Have you seen this girl? Pass it on...
Okay, I fess up; yeah I did this one. I'm not much of an art director, but i do okay for a copywriter. The reason I created this one was because of the following data, courtesy of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
• Roughly 54% of all missing children are actually males under the age of 18; this despite women constituting the majority of Americans.
• Roughly 38% of all missing children are of African-American, Hispanic or Asian descent.
• Since 1993, roughly 430 Women of Mexican descent have been abducted/murdered along the US/Mexican border, many near the Rio Grande. Many have been US citizens, according to Amnesty International.
Yet, what do we get from every major media outlet--a key source in getting the word out about missing children?
Missing White Girls. Runaway brides. Collegiate love birds run amok. Romeo & Juliet wannabes. So-called All-American, girls next door. It's as if women of color and males of color don't matter.
At some point things have to get more balanced. This isn't about political correctness, it's about saying that all children are equal including the children of color.
There were missing children in my neighborhood growing up. And no matter the circumstances, or the child's age, the police and the media always made one thing crystal clear to us:
We were alone.
Whether the girl came back or not, when the boy was abducted or simply ran off, the cops had too many "bigger cases" to solve; the media always had "more current stories" to cover.
Something frightening to know that you don't count as much and it could be the difference in whether you live or die, stay lost of get found...
So take the poster and spread it around. hopefully it'll inspire some dialog. And visit the sites mentioned:
WhatAboutOurDaughters.org and MissingMinorities.blogspot.com and Bureau of Missing and Exploited Children are all working to balance the game and help give every child a fighting chance.
