Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the 22-year-old who went missing on a cross-country trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. Although he wasn't initially a suspect, Brian returned home without her and refused to give any answers.

What's believed to be her body was found on September 19th. Brian Laundrie is nowhere to be found.

This is the worst-case scenario. So many people have been following Gabby's story and hoping that she turns up alive and well. She's received widespread national news coverage, gained viral status on social media, and has had just an outpouring of support. The news that her body might have been found was devastating to many, but there's something else I have to mention.

It's a sensitive topic, but at this point, y'all, what isn't that I talk about?

I don't talk much about what I do for a living, and that's not going to change, but missing Black and Brown women and girls, sometimes comes up in my work. I very recently worked with a Black organization out of Chicago that has an initiative to help find missing Black and Brown girls. Why? Because in Chicago, and pretty much everywhere across America, the powers that be don't care and don't search for us.

I have been involved in helping to inform people about these women. To hold the police accountable. To get the media to accept responsibility for the lack of media coverage for our missing women. And all they give us is lip service.

They make empty promises and give out the standard PR response: "we care about all missing people and make every effort to find them."

Except that's not what actually happens. If it were, initiatives like the one I worked on wouldn't be necessary.

It's not only those in a position of power who don't care; it's your everyday people, too. One of the women I worked with on this project was a white woman. Proudly Jewish and feminist, per her own words.

In a meeting we had, she actually commented that all of the missing Black and Brown women were probably prostitutes. That obviously didn't go over well.

She said that in the same breath that she used to describe how much she cared about this effort. But she didn't really care. Not the way she should.

In her mind, she had relegated them to the unsavory category of society. The type of people that it just makes sense for them to disappear. It makes sense that there's not that much media coverage about them. Because who would care about them?

I do, to answer that last question. Their families and communities do. We search for them endlessly with a fervor fueled by the soul-crushing thought of what might've happened, the utter despair of knowing that if we don't no one will, and all-encompassing love.

Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Robert Lowery, said roughly 800,000 people are reported missing every year. Over 60% of them are Black or are POC.

Read that again.

Over 60% of missing person's reports are of Black people and POC.

Yet, the media only covers ⅕ of those cases.

See, if you're not what's considered to be a pretty, young, innocent white woman..well, people just don't give a fuck if you go missing.

Not the news. Not your average citizen. And certainly not the police.

We don't receive the same level of resources or concern.

Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, recently tweeted that he has
"directed all state agencies under my purview to continue to assist federal & local law enforcement as they continue to search [for Brian Laundrie.]…We need justice for Gabby Petito."

That's great, Ron. Really, it is. But what about all of the Black and Indigenous women who are currently missing in your state?

In Wyoming, where Gabby disappeared, there are 710 missing Indigenous women.

There are 145,467 missing girls of color under 18.

64,000-75,000 Black women are missing right now.

No one is saying that Gabby shouldn't receive all this attention, that she shouldn't be looked for.

We're saying that Black women, Indigenous women, and women of color deserve to be looked for with the same care. That our disappearances, abuse, and deaths should be met with the same outrage.

We matter.

We're tired of everyone getting "missing white woman syndrome," as our women are continuously overlooked.

janay

When JanayB isn't posting memes, scrolling through "wokebook" posts, ordering food and otherwise being your typical millennial, you can find her here destroying white tears and basking in her unapologetic blackness. Get in touch with her at JanayBsays@gmail.com

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