the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health published in 2018.
The 2018 study concluded that the greater media attention missing white girls receive may aid search efforts, whereas resources available for search efforts involving Black children are more limited, and that law enforcement may put more effort into cases involving missing white boys.
“These mechanisms unequivocally imply lower daily chances for Black children to be found,” according to the study.
“When a person of color disappears, people get the assumption that they must have done something to deserve it,” said Meaghan Good, founder of the Charley Project, a website that publicizes cold missing person cases across the country.
It is especially true with Black men, Good said. They are among the most common demographic of missing adults, but they are often notcovered in the news, she said.
So what can we do in light of Jelani’s case?
It takes all of us — law enforcement, the community, the media, everybody and their mama — to bring awareness to our missing and to help us find them. We all play a pivotal role in helping to keep our communities safe and bring our loved ones back to their family.