Nailah Franklin, a beautiful young woman who had just began a promising career at Eli Lilly & Co., was laid to rest today. Reported missing on September 19, Nailah was missing for 8 days before her naked, decomposed body was found in a wooded area, partially buried, behind a vacant building in south suburban Calumet City, Illinois. The autopsy did not reveal the cause of death.
Tamika Huston, missing since June 2004, is a pretty young woman who lived alone and 
had been missing for days before it was noticed by her family. Her dog had given birth to puppies in her home. Her family sprung into action, passing out flyers, holding news conferences, and even contacting the national news outlets, in an attempt to bring national attention. Her aunt, a public relations professional, got little or no response.
Let us not forget Stepha Henry, a lovely 22-year-old college graduate who’s story of disappearance got lost among all of the attention on Paris Hilton and her jail sentence. Missing since May 29, 2007, Stepha was last seen at Club Peppers, a night club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, getting into a car with a man. Stepha was an honors graduate with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
What do these three young ladies have in common, besides being attractive African-American young ladies? Besides Nailah, you have probably never heard of them, at least not on national television. Media coverage of missing African-American women is lacking. No, I take that back; it is non-existent. I don’t know what the requirements are to make CNN Headline News or what makes a story poignant enough to be featured, but when compared to the Natalee Holloway’s and the Laci Peterson’s of the world, what makes these ladies different? I mean absolutely no disrespect to Ms. Holloway’s and Mrs. Peterson’s families, as I sympathized along with the rest of the country at the horror they must have felt at losing their daughter, their sister, their loved one to something so tragic, so merciless…my point is, what is the difference between their loss and the loss of Ms. Henry’s, Ms. Huston’s, and Ms. Franklin’s families?
There is the argument that every missing person cannot be featured…okay, then what is the defining criteria? Is it attractiveness? These girls, along with the hundreds of other African-American women who go missing every day, are attractive. Is it money? Just because some of these African-American women do not come from money don’t make them less important to their families, to their children, to their friends, to their community. Or is it simply race? I am a believer in the goodness of people. I like to think that this could not possibly be true. But I’m naive; not stupid. No one wants to admit it; everyone wants to believe that we live in a world where everyone gets along and racism is only a backwoods thing practiced by ignorant people. That’s not true. I read a quote once:
”There is a strange kind of tragic enigma associated with the problem of racism. No one, or almost no one, wishes to see themselves as racist; still racism persists, real and tenacious.” ~ Albert Memmi
Unless we as Americans make a conscious effort to look at the content of a person’s character before seeing the color of their skin, racism will continue to secretly (or loudly) exist. Only we can stop it. And it must begin within each of us.
It’s all love, baby… 
© 2007. Marva Allen-Fowler. All Rights Reserved.
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MarvalusOne
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eastcoastdweller
