✍🏾: @lexisryann
A California legislator proposed a bill to establish an “Ebony Alert” system informing people of missing Black children and young women.
State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) introduced Senate Bill 673 last week, citing the “overrepresentation” and “underreporting” of missing Black children and young women in California.
“The Ebony Alert would ensure that resources and attention are given so we can bring home missing Black women and Black children in the same way we would search for any missing child and missing person,” Bradford said.
The bill would allow law enforcement agencies to authorize the issuance of an Ebony Alert in cases where they believe the alert would help investigate a missing person. According to Bradford, the legislation allows for alerts to be sent in missing person cases involving Black children or young Black women ages 12 to 25.
In the U.S., Black women only comprise 13% of the female population. Still, studies found they comprise 35% of the country’s missing women. In 2020, during the pandemic, nearly 100,000 of the 250,000 women that went missing in the U.S. were women of color. #BWLM💕
