Basic Black

This week a discussion about missing Black girls and women and the lack of coverage around their disappearances. Data collected by the FBI show the large numbers of missing girls and women of color reported annually. However despite the numbers—somewhere in the neighborhood of 40%, outside of family and friends, the public barely knows their names. Black girls are often classified as runaways, which presents a distorted narrative as well as decreasing the chances of finding them. Many are also victims of kidnapping, exploitation and human trafficking. We’ll address the bias reporting of “Missing White Girl Syndrome” and its impact for not creating enough awareness for missing persons within communities of color as well as missing Indigenous girls and women.

Our Panelists:

Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, representing District 7 consisting of Roxbury,

Dorchester, Fenway, and part of the South End.

Rahsaan Hall, principal at Rahsaan Hall Consulting. He is also running for Plymouth County district

attorney

Alexandria Onuoha, Director of Political Advocacy at Black Boston and a Ph.D. candidate in Applied

Developmental Psychology at Suffolk University.

Gaétane Borders, President; CEO of Peas in Their Pods, a national organization based in Atlanta.

Phillip Martin hosts.