What do Gabby Petito, pregnant mothers Laci Peterson and Shannan Watts along with Watts’ two daughters, Bella and Celeste, have in common? I won’t stop there. I’ll add Natalie Holloway, Nicole Brown Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey to the mix.
You don’t need a degree in brain surgery to know the answer. If you even know how one of these women and/or children died violently at the hands of expectant fathers and supposed happily married husbands, significant others and complete strangers then you know the unfortunate answer as to what happened to all of them.
That is NOT the answer I am looking for, however. The answer I want to hear from anyone familiar with these heinous crimes is that all these women and children were white. The one and ONLY reason you know any if not all their names is the result of the excessive press coverage, they received that immediately got viewers' attention.
Now ask yourself if you can name any blacks, Latinos or Asian American men, women and children who have disappeared and perhaps met the same similar fates as the ones I mentioned above we have yet to know about. The only thing I hear right now are crickets. No! I don’t even hear that!
Almost a day after authorities found Gabby Petito’s body near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming Sept. 19, articles in newspapers and online appeared criticizing how “white” women like the missing 22-year-old get top media coverage yet the most national press a missing person who is a minority gets is if the case is reported locally and that’s if they are lucky.
“We would not know that Gabby Petito existed if she was Native American or black and not a pretty white blonde,’’ fumed Twitter user Hart-Van ‘n Leeu in a Sept 21 article in the New York Post.
In the same article Lynnette Grey Bull, a Native American advocate from Wyoming, told NPR, “It’s kind of heart wrenching, when we look at a white woman who goes missing and is able to get so much immediate attention.”
"Missing White Woman Syndrome” is what the Petito case is being referred to now – a term I never heard of until this week which according to the New York Post article is “used to describe the perceived disproportionate attention paid to white females who disappear, as opposed to people of color.”
Therein lies the trouble and I am just as guilty as anyone else who paid almost zero attention to the Petito case. If she were black and the drive-by media had given her the same preferential treatment as though she was the ONLY missing black woman in America right now, I still would have been more interested in what I was doing at the time (like writing this blog) than I would have been with my eyes glued to the flat screen praying she'd be found alive.
“With all that’s happening in the world, what’s happening in our southern border and abroad and at home, I think this entire story is a huge distraction, forgive me,” Arroyo said, according to the Daily Dot. “This is like a lifetime movie, an ongoing mini-series for America but I think it’s basically a local story, it’s a missing person. I hope they get to the bottom of it, but I do worry we’re (the press) spending way too much time on this case.”
The only thing I can say upon hearing of Petito’s disappearance when she was reported missing to law enforcement Sept. 11 before learning, like everyone else did about her untimely death over a week later, is I already knew days before that the outcome wasn’t going to end well.
That’s assuming you even care.
©9/22/21
You don’t need a degree in brain surgery to know the answer. If you even know how one of these women and/or children died violently at the hands of expectant fathers and supposed happily married husbands, significant others and complete strangers then you know the unfortunate answer as to what happened to all of them.
Now ask yourself if you can name any blacks, Latinos or Asian American men, women and children who have disappeared and perhaps met the same similar fates as the ones I mentioned above we have yet to know about. The only thing I hear right now are crickets. No! I don’t even hear that!
If you can name any missing men, women, or children of color you’re a born liar. The only reason you could name a missing person who isn’t white is because you googled that information in an attempt to make yourself look good. Like as though you care about the 543,018 persons reported missing in 2020 according to the Black & Missing Foundation (blackandmissinginc.com) as of this writing.
“We would not know that Gabby Petito existed if she was Native American or black and not a pretty white blonde,’’ fumed Twitter user Hart-Van ‘n Leeu in a Sept 21 article in the New York Post.
In the same article Lynnette Grey Bull, a Native American advocate from Wyoming, told NPR, “It’s kind of heart wrenching, when we look at a white woman who goes missing and is able to get so much immediate attention.”
"Missing White Woman Syndrome” is what the Petito case is being referred to now – a term I never heard of until this week which according to the New York Post article is “used to describe the perceived disproportionate attention paid to white females who disappear, as opposed to people of color.”
Therein lies the trouble and I am just as guilty as anyone else who paid almost zero attention to the Petito case. If she were black and the drive-by media had given her the same preferential treatment as though she was the ONLY missing black woman in America right now, I still would have been more interested in what I was doing at the time (like writing this blog) than I would have been with my eyes glued to the flat screen praying she'd be found alive.
To be honest, the times when I did hear tidbits about the 22-year-old want-to-be travel blogger who was on a cross country trip in July with her fiancé (I will not name the sonofabitch here – sorry – in my mind guilty until proven innocent) was when I had the flat screen on in the background and had the station tuned in to Fox News. The one and only reason I had the television on in the first place was to have something to listen to while doing something else.I agree with Fox News contributor, Raymond Arroyo, who called the Petito case a “huge distraction” from current events.
“With all that’s happening in the world, what’s happening in our southern border and abroad and at home, I think this entire story is a huge distraction, forgive me,” Arroyo said, according to the Daily Dot. “This is like a lifetime movie, an ongoing mini-series for America but I think it’s basically a local story, it’s a missing person. I hope they get to the bottom of it, but I do worry we’re (the press) spending way too much time on this case.”
The only thing I can say upon hearing of Petito’s disappearance when she was reported missing to law enforcement Sept. 11 before learning, like everyone else did about her untimely death over a week later, is I already knew days before that the outcome wasn’t going to end well.
In a perfect world, EVERY missing person’s case deserves the same attention as Petito, Peterson, Watts and her daughters, Holloway, Brown Simpson and Ramsey got. Race should never be considered as to whether the case leads national news.The only way that can happen is if the drive-by media, be it local or national, devote equal coverage to every disappearance when such a case is reported to law enforcement agencies. Until that happens, the days of finding the whereabouts of thousands of minorities in this country will only be found on sites like the Black & Missing Foundation.
That’s assuming you even care.
©9/22/21
