In 1979, when 6-year-old Etan Patz went missing, his face was the first to appear on milk cartons. The Amber Alert system was created just for him. Black women and children had been missing for years with no such urgency.
Since slavery, the bodies of Black women and children have been so dehumanized that their disappearance doesn’t even register on the public radar. Not even the Atlanta child murders of the late 1970s-early 1980s triggered outrage on behalf of our community.
It's a pattern. Black girls are disproportionately targeted in sex trafficking, often starting with disappearance. Instead of being protected, girls are criminalized for behaviors like truancy or sex work, while systemic inaction ensures their cases go cold. Families reporting missing loved ones are looked at with suspicion.
The systems created after Etan Patz's case, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Missing Children's Assistance Act, and Amber Alerts, were not built with Black families in mind. Our children don't meet "criteria" for urgency.
Safety in this country remains conditional, and race is one of the conditions. Until we extend the same care, visibility, and urgency to every missing Black life, the promise of safety will remain out of reach for too many.