More than a third of the 271,493 girls and women reported missing in 2022 were Black, even though Black women and girls comprise only around 14 percent of the U.S. female population, according to federal data from the Office of Justice Programs. The Black & Missing Foundation notes that nearly 40 percent of missing‐persons cases involve people of color – yet law enforcement protocols, alerts, and media coverage rarely reflect that.
As reported by Ujima Center’s report, “When Black Women and Girls Go Missing,” of the 268,884 women and girls reported missing in 2020, some 90,333 were Black. Yet even with these numbers, media attention and public urgency lag far behind cases involving white women.
When 22-year-old Gabby Petito went missing in 2021, the nation stopped to search with her family — cable news ran breaking updates, social media flooded with hashtags, and federal agents scoured the country until her body was found. That same year, Rachel Imani Elizabeth Buckner, a 29-year-old Black law student from California, also vanished. Her disappearance drew barely a whisper from major news outlets, and it took weeks before law enforcement issued a public alert.
One woman’s tragedy became a national obsession; the other’s became a footnote. The difference wasn’t circumstance – it was color, and this contrast reveals everything about who America decides is worth finding. That contrast is more than troubling for Black and Brown women- it’s fatal.
When the media doesn’t amplify the disappearance, when police delay treating it as a serious case, time slips by, and a kidnapping can quickly turn into murder. Black and Brown women’s cases are often treated as if they are “runaways” or blamed on previous life choices. These assumptions are rarely made about young white women, but they are standard for women of color.
This phenomenon has a name – Missing White Woman Syndrome. It describes a pattern where missing white women receive disproportionate media attention compared with missing women of color. The message is clear: young white females matter, and young Black and Brown females do not.
There has been some progress. California in 2024 launched Ebony Alert, which gives law-enforcement agencies a specific tool to issue emergency notifications for missing Black persons aged 12 to 25 under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. The criteria are clear: a missing person is Black, aged 12-25, vanished under suspicious circumstances or may be subject to trafficking or danger. Complementing this culturally specific plan of action is Feather Alert, which provides similar outreach efforts aimed at Indigenous communities.
These designated alerts matter because culture informs how a disappearance is experienced: mistrust of law enforcement, fear of being blamed, stigma over prior life choices, and communities that internalize the idea that “we deal with our own.” When a Black woman goes missing, her family often hears questions like, “Why did she leave?” instead of a plan of action. Those extra minutes of delay often lead to tragedy, but the Missing and Black Campaign hopes to change this.
To be sure, this is an issue of cultural bias and structural racism, and it demands action. Newsrooms must commit to tracking missing persons’ stories by race and gender.
Law-enforcement agencies must audit their protocols for missing persons, ensuring that a missing Black and Brown woman triggers as rapid a response as any missing white woman. Expand culturally specific alerts like Ebony Alert and Feather Alert to all states, ensure families know about them.
Every missing person deserves the same urgency, spotlight, and assumption of value. But the truth is – we still treat people differently because of the color of their skin. Media bias, law-enforcement delays, and cultural stigma do not just hurt, they kill.
If you spot a young Black or Brown woman missing in your community, do or say something. Share the social media posts, but ensure that it includes more than just a hashtag. Insist on an Ebony or Feather Alert, because when the missing are invisible, the cost is paid in lives. Missing women of color do matter, and their stories need to be told, their faces shared, and their families need to know they will never be invisible again!