Missing Black Woman? Who cares?!?!
Commentary, dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
To the right is a picture of Mitrice Richardson, a year after the LA Sherrifs department released her at 1:00 AM with no purse, no cell phone, no money, and several miles away from her car. Matrice's body was recently discovered.
Haven't heard of her? Maybe it's because cable news is obsessed with something that can't be put any other way: Missing white woman syndrome
Black Kos published this story little over a year ago after I read it on Afro Spear
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released twenty four year old Mitrice Richardson at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night from a remote substation. The young black woman, an executive assistant and lived with her grandmother in Los Angeles, was arrested on September 17th from an upscale restaurant in Malibu, about forty miles from her home, when she was presented with the eighty nine dollar check and couldn’t pay. The restaurant staff said she was behaving. They claim that at one point she sat at a table of six other restaurant patrons and engaged them in conversation. That’s really odd because we know people never bother to try and meet other people. And by odd behavior the staff must have been referring to the fact that she was broke. That’s certainly odd to see in a Malibu upscale restaurant. The restaurant manager had to call the police.
When the police arrived, they searched Ms. Richardson’s car and impounded it after finding a small amount of marijuana. Ms. Richardson was arrested for possession of marijuana and not paying her bill. The police took her thirteen miles away to the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station. Her car remained at the restaurant. The young woman was then released at about one o’clock in the morning, without a cell phone or her car, on her own recognizance. She had no transportation and no way to communicate with her family.
But this leads us to a larger story, why young missing black woman aren't given the same treatment as young missing white woman on cable news. There have been atempts to explain this as a class issue and not one of race, but many of the missing black woman (including the wife of a former NBA player) have been from the "upper class", many of the white woman who have gone missing have been of working class backgounds. Out of respect for their names I won't post the names of the victims, but one in particular stands out. A missing Ohio white woman of a working class backgrounds who was sleeping with a MARRIED police officer and then went missing was given national news coverage, while the black wife of a former NBA player wasn't? White woman who committed minor infractions (much like Matrices was) and then went missing are given national attention. I don't believe in "blaming the victim" so I'm not doing that here, but I am pointing out a double standard.
There is starting be action on the legal front on this NYPD Inaction Over a Missing Black Woman Found Dead Sparks a Historic Racial-Bias Lawsuit, but the larger question is where is the media in all this?
Maybe you didn't hear about this story? CNN Bumps Story About Ten Missing Black Women for 1 Non-Black Woman
Now Newsweek is telling their story and asking why the rest of the coutnry doesn't know that there is a serial killer in North Carolna killing Black women. Most interesting is when they discuss Nancy Grace's decision to bump this story from her show. As you know, Nancy Grace is the pied piper of missing and murdered women and children.
But the national media did show some interest in the story after it was revealed that five women were murdered in or around the town. "Nancy Grace called and wanted to have some of us on her show, but before it aired there was a white woman from Georgia that went missing. The Nancy Grace show was canceled," Knight says. HLN network, which broadcasts Nancy Grace, confirmed that Knight was booked for the show, which was ultimately canceled to profile the disappearance of Kristi Cornwell, a white woman from Blairsville, Ga., who went missing during an evening walk. Representatives from Nancy Grace told NEWSWEEK, "The booking was changed due to news that was breaking that day," and emphasized the change had nothing to do with the race of the victim. News Week
Sorry Nancy, you need more people. Your show is a parade of missing person's cases, I want to see some STATS. BTW Anderson 360 covered the case so I guess CNN thought that was enough, but I don't think so.
18 million[sic] Black folks and their" play cousins" handed over their eyeballs to CNN for their "Black in America" series, you mean to tell me they can't give these missing Black women 180 seconds? on CNN Headline News? That's 18 seconds a piece.
Even on progressive or left leaning media outlets this phenom continues. Why? There are stats to back this up: Double Standard: Missing Black Women Still Get Less Media Than Whites
Washington - Average looking men, women and children from a variety of economic, social and ethnic backgrounds made up the more than 105,000 active missing persons in America last year, according to the National Crime Information Center. However, national media operations often fail to present what is in fact a very diverse missing persons population - African-Americans. And some observers believe race is the factor.
"There is a culture in America that tends to sympathize with the blond white woman instead of the braided black woman," said Ernie Suggs, vice president of print for the National Association of Black Journalists. "There has always been a certain level of interest, a certain fascination with white missing persons ... Americans identify with who they want to be."
For example, Latasha Norman, a 20-year-old, Jackson State University honor student from the Mississippi Delta city of Greenville, had been missing for more than two weeks when her body was found on Nov. 29, 2007, in a wooded area in Jackson. Norman's boyfriend, Stanley Cole, 24, was charged with her murder. Her story received little national coverage and was quickly glossed over by CNN.
Thousands of miles away, the disappearance of Stacey Peterson, a 23-year-old, mother of two from Bolingbrook Ill., whose police officer husband is a primary suspect in her Oct. 28, 2007, received national media attention for weeks. Her case was updated regularly on CNN, MSNBC and other major news stations in great detail. Peterson's story was featured in a number of major newspapers including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and New York Newsday.
Stacey Peterson nearly became a household name, producing 723,000 results on Google, a world-wide web search engine. Norman's name produced 177,000 results.
What's the difference between the two women?
Race is the difference, according to Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin, who is white.
It's not just TV news as Bob Herbert attested to in a New York Times editorial. Yes many years have passed since this incident happened, but has the behavior changed? ‘What Color Is That Baby?’
I remember as a young deputy city editor at The Daily News attending my first "sked meeting," a large gathering of editors held every afternoon to consider which stories would go into the next morning’s paper and how they would be played.
I was sitting at the far end of a conference table from the editor who was conducting the meeting. The News had very seldom had a black person at those gatherings. Mine was the only black face in the room.
One of the stories being pitched was about a baby that had been killed on Long Island. The editor running the meeting was completely relaxed. He was sprawled in his chair and was holding a handful of papers. His legs were crossed.
"What color is that baby?" he asked.
A tremendous silence fell over the room. Everyone understood what he meant. If the baby was white, the chances were much better that the story was worth big play. It might be something to get excited about.
Annoyed at not getting a response, the editor repeated himself. Then his eyes caught mine staring down from the other end of the table.
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The situation is so dire that there are several blogs devoted to only showing missing children of color because the traditional media REFUSES to cover the stories. One of these is Black, and Missing, But not Forgotten.
If we can't get the traditional media to pay attention should'nt we at least start pushing the center left media (MSNBC, Huffington Post, etc.) to start paying attention.
When will we answer Bob Herbert's old editor's question "what color is that baby" with a defiant "the color that matters!"
RIP Matrice Richardson
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Historic Idlewild worth preserving. The resort was a one-time haven for Blacks such as B.B. King & W.E.B. DuBois. As segregation laws fell, it's reason for being-as a refuge for Blacks barred from white society-became less urgent. Grands Rapid Press: Historic Idlewild worth preserving
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An expansion of historic recognition for Idlewild will do as much to secure a better future for the Lake County community as it will to preserve its past.
The resort, a one-time haven for African-American luminaries such as B.B. King and W.E.B. DuBois, was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This year, Michigan’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) sought to expand the existing historic district and to erect new Michigan Historical Markers. The new boundaries, which were recognized last week, encompass the entire historic resort, especially areas developed after 1930 when Idlewild really began to boom.
The national historic designation enables owners of certain properties within the border to apply for tax credits for renovations. Historic designation, when used well, has proven in other places to be an effective economic development tool. That can be especially helpful given Idlewild’s location in one of the most impoverished areas of Michigan.
The state’s historic preservation office calls Idlewild the "largest and most important historic African-American resort in the nation." Founded in the early 1900s, the resort provided a place for blacks who were shut out of society elsewhere to hunt, fish and enjoy a thriving night life at local clubs.
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The Root: Dr. Laura Caller: Host Not 'Sincere in Her Apology'
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The African-American caller who was on the receiving end of Dr. Laura Schlessinger's n-word rant told T.J. Holmes on CNN's American Morning that she was hurt and confused by the radio show host's diatribe, and doubts the sincerity of Schlessinger's apologies. "I didn't want turn this into a racial thing; I just wanted some advice for my relationship," said Nita Hanson. She sought advice from Dr. Laura for dealing with racially charged comments that friends of her white husband sometimes make, and his tepid reaction to the remarks. Instead, Hanson was told that she has a "chip" on her shoulder and, "If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."
"It's more than just the n-word," Hanson said of the incident. "In that whole conversation, she said I shouldn't marry outside my race. Dr. Laura acted as if I tried to set her up, and that's not what happened ... at the end of the tape she's like, 'Nice try, Jade.' What is that supposed to mean?"
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The bad news..... The Grio: Grim graduation rates for black males highlight racial gap.
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Are young black men ready for the increasingly brutal, knowledge-based job market in the U.S.? The answer is a resounding "no," according to a new report Yes We Can: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males 2010. Calling it a "national crisis," the report found that only 47 percent of black males graduated from high school in the 2007-2008 school year.
The report's authors also stated that the results of the eighth grade reading assessment test scores, which measure how many black males read at or above the proficiency level, "should set off alarm bells." The "best" score was a dramatically low: 15 percent (Kentucky, New Jersey), and several states averaged only five percent (Mississippi, Nevada).
According to the report, "(M)ore than twice as many black students are classified as 'mentally retarded' in spite of research demonstrating that the percentages of students from all groups are approximately the same at each intelligence level." The report adds, "The persistent over-classification of black male students as 'mentally retarded' reflects, at best, a lack of professional development in this area for teachers and other staff."
At a time when more jobs require advanced knowledge of math and technology, more than four times as many white male students take advanced placement math and science courses as black males.
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Now the good news.. Washington Post: Study: NJ and Newark lead nation in black male graduation rates.
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It is always news to me when I hear or read something good about the Newark school system, so I took notice when the Schott Foundation for Public Education released a new study saying that both that city, and the state of New Jersey, lead the nation in the percent of black male students graduating from high school.
Schott's report focused on the abysmal national graduation rate for black males, only 47 percent in the 2007-08 school year, but it heralded the New Jersey results, and gave credit to that state's heavy spending and innovative measures to raise graduation rates for everyone.
It said New Jersey had a graduation rate for black males of 69 percent in 2007-08, with the next closest states being Maryland (55 percent), California (54 percent) and Pennsylvania (53 percent). In Newark, the graduation rate for black males was 76 percent. The other school districts nearest that level were Fort Bend, Tex. (68 percent), Baltimore County, Md. (67 percent) and Montgomery County, Md. (65 percent). The list only included states with more than 100,000 black male students and districts with more than 10,000 black male students.
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Detroit Free Press: Bing’s land use plan to reshape Detroit
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Single-page viewNext Page1| 2Previous PageDetroit Mayor Dave Bing’s land use plan has morphed into a multi-faceted strategy intended to attract new residents, stabilize neighborhoods and encourage development, all while reshaping the city’s economic and physical footprint, the Free Press has learned.
Unlike other administrations, though, Bing said he is committed to engaging the community every step of the way during a 16-month effort called "The Detroit Strategic Framework Plan," which will be launched in September. The first community meeting will be held Sept. 14.
"This is the most important decision that this administration is faced with, " Bing told the Free Press this morning, adding that the strategy must take Detroit into the next five to 10 years. "People need to feel and see that a change is taking place."
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Another reason to end DADT! The Washington Post: Minorities disproportionately discharged for 'don't ask, don't tell' violations.
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The military threw out hundreds of service members in 2009 for violating its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, including a disproportionate number of women and minorities and dozens of service members in "mission critical" positions, according to a new analysis of military data.
The Pentagon honorably discharged 428 service members for violating the gay ban in 2009, according to statistics reviewed by the Palm Center, a nonpartisan University of California think tank studying the impact of gays in the military. The figure is down from 619 discharged for violating the policy in 2008.
Women account for 14 percent of Army soldiers but made up 48 percent of the Army's "don't ask" discharges in 2009, the study said. Six percent of the Marine Corp is female, but women accounted for 23 percent of its discharges. Among officers, the Navy discharged only two for violating the policy in 2009, and both were Asian. The Army discharged five officers -- two were African American, one was Asian and two were white, the Palm Center said.
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[] With Friends Like These, Who Needs Glenn Beck? Racism and White Privilege on the Liberal-Left by Tim Wise
[] DADT hurts women and minorities at higher rates than anyone else by indiemcemopants
[] The Inkwell, Martha's Vineyard by aaraujo
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This was just leaked, she is back!!! Lauryn Hill - Repercussions