FIND OUR GIRLS.
At the beginning of the year, Chanel Dickerson, D.C. Police Department commander made a pledge: “Let’s find our girls.” Over the past few days there has been much uproar and outrage all through social media, when it was revealed that numerous girls are missing in the D.C./Metropolitan area. There are multiple stories circulating about how many girls are missing, whether the police weren’t looking enough, they weren’t showcasing how many were girls were actually missing, or whether or not sex trafficking is becoming an epidemic in the area. Most people believe since majority of the missing girls are Black or Hispanic, race is an issue at hand.
Recently, a 10-year old girl went missing and there was no amber alert sent. D.C. councilman, Trayon White stated,
“We just feel, you know, that is this were a white person or from another neighborhood, there would be more alarm about it.”
According to CNN, 501 cases of missing children as of 2017. However, as of this past Wednesday, only 22 cases remained open. The concern is, though, that there haven’t been any amber alerts in regards to the children missing. And with the recent police officers arrested for sex trafficking, some are suggesting foul play. The Department of Justice released a list of what justifies the need of an amber alert:
There has to be enough information on the victim and abductor.
The child has to be 17 years or younger
Reasonable belief that an abduction has occurred.
Police believe that the missing are actually leaving voluntarily and not being abducted, hence the lack of amber alerts on the missing girls. With the help of social media, the girls are still getting exposure; however, some of the information is not accurate. Many celebrities are twitting and posting find our ’34 girls’. Again, as of Wednesday, there’s 22 missing, 11 of which are juveniles.
Shaun King stepped to twitter to comment on the sharing of wrong information. As serious as this issue is, we can’t afford to get any detail wrong. This writer plans to keep up with the story and give updates and more to come with the story.
A few tips to avoid any more missing girls: late at night, don’t travel by yourself; look into any advertisements on making money or in needs of service (possible traps for abduction); don’t travel in strange parts of the city by themselves. Please everyone, be safe and be aware.
