I was sitting a few days ago watching the news and watching the latest breaking news on a missing child. My heart really does go out for the family and I could only imagine the grief that they are going through at the moment. Something about the newscast bothered me though. The problem I had is that there was a repition in the news that I was receiving. It seems whenever a child is white and from a prominent neighborhood they are breaking news and become America’s little sweet heart.
Granted there is an Amber alert system which has made significant progress, but there are some flaws that still bother me. About a year ago there was an Amber alert sent out for Rodlyn Petitbois who kidnapped his kids and the mother. The children and mother were found safe and unharmed and I was truly relieved (although it came to light that the mother helped Petitbois flee to New York and she was also arrested). The coverage was well documented and I commend the local media for being so responsive. The issue though continues with the media, because it wasn’t national breaking news.
When Elizabeth Smart went missing all of America was tuned in just about everyday. The coverage was on 24 hour cable news networks and my local media. It made me think what was wrong with these kids that they can’t have national media coverage. If this was gang related, having to do with illegal immigrants, or a tragedy it would’ve become a bigger issue than the kidnapping. This seems to be the only way the black, Hispanic, and other minority groups can bring in national awareness.
Although we have the Amber alert, what about the ones that don’t get Amber alerts. There are plenty of posted pictures missing children in our local neighborhoods of kids you never knew were missing. The names are never familiar to me, but the story is always the same. Missing. So how do we help these families? That’s a question that still plagues me at times. I want to be able and reach out to these families bring awareness of what they are going through and help end their grief. We can’t count on the news media anymore because we don’t fit their criteria. So lets use the resources we have at hand, lets go to our local independent radio stations- Big City 101.3 FM, Choice Radio 102.9 FM, and Touch 106.1 FM. Also the national center of missing and expolited children (NCMEC).
Again I don’t mean to offend anyone, but lets keep it real. This is the truth!! Does anyone care??
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