In July, an incident involving the falsely reported abduction of a Black woman captured national attention. It brought to light a significant issue in the United States: Black women and girls are disproportionately likely to go missing, and their cases often receive inadequate media attention and law enforcement resources. The case of Carlee Russell, who falsely claimed to have been abducted, ironically garnered the national spotlight, a rarity for missing Black women and girls.
“The damage of falsely reporting a crime, especially crimes against women, is obviously a stain on her reputation. But moreover, it undermines the efforts and the urgency to investigate reports of thousands of missing women across the nation. Surprisingly the Russell case received national attention from media sources who have historically provided lackluster coverage — if any at all — of the litany of Black women and women of color who have been lost to their families for years,” Hiram Jackson, Michigan Chronicle Publisher and Real Times Media CEO, stated in an op-ed.
According to the National Crime Information Center, despite making up only 7% of the U.S. population and 18% of the female population, Black women and girls accounted for nearly 34.6% of 300,000 missing women in 2021. Moreover, Black women are more than twice as likely than their peers to be victims of homicide, and nationally, cases involving Black women and girls stay open four times longer than other cases on average. This disproportionality is grave.
Considering these alarming statistics, a new bill, known as the Clardy Act, has been proposed by Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, to establish a Department of Justice Office specifically for Missing and Murdered Black Women. The Act acknowledges the insufficient federal resources dedicated to combating violence against women and girls.
“The existing federal resources dedicated to combating violence against women and girls is not enough to address this problem and additional resources must be targeted directly to protecting, supporting and providing justice to Black women and girls in the United States,” the bill states.
The proposed bill has already been endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus and nearly 50 members of Congress and is named after 18-year-old Brittany Clardy, who was murdered in 2013. Clardy’s family says they were brushed off when they reached out to law enforcement when she went missing ten years ago, and two weeks after she went missing, she was found murdered in the trunk of her car. Her sister believes that she could’ve been saved had law enforcement acted earlier.
The Clardy Act’s inclusive approach recognizes the need for a robust data collection effort to build a comprehensive tracking and reporting infrastructure for missing cases. It aims to provide a clearer picture of the status of investigations into missing Black women and girls, including the time the cases remain open compared to similar cases in other demographics.
If passed, the newly established office would work towards providing a more structured and focused approach to solving these cases. The director, appointed by the Attorney General, would establish a national advisory commission and coordinate with state and local agencies to collect comprehensive data on cases, including the rate at which they are solved. The Act further emphasizes the importance of analyzing Amber alerts and missing reports that are classified as runaways, acknowledging the frequent dismissal of such cases, which do not receive the same resources and attention.
This proposal also incorporates a grant program for community organizers to provide services and training for police, attorneys, and judges, as well as funding for survivor support efforts. The aim is to improve the existing system’s efficiency and effectiveness in addressing the disappearance of Black women and girls.
This Act represents a significant step toward acknowledging and addressing the issues faced by missing Black women and girls, ensuring their cases do not fade into obscurity, and working towards providing them and their families the justice and support they deserve.
“For years the families and friends of these missing women have persistently expressed concerns about the lack of vigor displayed by law enforcement in conducting more robust investigations to find these mothers, daughters, and sisters,” Jackson added.
Given the stark and undeniable reality that the disappearances of Black women barely make headlines, one cannot help but ask the pressing question: Why is the media so selective in its coverage, giving less than a quarter of its attention to the extensive issue of missing Black women, despite their alarmingly high disappearance rates?
Jackson poses a crucial point, stating: “But given that Black women go missing at a rate double that of their representation in the overall population, shouldn’t there be at least double the number of stories reported by media? On the contrary, abductions and disappearances of Black women get less than a quarter of coverage. This stark disparity is directly linked to the race of the victim and the racial composition of the law enforcement agencies tasked with resolving these crimes.”
Nationally, cases involving Black girls and women stay open four times longer than other cases, according to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as cited in the Clardy Act. The proposed office would not only focus on solving open cases but also on conducting extensive research with local community engagement, incorporating focus groups and interviews with Black women and girls with lived experience.
If passed by Congress, the launch of this office would be a significant step toward progress in affirming that Black lives – specifically Black women’s lives – are protected and valued.
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