California Introduces 'Ebony Alert' to Locate Missing Black Children
Advocates hail the 'Ebony Alert' system as a pivotal move to address the crisis of missing Black children.
In a groundbreaking move, California has enacted the "Ebony Alert" law, marking the first of its kind in the nation to prioritize the search for missing Black youth.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 673 into law on Sunday, solidifying California's position as the pioneer state in establishing an alert notification system, akin to the Amber Alert, designed to address the pressing issue of missing Black children and young women.
Scheduled to go into effect on January 1, the law empowers the California Highway Patrol to trigger the Ebony Alert upon the request of local law enforcement whenever a Black youth goes missing in the vicinity. The Ebony Alert will leverage electronic highway signs and encourage the use of radio, TV, social media, and other communication channels to disseminate information about the missing persons' alert. This alert system will cater to missing Black individuals aged 12 to 25.
State Senator Steven Bradford, the Democratic lawmaker behind this legislation, emphasized the urgency of this initiative. He pointed out that when Black and brown individuals go missing, they often receive insufficient media attention and lack the AMBER alerts and police resources that are readily available to their white counterparts. Bradford noted, "It's long overdue that we allocate specific resources to help reunite these young women and girls with their families because they are just as cherished and missed as anyone else."
Recent data from the National Crime Information Center reveals that approximately 141,000 Black children under the age of 18 went missing in 2022, with nearly 16,500 missing persons cases involving Black women over 21. By the end of 2022, over 30,000 Black individuals remained missing across the United States. Notably, despite constituting about 38% of the missing persons in 2022, Black people receive less media attention than their white counterparts. Furthermore, cases of missing Black people tend to remain open for extended periods compared to cases involving white individuals, with a significant number of these cases remaining unsolved, as Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, highlighted.
In California, the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert include the victim being under 17 or having a proven disability, a reasonable belief that they are in danger, and the exclusion of custodial disputes or runaway cases. This has led to a classification issue where missing Black children are often categorized as runaways, resulting in their exclusion from AMBER alerts. The effectiveness of AMBER alerts in locating missing Black children has also been questioned, with a significant discrepancy compared to their white counterparts.
Timothy Griffin, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Nevada, Reno, believes that the Amber Alert system is ineffective, making it questionable to replicate such a service. According to Griffin, the success rate of Amber Alerts in rescuing threatened children is low. He stated that there is little evidence to suggest that citizens who see the alert are able to locate the missing child or that the alert deters abductors from their actions.
Senator Bradford, on the other hand, views the new law as a "historic breakthrough" in addressing racial disparities in the handling of missing persons cases nationwide. He believes it will ensure that missing Black individuals receive the attention and resources they need, which has been lacking in the past.
Bradford asserted, "Something is better than nothing. Whether the Amber Alert or Ebony Alert is 100% effective is not the point; we should not hold that false belief. However, taking action is better than doing nothing at all."
