SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The AMBER Alert system has aided in rescuing over 1,000 children.
The system to locate abducted children has led to implementing other alert systems for at-risk elderly individuals and indigenous people.
Now, California is pushing to create a notification system to help find missing Black women and children.
State Senator Steven Bradford authored Senate Bill 673 to establish the Ebony Alert system to help find missing Black women.
SB 673 passed through the legislature with bipartisan support and now sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
The bill would allow law enforcement agencies to issue an Ebony Alert for missing Black youth and women who meet the criteria such as the missing person is believed to be in danger, suffers from a mental or physical disability, or is potentially being subjected to human trafficking.
“We are still trying to level the playing field when it comes to race not only in this state but in this country and until we are viewed and treated as equal, we’re going to continue to need legislation like this in California and in this nation,” said Senator Bradford.
An Ebony alert would specifically focus on women and girls ages 12 to 25. According to the Black and Missing Foundation, 38% of children missing in the United States are Black.
“This is critically important to make sure young folks are returned safely to their loved ones,” Bradford added.
Berry Accius, a community activist in Sacramento, has worked with families to locate their missing loved ones for several years. He started the nonprofit Voice of the Youth and has seen the need for the Ebony Alert implementation.
“All these girls are our girls — Black, white — they’re in our community and no one girl should get more exposure than the other,” Accius said.
However, that’s not always the case. According to research from Northwestern University, Black girls and women are significantly underrepresented in media coverage when they go missing.
They are also more likely to be labeled as runaways, which prevents an AMBER Alert from being activated.
“There’s a sense of urgency when our counterparts are missing. You see the blonde hair, blue-eyed, white girl — she’s missing, and the world turns around, flips over the couches and does everything they can do to make sure everybody knows this girl is missing. A black girl is missing, you could barely get a share,” Accius emphasized.
While the AMBER Alert system has been effective in locating abducted children, it requires strict criteria to be met before being issued. Accius says the Ebony Alert system would be a step in the right direction to make sure all missing persons cases are treated equally.
“There’s just a need for our girls to feel valued and I think that a lot of Black girls don’t feel valued. I feel it’s important for us to be able to give them a lot of love, compassion and support and that shouldn’t just be based on color or your zip code — it should just be based on these young girls are human beings,” Accius said.
The governor has until Oct. 14 to either sign or veto SB 673.
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