Studies show disproportionate rates of African American women and girls who are missing and murdered compared to white women and girls. Reports also show that their cases often get far less attention from law enforcement than white cases.
A new Missouri law is trying to lower those rates through the establishment of the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force. It will help find ways to reduce violence against Black women and girls and help shape new policies around searching for missing African Americans.
There is a long history of how Black women’s missing persons cases are investigated differently than white women’s, said Sen. Angela Mosley D-Florissant.
“Hopefully, we'll bring some resolve for those families who have been waiting for years for law enforcement to take their cases seriously,” she said.
Mosley introduced a similar bill last year, but it did not pass. However, she was made aware of a recent Minnesota bill focusing on missing and murdered Black women and girls that was introduced and ultimately passed. She adapted that bill for Missouri and it became law on Aug. 28.
The task force will convene once a month beginning Oct. 1. Members will discuss missing and murdered statistics and examine why African American women have some of the highest missing and murdered rates, given they are a smaller percentage of the population. They will also listen to testimonies of survivors of violence and families who went through the missing persons process. The task force will send a report sent to lawmakers by the end of the year.
Task force members will include state legislators, law enforcement, local domestic violence organizations, missing persons advocacy groups and African American victims of violence and Black people who were located after being deemed missing.
In 2003, Theda Wilson’s 9-year-old son went missing in St. Louis. After days of searching for her son, his father was later charged and convicted for the death of his disabled son. However, his remains were never recovered.
Wilson created the organization “Looking for an Angel” after her son’s disappearance. It helps families navigate the missing persons process.
Many Black families encounter multiple challenges with law enforcement when trying to locate their loved ones, said Wilson, who is also part of the task force.
“They are children that are missing just because they ran, or just because you think they ran does not mean that they don't deserve the attention that they are entitled to,” she said. “If white people are entitled to it, why shouldn't we?
Wilson said most families that she works with have difficulties getting police to file reports and have trouble urging them to put more attention toward their case.
“If they just had a legal team or our task force to hold them accountable, then we really could see how the system really has been failing, or law enforcement has been failing families going through this process,” she said. “I'm not trying to shine a negative light on law enforcement, it's just that you only know what you know and when you know better, you should do better.”
As of Sept. 15, the National Crime Information Center has recorded 1,172 missing people in Missouri. Out of those, 224 are Black females. Wilson said the site is inaccurate because she knows there are more Black women and girls who are missing that did not make the list.
“I personally have had to force the hand of law enforcement and assist families with getting their child recognized as missing or filing a missing person report, because sometimes they may not have said the right things to let people know that this is a missing person case, and there is no waiting period,” she said.
Mosley hopes the work of the task force helps open a missing and murdered office for families and law enforcement to use as a resource. Wilson would like to see the task force unite more Black women and girls with their families and get law enforcement to treat all missing and murdered the same.
“I just want people to remember the numbers, remember the names, and remember that African Americans are people too,” Wilson said.
