When minorities students go missing or are found dead, it leaves many wondering why there is a lack of support from the media and police?
In October 2021, Taleah Lowe, a student from Grand Valley State University, was declared dead after her body was pulled from the water after reports of a struggling swimmer. The case was ruled as an accident despite suspicious circumstances, such as why her friends weren't harmed if they were in the water together. There are now online support groups fighting for the truth of her death.
Jelani Day, a missing graduate student from Illinois State University, gained national coverage only after his family and many minorities showed outraged and demanded the police to publicize his case and request intervention from the FBI. This case remains unsolved and suspicious after discovering his body in the Illinois river and his car in the woods, according to a report on CNN.com.
A multitude of minorities have received little to no recognition or attention during critical missing hours from law enforcement or the media. There has been no widespread media attention for missing Blacks, and there is a lack of racial sensitivity toward minorities.
“Racial injustice continues to be a huge factor because there are no follow ups on minorities and never enough media coverage,” CMA senior David Whitlock said.
Throughout the years, police reporting was encouraged and media coverage that was significantly lower than white cases such as Gabby Petito and many other non-minorities.
According to a 2016 report in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology about "Missing White Woman Syndrome," about one-fifth of missing cases involving Blacks are covered by the news.
“Law enforcement try to hide what happened by keeping the case out of the media,” CMA senior Kayla Cooper said.
