Missing White Girl Syndrome. This country’s got it bad.
A pretty young blonde goes missing and that’s all we can talk about. In the meantime, young Lauren Not a White Woman Cho, went missing in Yucca Valley, California last June. No massive manhunt. Not even a blip on the news. Nothing to see here, move along.
Tens of thousands of black girls go missing every year. Can you name one? How about this kid? A total homebody that just disappeared off the face of the earth. Asia Wilbon, 16, gone.
Currently there are 5712 missing Native American or Eskimo women.
30% of the Native American murders make the news while 51% make the news when the victim is white.
There’s a problem here. Yes, the story of Gabby Petito is tragic. But so is the story of Lauren Cho, Asia Wilbon, and Kaysera Stops Pretty Places. And you’ve never heard of any of them. Only one has been murdered for sure, Kaysera Stops Pretty Places. The other two have never been found. There was pressure to look for Lauren Cho and they’re currently searching the desert in California. 16yo Asia Wilbon is simply forgotten. That young woman doesn’t deserve our indifference. Her family loved her.
Meanwhile in Oakland, Frank Somerville, the probably former anchor of KTVU news has been suspended indefinitely because he pushed back on the Gabby Petito coverage without mentioning something, ANYTHING about the WOC who disappear without a mention from the local media. Frank is one of the good ones and he will be missed. I hope he uses his media capital to effect change. He gets it.
So next time the media gets wrapped around the axle over a missing white girl, go take a look at ourblackgirls.com or mmiwusa.org and see who’s being ignored by our media.