Have you ever heard any of these names? Amina Ashraf Al-Jailani, Layla Ashraf Al-Jailani, Sami Ashraf Al-Jailani,Marti Lee Bell, Jeanice Sherildette Burgos, Darnesha Charmaine Chandler, Jasmine Kirlissa Collins, Melissa Ann Collins, Bianca Damanik, Georgina Lynn DeJesus. My guess is the answer to that question is no. Well I’m going to tell you who they are. They are just a few of the children that are missing in the state of Ohio. They also have something else in common; none of them are white. I know your thinking, oh no here he goes again playing the race card. That is not completely true. I think there is more to it than that.
If it had not been for the great work of The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, I would have never heard of them either. I can’t help but wonder why that is. When I see the stories on ABC, NBC, CBS, and even FOX, of children that are missing, I have always noticed that the majority of the time they are upper middle class white girls. With so many children missing in America why does the national news always focus on a certain type of child to showcase?
It really seems to be all about ratings. A poor little black girl from the projects doesn’t make good ratings. I’m not entirely sure that it is about race. It seems to be more about class and beauty. If you are not attractive and at least middle class you probably are not going to get national coverage. I honestly can’t remember ever turning on the news and seeing Diane Sawyer or Katie Couric report on a little boy or girl from the trailer park missing.
We all remember the story of JonBenet Ramsey. We all were glued to the tube waiting for the new developments of a case that changed every day. This was a very beautiful little girl and her story was news worthy, but how many children came up missing at the same time that never made national news? There are many more examples of this.
There is one example of a show that doesn’t seem to follow suit with the rest. The work that John Walsh does on America’s Most Wanted `seems to truly profile cases from all walks of life. So readers, I pose these questions to you. Do the national media choose their cases based on what will get the best rating? Do you think we will ever see a case on the networks of a child abducted from W 21st in Lorain? I would love to hear what you think. You can respond below or on my Facebook page.
Coming up on the Broadway Connection Blog; A Story about Lorain County’s new baseball team, the Lorain County Ironmen. Also I will be interviewing the owners of Slutzker’s Quickprinter Center in downtown Lorain. You will also get to hear many more stories of businesses in downtown Lorain.
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Missing from Elyria Ohio since 1984.. just vanished. Was a good childhood friend and she got messed up with the wrong people. http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=30011
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this blog post. I am the mother of Amina, Layla, and Sami Al-Jailani. I spent hundreds of dollars and myriad hours writing letters, screaming at the top of my lungs to say "Help! They need help!" and no one would listen or even write a sentence about them in their newspaper. Thank you. And may you be blessed.
ReplyDeleteMichele
ReplyDeleteI could never imagine what it would be like to lose a child, your loss has made me hug my children a little tighter. I was happy to help, and may you also be truly blessed.