Missing People Of Color Missing From News Coverage
Diamond and Tionda Bradley vanished from their Chicago neighborhood in 2001. The top row are their childhood pictures. The bottom row are their pictures using age progression software Sheliah Bradley Smith
In September, 22-year-old Gabby Petito became a household name after disappearing while on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend. Her parents reported her missing to the police on September 11. Three days later, her story aired nationally on ABC's Good Morning America, NBC News Now, and Fox And Friends on Fox News Channel. While not dismissing Petito’s story, families of missing Black or Indigenous people say they don’t receive any of the national coverage given to Petito or other missing white women, such as Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway.
We spoke a Central Illinois TV news anchor who started a podcast focused on missing people of color; the aunt of 10-year-old Tionda and 3-year-old Diamond Bradley, two girls who vanished from their Chicago neighborhood in 2001; and an attorney who studied the lack of coverage of missing people of color.
GUESTS:
Briana Collins
Fox Illinois News Anchor and Creator True Crime In Color podcast
Sheliah Bradley Smith
Aunt of Tionda & Diamond Smith, girls who disappeared in July 2001
Zach Sommers
Criminologist, Attorney, author of Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons
RESOURCES:
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: 800.843.5678
Black and Missing Foundation: 877.97.BAMFI
15-year-old Savanna Barnes was last seen Sept. 13, 2020 near the 4500 block of South Vincennes Ave. in Chicago.
18-year-old Taliah Smith went missing in September 2020. She is from Chicago.
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