Human Trafficking | Missing Black Girls Ignored

Many people have heard about the staggering number of missing black women, yet the media hasn’t covered the topic with the same sensationalism as the Trump impeachment hearings, or even the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak during Thanksgiving weekend, to name a few. There are several instances in the states and around the globe in which human trafficking seems to be on the rise targeting predominantly women, but especially black women and children. Yet there were few amber alerts, hashtags or manhunts put into effect.

There was once a misconception that white women and children were the most abducted group but that was incorrect for a variety of reasons. Firstly, America is racially confused as to what “white” is as the times keep changing. White, Hispanic and some Middle Eastern women are now often lumped together creating inflated white stats. And secondly, with missing black women and children only about 100k behind missing white women, while only being 14% of the population, black women and children are clearly far out front as the most abducted. Making matters worse, the numbers seem to be rising with even more unsolved cases reaching epidemic proportions.

Kaur, Harmeet. “Black Kids Go Missing at a Higher Rate than White Kids. Here's Why We Don't Hear about Them.” CNN, Cable News Network, 3 Nov. 2019, www.cnn.com

This is a very scary situation. Black women are mysteriously disappearing and we aren’t being told how or why. Other missing person cases and other miscellaneous news stories routinely get pushed in front of the missing black girl cases. Even though the FBI’s National Crime Information Center reports that the majority of missing girl cases per capita are black girls, white women or children are more likely to be sensationalized with coverage. What some media is reluctant to say is this: The main reasons people, predominantly black women, keep going missing at alarming rates is because of sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, forced labor, and organ harvesting. However, the last is something rarely ever mentioned and perhaps the most serious.

The Media Deflection

One of the reasons missing black girl cases aren’t taken as seriously is because many were being blown off as runaway cases or other erroneous assumptions. In fact, early on some media outlets have been egregiously telling the people that many of the missing black girls have runaway voluntarily, but unfortunately, we are in an age in which many outlets blatantly misinform us or report what they are told without genuine investigations.

Perhaps to keep the public from panic, they are often misleading us. Regardless, here are a few basic questions: How does anyone know they are runaway cases when most of the cases are still unsolved and the girls are still missing in action? How does anyone know they are runaway cases when they are minors and no one has seen them, including their grieving families? Can teenaged girls and local street pimps outsmart government agencies and stay missing for years? Again, this is happening mysteriously all over the country. Where are the missing girls?

There is something much deeper going on with the disappearances of thousands of black girls domestically and internationally, and something suspicious about the inability to solve any of these missing person cases. Organized gangs and cartels are growing powerful perhaps because of an industry benefitting the powerful. There is a growing black market for sex slaves, child sex trafficking and for organs and body parts that the public at large needs to become more aware of.

Dozens of young black and Hispanic girls in the Bronx, and the rest of New York City have been reported missing sparking concern. And just like the rest, most of these cases remain unsolved. The young teen-aged girls like Sierra Rivera, Emily Arroyo, Ashley Bissal and many others from the area have never been found.

The year 2019 alone brought in nonstop occurrences of similar stories from all over the rest of the country. In April 16-year-old Miah Gourdine disappeared in South Carolina. She never came home from school and no one has seen or heard anything since. In the same month, Zaria Mccier from Conyers Georgia has been reported missing. All the girls joined the list of more than 75,000 black girls who have vanished without a trace.

Mcdonnell, Mary, and Leonard Greene. “More than a Dozen Missing Bronx Teen Girls Raises Fear of Possible Abduction and Forced Prostitution.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, 7 Apr. 2018

The International Problem

The murder or disappearances of black women is an international issue.  In South Africa, Peter Frederiksen, formerly of Denmark was arrested for storing 21 severed vaginas of black women in his fridge. His wife, a black woman from Lesotho was scheduled to testify against him but she was mysteriously shot dead before doing so, a killing police believe he orchestrated. 

Frederiksen had the body parts neatly stored and labeled in plastic bags. Anesthetic drugs and surgical equipment was also uncovered from his home.  What is mysteriously left undiscussed is why Frederiksen stored these organs. Was he just a deranged psychopath or was there a purpose or industry he was catering to? When a man is caught with a fridge full of body parts, why do media outlets just move on to the next story? The fact that this was never front-page international news, is a news story itself.

In parts of Mexico and many other places in the world, there are stories popping up in which people are being arrested with bags of body parts as if this is now the new normal.

The world has become darker and we are dealing with a severely desensitized and distracted public. Our access to information is owned and controlled. And this is what is, unfortunately, keeping this problem unaddressed.

Staying Vigilant and Safe

Human traffickers have all sorts of plots and schemes to capture new victims. They reportedly even use other women, children and old women to act out fake scenarios on unsuspecting victims near schools, stores, parking lots and various public places. Some are using drugs to knock their victims out cold before abduction. There is a viral video going around featuring a man claiming that in some instances old ladies are being used, pretending that they’re selling perfume. And once the perfume is applied the girl is knocked out instantly. The times are getting worse than ever.

These days we may have to stop waiting for help from above. When a community’s biggest problems never make the media priority list we have to find new innovative ways to police our neighborhoods and keep them predator-free.

Very often young girls were snatched because they were by themselves without adult supervision or a group of friends to walk with. This needs to stop. Long gone are the days of predators offering candy from vans. Predators in cahoots with cartels are very resourceful and are employing new strategies, and they are studying patterns and routines of targets. They know when targets are likely to be by themselves or the most vulnerable. Unfortunately, they are coming up with new tricks by the day. One of the best defenses against the current scourge is to simply know that organized predators are out there and making the proper safety adjustments and precautions is a must these days. Black and Hispanic women in urban areas are targeted partly because they are expected to have less protections and resources. This expectation must be met with preparedness and change. As strangers are watching and preying on young women and girls it’s time for parents, neighbors and vigilant citizens to be watching even harder.