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Our Black Women and Girls Have Gone Missing but Few Seem to Care
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “To recognize Black girls as magical means defining them as precious, unique and valued. When society recognizes their worth and value, I believe that more attention will be paid to this matter. In addition, it will call for all people to recognize this as an epidemic and cause for action,” said Ginger Lavender Wilkerson, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Victoria Shaw, a Black girl approximately 15 years old, went missing Monday, Feb. 11, in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Teandah Slater, Black and also only 15 years old, was reported missing on Thursday, Feb. 7, from Noble Square in Chicago.
Areall Murchinson, a 16-year old Black girl, was last seen near the 200 block of West 111th Place, according to a community alert from Chicago police.
The three are the most recent to make the dubious and heart-breaking list of missing Black girls – particularly teens.
It’s a list that’s quite long and there remains no update on their status.
Recently, the nonprofit Black & Missing Foundation compiled statistics from the FBI which noted that in 2016 alone, 242,295 individuals of color were reported missing in the United States.
A stunning 36.7 percent of those missing were Black teens under the age of 18.
In total, statistics show more than 75,000 young Black Americans are currently missing.
What’s more, officials at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline said they’ve received more than 18.4 million reports, most of which led to apparent child sexual abuse images: online enticement (including “sextortion”), child sex trafficking and child sexual molestation.
Those statistics, and the seeming lack of media interest, have led to cries of racism and neglect, particularly when it comes to Black girls.
It has also led La’Tasha D. Mayes to pen the essay, “Why the Crisis of Missing Black Girls Needs More Attention Than It’s Getting.” Mayes’ March 2017 essay was published at Ebony.com where she noted that an academic study analyzed news coverage of missing children and found that only 20 percent of reported stories focused on missing Black children. This, despite the fact that Black children account for 33 percent of total missing children cases.
“In other words, missing Black youth are grossly underreported in the news. For missing girls, it’s even worse. When Black girls go missing, far too many people don’t know or don’t care,” Mayes wrote.
Many argue that the stories of young Black girls and women who are missing don’t get the same degree of local, national and global attention as that of an Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway.
Smart, a 14-year-old white girl, was kidnapped in 2002 from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah. After an intense search that included relentless media coverage, Smart was rescued by police nine months later and, among other activities, she’s become an analyst for ABC News.
Holloway disappeared in 2005 while on a high school graduation trip in Aruba.
The white Alabama teen’s story drew global media coverage and, although her remains were never found, she was declared dead in 2010.
Many maintain that African Americans aren’t afforded the intense police investigations or the media coverage given to whites that go missing.
“Black girls are magical and should be noticed, uplifted and acknowledged, both within and outside of the Black community,” said Ginger Lavender Wilkerson, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles.
“To recognize Black girls as magical means defining them as precious, unique and valued. When society recognizes their worth and value, I believe that more attention will be paid to this matter. In addition, it will call for all people to recognize this as an epidemic and cause for action,” Wilkerson said.
Child Rights activist Katerina Canyon said she’s been researching cases of missing Black girls for years and there are several unknowns, including that many go missing without any witnesses. “This leads me to believe that the kidnappers are either very good at what they’re doing, or the girls left on their own,” Canyon said.
“We need to make sure black girls have readily accessible help from adults in a safe environment such that they do not fall victim to homelessness or trafficking. A lot of times, with the proper interventions, we can prevent black girls from leaving home or falling prey to traffickers,” she said.
The mystery of the disappearances also has heightened since 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidency and the subsequent rise in nationalism and white supremacy.
Some of the disappearances have proven more suspicious than others.
A recent report highlighted the case of Amber Evans, who disappeared in 2015.
Evans had been a key player and driving force behind state and local juvenile justice reform in Ohio – work for which she’d been rewarded when the organization she worked for, the Juvenile Justice Coalition, put her in charge.
In a Facebook post on her first day as executive director, Evans, 28, displayed her track and field medals.
“Ohio is for champions and I used to be something of a track star,” Evans wrote.
“Wearing my old medals before starting day 1 as executive director of the Juvenile Justice Coalition was a nice reminder of that.”
Three weeks later, Evans disappeared.
Her car was found, purse in the trunk, her last known whereabouts, a stop at the pharmacy. Her last known words, a text to her mother saying, “I love you and I’m sorry.”
“There never seemed to be a sense of urgency for our missing African American girls,” said Nashima Harvey, an educator and founder of Girls of Decision, a youth empowerment group that seeks to assist girls in making better choices in all stages of their lives.
“The sad thing that I have encountered has been that many of the young girls I have interacted with on my journey are young women who were former human trafficked young ladies,” Harvey said.
“These women went missing at the ages of 12 to 14 and are now adults living in toxic situations looking for a better life and all seemed to feel no longer welcomed by their family. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this population, but I do believe that we need to be diligent and outspoken when it comes to saving our girls,” she said.
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Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025

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OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same. It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.

By Albert L. Brooks MD
Special to The Post
Presidential administrations significantly impact the health and wellbeing of our patients and communities.
Through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the agencies within it, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health, this new administration will decide how financial resources are allocated, dictate the focus of federal research, and determine how our public health care insurance systems are managed, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Vaccines for Children program, Medicare, and Medicaid.
The decisions made over the next four years will impact all Americans but will be felt more acutely by those most underserved and vulnerable.
As physicians, we are greatly concerned by the nominations announced by President Trump to critical healthcare related positions. Many of their previous statements and positions are rooted in misinformation.
Coupled with their lack of government and healthcare-related experience, we are concerned these nominees will significantly undermine public health, increase the number of uninsured people, worsen health outcomes, and exacerbate health disparities. Physicians observe Hippocrates’ maxim to “First Do No Harm,”, and we urge Trump administration officials to do the same.
It is critical that the leadership of HHS and its agencies make decisions based on facts, evidence, and science. Misinformation and disinformation must not guide policymaking decisions and undermine evidence-based public health strategies. Spreading these falsehoods also erodes trust in our public institutions.
Vaccines, in particular, have been a target of disinformation by some HHS nominees. In fact, research continues to confirm that vaccines are safe and effective. Vaccines go through multiple rounds of clinical trials prior to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for administration to the public.
Vaccines protect against life-threateningdiseasessuch as measles, polio, tetanus, and meningococcal disease and, when used effectively, have beenshowntoeliminateorsubstantiallyreducediseaseprevalenceand/orseverity.
Because of vaccine mis- and disinformation, there has been a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, endangering those who are too young or unable to be vaccinated.
Several nominees have spread disinformation alleging that fluoride in public drinking water is harmful. In fact, fluoride in drinking water at the recommended level of 0.7 parts per million, like we have in our EBMUD water, is safe and keeps teeth strong. Because of public health interventions dating back to the 1960s that have resulted in 72.3% of the U.S. population now having access to fluoridated water, there has been a reduction in cavities by about 25% in both children and adults.
We also encourage the next administration to invest in our public health infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of public health agencies in preventing and responding to health crises in our communities.
Health departments at the state and local levels rely on federal funding support and technical assistance to develop public health response plans, implement public health strategies, and work with on the ground organizations to serve hard to reach communities. Public health agencies are critical for protecting everyone in our communities, regardless of income-level, insurance status, or housing status.
Health officials should also work to protect the significant improvements in insurance coverage that have occurred since the passage of theACAin 2010.According to HHS, the numberofuninsuredAmericansfellfrom48millionin2010to25.6millionin2023.
California has led the way by investing in Medi-Cal and expanding eligibility for enrollment. In fact, it reached its lowest uninsured rate ever in 2022 at 6.2%. Voters affirmed this commitment to expanding and protecting access to care in November by passing Proposition 35, which significantly expanded funding for California’s Medi-Cal program. The administration should advance policies that strengthen the ACA, Medicaid, and Medicare and improve access to affordable health care.
Regardless of the president in power, physicians will always put the best interests of our patients and communities at the forefront. We will continue to be a resource to our patients, providing evidence-based and scientifically proven information and striving to better their lives and our community’s health. We urge the new Trump administration to do the same.
Albert L. Brooks MD is the immediate past president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association, which represents 6,000 East Bay physicians.
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Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025
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