Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Rev. Al Sharpton wants a federal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson, who is the Cal State Fullerton graduate whose remains were recently found by police. The young woman, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was released from a Malibu police substation with no car, cell phone or money after being arrested for failing to pay for an $89 dinner bill.
Sharpton said that minority women do not get the same attention as missing Caucasian women and that it's time for that to change:
"The incident must be raised to a review of what the process was compared to others in the area. It could be a test case of what's going on around the country, where missing African Americans are not considered a priority for law enforcement or the media," Sharpton told The Root.
Sharpton said his National Action Network was sending a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.
Both of Richardson's parents have filed suits against the police. Police officials say they followed the proper procedure in releasing Richardson and invested thousands of hours looking for the young woman.
However, missing persons statistics and an examination of missing persons media coverage bear out Sharpton's complaint, a complaint that has long been echoed throughout the black community.
Of the 558,000 people under the age of 18 listed as missing last year, 194,000 are black, according to FBI statistics. According to the FBI, 719,558 people were listed as missing in 2009. Statistics show that 238,847 were African American -- that's a little more than 33 percent of the total. African Americans only make up 12 percent of the country's population.
But when media attention is focused on a missing person on shows like 'Nancy Grace' or in People magazine, African Americans are rarely the missing subject.
Due to intense media pressure from Richardson's family, her picture was on the cover of People magazine, but she shared the cover with several other missing people. Rep. Maxine Waters also became involved, calling for an investigation, because she believes Richardson's civil rights may have been violated.
We should question the news judgment of media outlets that turn local missing persons cases into national stories; however, if there was a case to receive national attention, Richardson had all the requirements: She was young, pretty and intelligent, graduating from college at the top of her class. There were also mysterious questions surrounding her disappearance. She came from a good family that spoke eloquently and searched diligently for their missing child.
Although Mitrice did receive national media attention, there are many missing African Americans that never do. A family in Atlanta has complained because they believe the case of a missing 13-year-old with bipolar order is mistakenly being classified as a runaway case.
Because of Aja Stroud's questionable mental status, her family thinks Dekalb County Police should be doing more to find the young woman (pictured below).
LaDonna Meredith, president of Let's Bring Them Home, a Rogers, Ark.-based nonprofit organization that helps families and law enforcement agencies find missing adults, told The Root that race was the issue:
"You will receive greater attention if you are white and missing, especially if you are a white child," Meredith said. "We simply are saying, let us give everyone equal attention no matter his or her race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. We care about everyone."