<![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[]]> This has always bothered me about the media. My African Studies professor said she thought it was because most of America wouldn't be able to sympathize with someone of a different ethnicity. I beg to differ.
My uncle was a diplomat in Mexico for a number of years. When the Natalee Holloway story broke he was infuriated. Mostly because women go missing in Mexico all the time, just the same way as Natalee and it goes unreported and ignored. What's worse is that Natalee herself made a tragic mistake and so did her friends. You never compromise yourself in an unfamiliar place by drinking and going off by yourself with strangers. It's the first thing I was told when I lived in Russia and South Africa during college. Instead of trying to put that lesson out there, they painted her as an innocent victim, not a teenage girl who made a stupid mistake everyone could learn from.


ekaterinaballerina

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: And, I was talking about Laci, not Evelyn.....

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @StabbyMcStabberson: No, I should have said middle to upper-middle class. Not privileged, but certainly not destitute.

And, I would never dismiss her as anything. I think that, despite socio-economic differences in their families (which seemed to be amplified after her disappearance/death), the couple was on par and "seemed" a nice match. They went to college together, ran a business together, got married and - almost - started a family.

No worries, you didn't sound combative. I actually group a lot of people into upper-middle class, just a difference in looking at it, I guess.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> ugh, my last comment was eaten.

I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't intending to be combative in that post, just wanted to make sure Evelyn wasn't dismissed as privileged. She was not.

Stabby McStabberson

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @StabbyMcStabberson:And Sorry Archetype. I just reread that last post and I didn't mean to sound combative. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't dismissed as privileged.

Stabby McStabberson

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: Do you have a link about that alma mater data? And I doubt very much that she rolled around in a Land Rover and lunched at the country club like Laci.

"'This girl (Laci), she's white, they have money, and there is a family behind her,' said Twiggy Damy, a friend of Hernandez, a single mother who moved to San Francisco from El Salvador when she was 14. 'Who cares about Evelyn?'"

"Described by friends as a devoted mother to her son Alex, Hernandez was a legal immigrant who had worked as a vocational nurse and in jobs at Costco and the Clift Hotel. She was reported missing by her baby's father, a 36-year-old married man named Herman Aguilera, Pera said."

[www.sfgate.com]

Costco? Hotel housekeeing? Vocational nurse? Not exactly upper middle class, unless things have "really" changed while I was living in that cave.

Stabby McStabberson

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @LaFemme: Agreed. In addition, many foster familes that wich to adopt their charges are not allowed to.

I know of a foster couple who had a child for 10+ years since he was 2 and then were denied adoption because the birth mother (who was serving a life sentence) refused to give up custody. The kid was removed from the home and bumped around the system until he turned 18. Then he moved back with the family and they help him get his GED, attend a CC and on to a 4-year university.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> well, DUH.

we brownie girls still get the feces covered end of the stick.

andheartss

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @snowpoppies: [jezebel.com]

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: American racial politics aside, it is a LOT more difficult to adopt American children of any race, so a couple looking to adopt an American born black child is going to have a much more difficult time doing that, provided the parents are still alive and living in the US, than if they were to go abroad. The number of kids that are straight-up put up for adoption in the US really is not that high. There are loads of kids who may spend their lives in the twisted foster care system, but the system really favors the birth parents rather than facilitating adoptions. So, while a kid may spend 18 years tossed from family to family, the birth parents can be totally unfit, but they still have the "rights" to said child and that kid is completely ineligable for adoption. So, adopting domestically is a total bitch for people, which I think plays a large role in families wanting to go abroad. And that makes sense to a point- If I were planning on adopting a child, I dont know if I would want that child's parents (who for whatever reasons has child protective services on them and probably fucked the child up) showing up at my doorstep whenever they felt like it and constantly trying to bring me to court to prove that they should get "their" child back.

LaFemme

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @TrixieBelden: maybe if the law treated them like serial killers, they'd have more success catching them? Different pathology, different results.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: @TrixieBelden: Totally agreed.

Complicated subject, one that I will not try to attack any more on a hungover Sunday morning.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I've enjoyed all of the discussion around this.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: You are absolutely right. They don't fit the psychological guidelines for serial killers, but they are certainly killing multiple (serial) times.

TrixieBelden

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @clevernamehere: Um, yeah...no. Check YouTube again...there are plenty of girl fights, many of which are black girls and latinas. This really isn't a new phenomena. Just type "Girl Fight". I compared Britney and Beyonce, because even people in the magazine industry have admitted that sales actually go down when they feature Britney, but they feature her nevertheless. Whereas, Beyonce, boring as she is, actually does something remotely newsworthy and only one magazine covers it. Still, my focus is not on the celebutards, it's on the abused and abducted women and children of color that are not given media attention in proportion to the frequency at which they are abducted, murdered and abused. I mentioned Beyonce and Britney as a passing example, while the crux of my statement was focused on the prevalence of crimes in communities of color and the lack of interest on that part of the media. Frankly, I could care less if Britney or Beyonce ever make a cover again, I'm worried about the real people, suffering through real shit, right now. Is this a good enough example?

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: The reason those girls are in the news is because they posted in on You Tube. If gang bangers started posting their actions on You Tube, the media would cover it too. The fact that the You Tube video girls are cute 15 year old white girls helps, but the You Tube angle is a big part of it.

I don't think you can compare Beyonce and Britney in terms of magazine sales- one is boringly sane, the other is bat shit crazy. Michael Jackson is (kind of) black and he got Britney levels of press in his crazy heyday. Crazy sells.

I do think their is racism in what the media focuses on, but these aren't great examples.

clevernamehere

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123: I think coverage proportional to the occurences would be just fine. I would not throw Black women under a train in order to protect a Black man from society's racism. Doing so would be a great disservice to the women that have suffered at their hands. No one's delusional enough to think that shielding a man is more important than highlighting the crime he's committed.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Those "frustrating factors" include class (as mentioned) and community, generational, whatever-level gender relations...that are exacerbated by class. That and sometimes the history of the victim DOES matter...there is a serial killer in Atlantic City who killed four white prostitutes whose investigation was delayed b/c they had "disappeared" before b/c they'd been arrested or gone to rehab before.

There is a lack of coverage when its clear there has been foul play, I'll admit that, but how long does it take to figure it out (to be fair...if the cops even give a damn and have brains?)

Here's an alternative--would people on this site be okay with the other (legitimate) outcome of missing/murdered women of color being covered 80% of the time? How would that make their likely attackers--black MEN--look to the apparently racist audience?

Would anything change for the better?

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123: What are these other "frustrating factors" if the only thing separating one case from being widely publicized and another being virtually ignored is race?

I guess I was too lazy to look for this news. As many of the other people on this site who apparently like me, knew precious little about it. That's precisely what I'm saying though, you don't even have to look for news about upper-middle class Caucasians...it's just there. People talk about it, you have to watch point-by-point bulletins on the news, you have to watch drawn-out trials, you get the personal accounts of families etc. For instance, look at the case with the 6 girls being punished for beating up that other girl...EVERYWHERE. Minorities are being beaten up and shot in the 'hood all the time...there is no news crew there. There has been a long-standing turf war going on in California between Blacks and Mexicans in which several people have been killed...nothing. Each year, there are 58,000 non-family child abductions and of those 42 percent are African-American...this is an epidemic...where is the media?

I will concede that some of this is due to class, but the rest is racism. Just like Beyonce and Jay-Z apparently can't sell mags while that train-wreck Britney can, black issues/problems do not make the front page, because they're just not newsworthy.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Damn I hate to have to point it out--despite the Wiki references to the flare up from KKK-type groups, I got it from a newspaper article when the debate over how the suspects would be charged came up.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tranquilmademoiselle: No harm, no foul.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Friday025: If I went overboard I apologize.

It comes up because often enough--if not on this site, than elsewhere--the problem is made out as being so damn simple...victimization of women of color and lack of attention (and thus of an investigation) results from a racist audience. That's DEFINITELY a factor. But there are other more insidious self-sustaining factors that are harder to target.

@ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: There seems to a be a big difference b/c of the internet, if nothing else. I found coverage of Megan (and Stepha Henry...etc. etc.) on CNN, MSNBC, etc. etc. (and coverage AFTER she was found on TV...)

I guess you have to go looking for it.

"I do not think it was as publicized as it would have been had it been a white woman who had been kidnapped, beaten and humiliated by a group of black people."

[en.wikipedia.org]

Like I said--I saw this on a news website. I don't watch TV News for lengths of time.

I'm not trying to use the Newsom case to devalue Meagan's living hell or the disparity in coverage, and I know that stories where the rapist is non-white get more than their share of TV coverage (at least on LOCAL news...depends on where you live...and again I doubt it can ONLY be attributed to racism in the media sources).

I'm not a journalism expert--I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories people could come up with (I forget who it was, but someone wrote a book about media obsession with ratings and the booting of Tamika Houston's coverage for a Paris Hilton story).

The point is--there's a difference between perception of the problem (and assignment of blame) and additional, more frustrating factors at work.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: I agree that most serial killers are White, but when I think about thugs who kill random folks to move up the ranks, and gangstas who put hits on rival gang members for retaliation, I can't help but think they are a kind of serial killer too. Like, isn't "Tony Soprano" a serial killer?

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123: Since the focus of the conversation is on whether or not crimes against women of color are under-reported, I would say that this particular story qualifies. I do not think it was as publicized as it would have been had it been a white woman who had been kidnapped, beaten and humiliated by a group of black people. The only place I read about that story was in Black mags, Black websites and on Jezebel. Whereas, in the unfortunate case of Laci Peterson, I heard about that on every page of every newspaper and news site...I didn't even have to dig around for it.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123:

whoa! calm down. seriously why are you so angry because I used that case as an example (ONE of many by the way)? No body said anything about hate crimes. I am simply citing this case because it is atrocious and probably one that bares some striking similarities to the under-reported violence many women of color endure at the hands of idiots.

I'm not going to even GO THERE with you because obviously you are missing the point.

Anywhoo, violence against women (particularly women of color - SINCE THAT IS WHAT THE POST IS SOMEWHAT ABOUT) is ubiquitous in this country for reasons I am completely baffled by.

Friday025

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Friday025: That and the case has been misrepresented as a simple hate crime. She knew that horrible family She had a history of abuse with them and with one of the sons. They were taking their revenge on her (most likely) b/c she had tried contacting legal authorities before. The police filed federal kidnapping charges against the family--greater punishment than "hate crime" charges.

It was a horrible case but I'm getting a little sick of people using THAT (BECAUSE of its cruelty) specifically as an example of racism-related violence.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Friday025: This story was covered extensively on this site. Use the "Jezebel" search. And it got MAJOR national coverage. I don't mean to be an asshole, but bad example.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: I know that now. Miscommunication sucks especially over the Internet.

tranquilmademoiselle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee:

yeah, i heard about that too. craziness.

Friday025

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Friday025: Ans subsequently, folks tried to blame Megan for associating with meth-heads, as if she deserved her fate.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> A bit off topic, but do you all remember the Jena Six case and how the media paid so much attention to the infamous fight between six black men and a white kid? Well, around that same time an African American woman by the name of Megan Williams was choked, stabbed, beaten, and forced to drink urine by six white assailants in West Virginia. Not much media attention on that case, but everyone and their mommas (including ME) flocked to the Jena story. (I actually devoted most of last year doing a documentary on the Jena Six story).

Not sure where I'm going with this comment, but YES there is (for some profound reason) a lack of concern (?) about the welfare of young black women in this country - even compared to young black men. I mean damn, I know you all are aware of the increase of HIV in AA women.

I just don't get it. (Sorry for this bit-off-topic rant)

Friday025

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123:
There must of been over a hundred Chicago cops on the Bradley case for weeks. I'm sure at least a couple are still on it part time..
It was considered a "heater case", that's a case that the brass, meaning the mayor, wants solved & fast!

The mom wouldn't co-operate then & apparently never has.
They would be 10 & 17 now, but they're probably dead, but where the bodies are, only the killer knows.

Greasy Thumb Guzik

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: Yes, most abduction victims--children, women--know their kidnappers. Child abuse and family dysfunction is even more distasteful (family values, eh?) and more difficult to resolve. Parental kidnappings, runaways, and those "missing/endangered/situation unknown" cases are usually evidence of larger troubles and harder to deal with.

And this--"I simply attribute this to the fact that most pedophiles are white. Ditto for serial killers"--the rule of thumb is strange if you compare sexual assault rates AND homicide rates by race (or, more importantly, class).

There are plenty of serial/unsolved murders in Central/South America. Juarez is an example... and here in the U.S two VERY prolific recent serial kilers that have got national coverage are Hispanic (Angel Resendez, Richard Ramirez)

And as for sexual assault...what does that mean when you look at how many non-white children are sexually assaulted (by percentage rate, anyway), and the fact that many sex offenders offend w/in their own race (and geography) or family?

Either women of color are disproportionately victimized (by who? Not middle-class white guys, necessarily) or else the bulk of these bogeymen are white.

It'd be interesting to see PER CAPITA percentages of known rapists/offenders...considering most of the population of the country is "white", it makes sense there are more sex offenders.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Wow, I thought this was a phenomenon that had been observed for years, not months. I know I've had conversations about it (in CA) at least five years ago, probably more. There is no question in my mind that the mainstream media is extremely biased against covering disappearances/murders among minorities, and I would guess it has a lot to do with income level and location. In the next few years, I could easily see a kidnapped/murdered Asian child/woman from a wealthy background breaking into the national level of obsession with these horrid victim stories.

doughnuts

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: There was a 2 year old A-A boy who was recently kidnapped in Nor Cal. My boyfriend and I heard the Amber Alert, and when it said that he was kidnapped by his father, we felt just a little relieved, as we thought his chances would generally be better since he was kidnapped by a parent. It got a ton of press, and, unfortunately, he was found in a dumpster. I don't know the stats, but I think children of all races are kidnapped mostly by family members (parents). As for stranger abductions, they happen across all races here in CA, although most likely more with white children. I simply attribute this to the fact that most pedophiles are white. Ditto for serial killers.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Greasy Thumb Guzik: I think the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Americas Most Wanted and Americas Most Wanted (I know, I know...) have been covering them since the story broke.

Another unsolved murder of a black teenager (and its gotten alot of coverage)...Chanel Petro Nixon.

So where's the gap? It's not the media--the investigation is only as good as the evidence the police can find...the caliber of the officers themselves...

and the people willing to help...or not.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @StabbyMcStabberson: Yes, and both Laci and Scott went to Cal Poly SLO, one of the better state schools in CA. It is my understanding that they both came from upper middle-class households.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> In July 2001, two little sisters, Diamond & Tionda Bradley disappeared on their way home on the South Side of Chicago. They're black.
There was massive local TV about this, but I don't remember if there was a lot of national coverage.
Their father was questioned for two days by the cops.

But the strange part was that the mother refused to talk to the cops, but was all over TV crying about their being missing.

I think the common belief is that the mom had something to do with it, but there's no evidence.

Greasy Thumb Guzik

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: But jokes like that that seem to minimize the circumstances of the kidnapping/abuse and make it so f*cking easy--"media coverage of white victim" = "racist audience who wouldn't care for a black victim"....they're made all the time. Actually having an honest discussion would make people uncomfortable and these "blame whitey" jokes wouldn't be as convincing. Racism in the media plays a role in the problem, but its a lot uglier and more complicated than that.

Like I said...I found it ironic he couldn't even give us the girl's NAME (MAYBE b/c she was 7....but somehow I doubt it) but was using her as a preaching tool...

More importantly--the joke was that by comparison that made Elizabeth a loser for not doing more....you know, after she'd been raped and terrorized.

It wasn't just reducing the problem to "race card" bullshit--it was misogynistic.

Maybe I'M missing something, b/c I found plenty of articles on Erica...but on the Internet.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> There was a similar article in The Guardian last year in relation to the murders of two young women in South London on the same evening. One was black, one white. The white girl was on the cover of newspapers for days, the black girl was forgotten and buried on the inner pages. The stories about the white girl always referred to her beauty and the fact that she was an aspiring model, the articles on the black girl referred only to the gruesome circumstances under which her body was found. The black girl's parents highlighted this and subsequently there was a study comparing the column inches attributed to missing black and white children. Nothing new, but still ridiculously tragic and telling.

BiBiVirtue

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @shananigans: Actually Lawrence King got NATIONAL coverage and Ellen cried over him on her show.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> That quote just sounds so pompous. Like, duh, that's true and it's totally their fault. So great job pointing it out and not accepting you own culpability, CBS News.

I worked in an office that played FOX News all day behind reception, and I think one of the reasons I got fired was because I kept referring to it as "the MWWRA channel" (Missing White Woman in Rural America) to my boss.

quadrophenia718

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @TakingUpWithTheEnemy: Actually, Laci was Portuguese-American, not Latina/Hispanic. There are communities of dairy farmers of Portuguese descent in that area of Northern California. The Rocha family also was and is solidly middle- to upper-middle class. Laci definitely wasn't a cholita from the barrio but a relatively privileged white girl with a college education.

[www.nps.gov]

I'm not snarking on you, I made the same mistake and was corrected with this same information.

And Evelyn Hernandez was a pregnant Salvadoran nurse who was found floating in San Francisco bay at the same time as Laci went missing, yet received relatively little media coverage except as a comparative case study of Missing White Women Syndrome.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Stabby McStabberson

]]> <![CDATA[]]> FYI, this reminds me of these billboards
[ourweekly.com]

Because of this lame "no snitching" policy, there are countless unsolved murders in South LA.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @SikeChick19: I saw a specialo recently that stated it's very likely that Wayne Williams didn't act alone. Scary thought...

(ps...why am I still up?)

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> That is some crackerjack reporting right there. What? The Sky is blue you say? You just Blew. My. Mind.

Haystacks

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: Laci Peterson was Hispanic. She just married a white guy. Her maiden name was Rocha, or something like that, I believe.

TakingUpWithTheEnemy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123: Yeah, the joke was that Black children don't get kidnapped as much as White children because we aren't as desirable, won't have anyone looking for them, are worth as much, might fight back... what? It was 13 shades of wrong.

@TrixieBelden: So much so people almost cause accidents on the 405 to slow down a read those Amber alert signs. But I guess that's a good thing...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tranquilmademoiselle: Erm... I was saying the adoption agencies that do that are stupid, not you, but whatever...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Not for nothing but it happens in all areas of news coverage not just women. A young man of color was shot in front of his class by another (male) student because he asked the kid to be his valentine. I just heard about this and it happened in my state. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say if this had happened to a white gay kid we probably would have heard about it.

Let's not even go into the coverage that Columbine ogt vs. Black and Brown kids killing each other in schools for years.

shananigans

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @marie123: I agree that the advocates for the victims are vital.

I really wonder how much of the disparity is race and how much is class. Wikipedia has an entry on missing white woman syndrome and they compare two missing 14 year old girls in the UK, both white but one middle class and the other working class with estranged parents. Better off people are more likely to have the connections it takes to get media coverage.

I think if an attractive black professional and an unattractive white waitress went missing the same week, the black professional would get more coverage. Two attractive professionals, one white and one black with equally strong family advocates? Yeah, the white one would probably get more coverage.

I looked up Laci Peterson to see what her profession was (I'm still not sure what it was, I thought she was a teacher but they list her degree as horticulture). Turns the college boyfriend she lived with is serving a 15 year sentence FOR SHOOTING HIS GIRLFRIEND! I'm not trying to blame the victim, but Jeez Laci had bad taste in men.

clevernamehere

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ToUnfoldThem: @ceejeemcbeegee: @beatrice3000: That little girl was 7 year old Erica Pratt in Philly who was supposedly kidnapped/being held for RANSOM by those two idiots (she was not from a rich family), chewed through the tape, and had those dumbasses arrested. Fortunately she was not raped. (Why didn't Dave name her--b/c she's seven and he didn't want to, or because HE DIDN'T KNOW HER NAME? I love Dave but I HATE it when people try to make an example out of someone/smack down someone else....and can't even give that role model a NAME.)

And that joke made me angry. Are you all really comparing what happened to Elizabeth to what happened to Erica? I know, I know--the media should have covered that more intensely (for all they knew at the time--she WAS in danger...thank God those two idiots were easy to foil).

And again--between "stop snitching" and (at least partially legit) distrust of the police and the complications of domestic violence....

I don't know. It seems even for white women there are limitations on what the law or media coverage can or will do to protect women.

It'd be interesting to know how poor white women/children compare to women/children of color....

I agree women/kids of color get the short shrift, but if they covered every individual who was suspected missing and/in danger in a given DAY they'd need a 24 hour channel. And SOMETIMES the people who must speak for the victims just drop the ball. That seems to have happened at least in part in Lauterbach's case--what happens if you are cut off or alienated from those who would demand that the police find/help you, the missing?

What happens if those who SUPPOSEDLY care for you are to blame for your missing status?

Sometimes an investigation is only as good as the advocates for the victims.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Thank you, and good luck to you, too!

@SikeChick19:Very interesting on both counts. I do enjoy true crime, though I'm nearly as knowledgeable as you seem to be!

And re: abducted children, I didn't take into account local coverage vs. national. True, most or all of the minority children abducted locally don't get any national attention.

TrixieBelden

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @SikeChick19: In which case I would be inclined to tell them to mind their own business. Well meaning though they may be, there would be no black children in the system if members of the black community did not put them there or if they opted to adopt them instead. If it means taking a kid out of the system, I advocate that they be placed with anyone who is willing to love and care for them, color is of no consequence.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ToUnfoldThem: I thought that was a great story about that brave girl, but got little coverage.

beatrice3000

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator:

A number of families in Minnesota have adopted interracially, but there was some backlash in the Black community some time ago. Many Blacks complained that Black children were being yanked from their roots and that these adoptions were attempts to undermine and destroy the Black race.

While I can sorta understand concerns about Black children being raised in communities were they ARE the only diversity, I think agencies should really consider how much better it is for these children to be in loving homes than worrying about being P.C.

SikeChick19

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @TrixieBelden:

The only AA serial killer you really hear about is Wayne Williams. As a true crime "fan" and criminal justice student, I read the Crime Library a bit and have found stories about a few AA serial killers besides Williams. I think the reasons for so little press on these guys is the same: the crimes are often intraracial and so the victims don't "rate" the same type of press.

On the missing child front, I remember that a little Milwaukee girl named Alexis Patterson went missing around the same time as Elizabeth Smart. Her disappearance got barely any press until her parents complained about how neglected they felt while Elizabeth's face was plastered all over the news. "Without a Trace" even did an episode which focused on the disparities in coverage for missing White victims versus missing Black victims. Alexis' case was the real-life case they featured during a commercial break.

Alexis, unfortunately, is still missing. And we still don't hear much about it.

SikeChick19

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Yea, I read it wrong the first time too and I was all like, "CeeGeeMcBeeGee, what's up with that?"

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator:Ohh okay.That makes sense. My bad. My sociology professors take adoption issues seriously. I think a few have adopted themselves

tranquilmademoiselle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> "maternal homicide"?!?...um, what about domestic violence or intimate partner violence or violence against women? Please, let call it what it is.

pattycat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tranquilmademoiselle: I think she was agreeing with you...like, it's the stupidest thing she's ever heard that white people have a hard time adopting black kids. I could be wrong though.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @TrixieBelden: I hope to adopt a kid when the time is right and I'm sure that it'll be easier for me, you know, being black and all. If it truly is the case that white people have a harder time adopting black children, then I think it's up to the state to knock down some of the roadblocks that act as a deterrent to doing so. Personally, I feel that ANY child that is adopted, is a fortunate child, no matter the color. However, I'm more inclined to care, because the vast majority of the kiddos are black...and I know that kids that remain in the system are moreorless guaranteed to have a more difficult life. I don't know what can be done. It's very overwhelming and it doesn't help with the system actively undermines the children it purports to help...jeez, pass the liquor. I wish your family good luck in their efforts.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: Take it out with my professors who did studies about it. Don't agree with something I say fine but you don't have to attack me about it

tranquilmademoiselle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I will say that in L.A. whenever there is an Amber Alert there is a ton of attention regardless of the child's race.

TrixieBelden

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: My sister talked about how much she would want to adopt an African-American or African orphan when the time is right. My family is waaaaay liberal and I was really surprised to see them taken aback by this statement.

I was also talking to my friend the other day about famous serial killers. I knew a fair amount about a few but she mentioned how there didn't seem to be any black serial killers, at least not as well known as Jeffrey Dahmer and BTK etc. Perhaps I just don't know about them, or maybe it's just the serial killer personality profile is the charming middle class white guy. Not that I'm preaching for equal opportunity serial killers or anything.

TrixieBelden

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ToUnfoldThem: I actually remember that story or one like it being covered on our local news, the kid getting accolades, etc. It was an amazing story. It seems like kidnapped children and women of color get coverage around here at that level, but I never see it on the bigger cable channels.

@ULookinatmyJunk: I also wouldn't ignore the connections in place in the Asian countries (and some South American countries) facilitating international adoptions. Adoption from Africa can wind up looking shady by comparison, since we don't hear as many positive stories. Note the claims of Madonna's son's father that he didn't really give his kid up for adoption, or the Zoe's Ark controversy where French people were planning to essentially kidnap a bunch of refugee children in Chad and take them back to France for adoption. There have been numerous controversies in my state concerning transracial adoption - as recently as 2006 there was a white family suing the state because they weren't permitted to adopt their black foster child. And at least around here, it's the black community that objects most strongly to such adoptions, for various historical and sociological reasons, and in many respects, their concerns are probably legitimate.

Personally, I wouldn't be the least bit terrified of a kid's hair (can't be any tougher than my hellish Irish frizz), but I'd be worried that I couldn't raise them in a way that prepares them for the fact that a lot of people won't accept them, black or white.

coodlebump

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I've never heard of Maria Lauterbach?

Am I woefully ignorant or not feeding the machine?

Diane_Court

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @pedantic_dandy: Unfortunately, in order to honor my own criteria, I'll have to say yes, Madonna is a bit of a hero. *shudder*@

href="#c5157243">tranquilmademoiselle: I don't want to give the impression that they're racist. Still, I believe that many are closed to the idea.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tranquilmademoiselle: This has got to be stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I have many friend in Social Work who tell me White people come looking to adopt Black children all the time, but they get the run around.

But to be fair, Black parents looking to adopt ANY child who is not Black usually has to fight harder than any other group. Why? For some reason, they don't think we make good parents...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ToUnfoldThem: I repeat this story all the time! That girl kicked down the door and ran home because she "would have been in big trouble if she was out after dark".

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: Off the top of my head, I'm assuming that these Black women are being killed by Black men. And aren't Black women more likely to be killed in general than White women?

And I'm also agreeing with umm_okay a little here.

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Damn. I was just about to leave for the weekend and now I'm simultaneously really pissed off and full of white guilt. Crap like this really inspires cynicism/nihilism. Could I at least get one last baby lion cub pic or sumthin?

pedantic_dandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I think this phenomenon is really sad. People think oh well, it happens all the time with black people and so it's not news and we don't care. Plus, if something happens to a white person, it *could* happen to other white people, but if it happens to a black person, then it is viewed as something isolated to black culture and so has no bearing on the white mainstream's lives.

umm_okay

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This article brings to mind a clip of standup I watched with Dave Chappelle. He was talking about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, which got an amazing amount of press. He then mentioned a seven year old African American girl who has kidnapped by crackheads...they then left her, I guess to get more crack, of course, and while they were gone, she chewed through the ropes they tied her with and found her way home.

Sometimes, it's very hard as an African American not to adopt the "they don't care about us" mentality but in cases like this, it's hard not to feel very disappointed by the lack of concern both in the media, and the public :/

ToUnfoldThem

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Would that also make Madonna a national hero?

pedantic_dandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator,@Her_royal_Highness:: Yah, no kidding about foreign tv/news. If you are lucky enough to have one of those cable stations that shows news programs from around the world every hour, you'd be astonished. Like the footage they would run at the start of the War-- the carnage, the damage, actual blood-- didn't need to know the language to understand there's some serious shit happening that we NEVER see.

Dagnabbit.

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator:To be fair, some black organizations and adoption agencies do make it difficult for white people to adopt black children. If they were racist they wouldn't be willing to adopt an Asian child

tranquilmademoiselle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @sabbaticalplease:Yeah, I clicked on that link too. In our defense, seeing a Hollywood starlet with a period stain really is a bit of a modern miracle, being that many of them are too skinny to actually have one. It's sort of like making your dinner, it's alright to eat some junk food so long as three-quarters of what's on your plate is nutritious.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @sabbaticalplease: !!! you're all right :)

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @pedantic_dandy: right.

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: I read "The Independant" online. Its from the Brit point of you...I seem to trust them more for my news...especially the BBC. Unfortunately, local news is not included.

Her_royal_Highness

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I see this one little (7 years old) kid walking a LONG way from my son's school all by himself and this should be completely normal, right? But I worry about him every day. It's not a great patch of the city. And he should have some guarantee, right? that he'll be safe and unmolested? And yet, it looks so wrong to me, when it should just be . . .well, a kid walking home.

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dagnabbit: You just can't trust corporate news. I find the Spanish-language channels to be more informative, but there's so many sites committed to providing real news. Unfortunately, most people get their news from the Yahoo homepage--I'm not trying to find fault, 'cause I read it too. Still, I've tried to make a concerted effort to take the stuff in newspapers and on the tell-lie-vision with a grain of salt and look for other sources.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @pedantic_dandy: and I can't read that without thinking that I have seen Britney Spears bloody period underwear, and vagina. I clicked. I am society and I am not proud.

sabbaticalplease

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @snowpoppies: Which tells us a lot about the general public and contemporary education levels. The market is a reflection of society, not some separate evil force.

pedantic_dandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dagnabbit: just to clear up, I'm not defending Fox, I'm just astonished.

@ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Oh shit, I feel like punk for not hearing about this. I know on some level it shouldn't be "faulted" (how can we hear something that's not spoken about?), but then again I think all of us should be more active in hunting for news, not just eating what we're fed. Especially net savvy Jezzies. Which is my overly-wordy way of saying thanks for mentioning this.

Dagnabbit.

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @pedantic_dandy: Precisely. People are willing to hop on plans and fly thousands of miles and go through myriad red tape and paperwork, to adopt a Chinese child. Yet, it never enters their minds to even consider adopting a African or African-American child. I guess they have an unnatural fear of having to comb their hair or something. That's why I love Angie, she's making it acceptable to do so, which will only serve to highlight the need and hopefully open people's hearts.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> The thing is that I clearly remember that the same time authorities were looking for Laci, another expectant mother had gone missing. She was not mentioned in the English speaking news programs...at least not until the media began asking this question. I heard about her in the spanish channels.

Her_royal_Highness

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @NefariousNewt: Well, yes, but, in the beginning the way links are generated, they go from localville to big news based on the number of clicks. In the beginning, it's a small regional headline that opens a new window to the local news station. When it becomes popular enough, CNN (or similar) makes it a byline on their own site.

I think this is super unfair, with murdered pregnant women and kidnapped kids. It's downright awful. I just don't think it's just the media's fault. They are a pretty easy target.

sabbaticalplease

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dagnabbit: with you

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @sabbaticalplease: yup, this is what I'm afraid of . . . a market-driven phenomenon (which tells us alot about the market).

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Damn, I forgot to mention that black children are kidnapped at higher numbers then white children but they only get a fraction of the publicity. It makes me think that our kiddos aren't important to anybody but us. I feel like ANY parent, no matter the color would be able to empathize with losing a child, but obviously this is not true. It's sort of like the Louisiana Tech shooting received virtually no coverage because the shooter and the victims were all black females. At least it's almost 5:00pm...close to happy hour. I'll stay in the house with my liquor though, don't want to risk getting kidnapped; only one that'd be looking for me is my mama.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator: Or how it is deemed more socially acceptable to adopt Asian rather than African.

pedantic_dandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @nodoubt9203 (It's not weird, it's different): Probably, additionally if she wasn't upper middle class.

I have to say the issue of selective press coverage crossed my mind when reading another Jezzie post regarding mini-breaks in two week-old relationships. "Maybe I'd go, but if he took me to the caribbean and killed me, no one would look for my brown ass."

I'd discussed this with a friend of mine, who countered "If [the news] covered all the missing women of color, there'd be no time for anything else."

That is disturbing.

There was discussions of class and status making certain cases "special" (blurg), but then what of Latasha Morgan, attractive middle-class college student? Granted that case was solved more quickly than the higher profile ones(and hey, Fox actually covered it), but for a while there you could have created a missing white woman network (MWN?), for all the news dominance.

Personally, the coverage disparity worries me less than the whole national fascination with bizarre murder cases. Not to be insensitive, but in terms of the larger picture, the sensationalized Laci Peterson/JonBenét Ramsey/nutjobs-who-claimed-to-kill Ramsey "news" stories take WAY too much airtime in general. If the case is closed, let it go. Let's talk war, the economy, anything else.

Dagnabbit.

]]> <![CDATA[]]> "others have been saying for months"??? This disparity has been going on forever. And people have been trying to raise awareness about it forever. And so, thanks Jezebel.

snowpoppies

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @sabbaticalplease: There has to be a story to click on in the first place. Given that all the major media outlets are owned by whites running old guard companies, is it any wonder that black women are given short shrift?

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Same thing goes for kidnapped black children. They also say that they see this same phenomenon when trying to appeal for aid in third world countries. People in the US are more inclined to care for the European children than the African ones. It's a matter of being able to empathize by putting yourself in their place, which may be hard for people to do, when the face of the person on the tv doesn't look like theirs.

ULookinAtMyJunk is the Hate Mitigator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Archetype: I think you have to factor in that it happened in CA too. Large media outlets -- easy access to coverage. Combine that with the particulars of the case and you get media overload.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: My inner sociologist blames the dissolution of the black family and the difficulty women have surviving outside of strong social structures (relatively). Ummm...slavery?

pedantic_dandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Joan Didion discussed a similar phenomenon with rape reporting in her essay on the Central Park jogger. As I recall, the preferred victim to report on was young, attractive, and white. This almost twenty years ago. Yay progress!

Private Hangnail

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: What are your theories, out of curiosity?

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @nodoubt9203 (It's not weird, it's different): What do you mean?

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]>

As we know that most pregnant and not-pregnant women are abused/assaulted/killed by their partners, here is an interesting article on it: [www.theroot.com] >sigh<

jezebelacious

]]> <![CDATA[]]> "Black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely as white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant or in the year after childbirth."

I wonder why this is? I have some theories, but I wonder what the "experts" say...

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I would never argue that this is incorrect.

But, I always thought the Peterson case got so much press because of the specific nature of the crime and soap opera elements.

But, I live near where it happened, so I'm not really tapped in to how much it was covered outside of Northern California.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I'd love to blame the media, but I think it's all dictated by how many people click on the story these days. Look at CNN/FOX/MSNBC top viewed stories every day-- it's pathetic. They print what sells, based on what we choose to look at. And the public's interest is pretty damn superficial.

sabbaticalplease

]]> <![CDATA[]]> nodoubt9203 [אִיזָבֶל]

]]>