despite her showing up at her home two days later, and her disappearance being an act, there was a fervor to get her back that should be maintained for the many missing Black women and girls in the United States.
The National Crime Information Center revealed that while Black women and girls make up about 7% of the U.S. population, they account for almost 36% of all missing Black women and girls in America. These numbers prove Black women and girls disproportionately go missing, but unlike in Russell’s scenario, it’s rare that their cases gain nationwide notoriety.
When a Black woman or girl goes missing, law enforcement and others should take it very seriously. Russell’s disappearance was an unfortunate, isolated incident that should be viewed as such, not an example of what is likely happening when a Black woman goes missing.
Why don’t people generally take missing Black women and girls seriously? In 2004, Gwen Ifill is believed to have first used the term “missing white woman syndrome,” referencing the way the media often dealt with the stories and cases of white women who are kidnapped or missing.
Nineteen years later, missing white women tend to still get more media attention.
“I think there’s a lot of bias involved. And ‘missing white woman syndrome,’ as Gwen called it and penned it originally, I guess, also includes the wall-to-wall coverage that actually gets communities up in arms, to the point where you have people flying themselves to Aruba to help look for Natalee Holloway,” said Soledad O’Brien in a PBS Newshour interview about an HBO documentary series “Black and Missing.”
“So it’s not even just the media. It’s this idea of like, why do people as a whole just not care,” O’Brien questioned.
Numbers show that missing Black women and girls is a serious issue that should get as much attention as white women.
Despite Russell going missing being a hoax, I encourage police, the media and citizens alike to maintain the same urgency many people possessed behind the alleged kidnapping of the 25-year-old, when all Black women and girls go missing.