or maybe i'm completly wrong here.cause what i mostly read and hear about are white/hispanic kids being abducted or being a runaway.what do you guys think?.

It's not that they don't get abducted or runaway - they do - but, traditionally the media and TV shows have focused more on people from other groups. I don't know if things are getting better, but hopefully one day the news will not only be fair but equal.

or maybe i'm completly wrong.cause what i mostly read about are white/hispanic kids being abducted or being a runaway.what do you huys think?.
are you hinting that you want people to only abduct black kids to make up for the late start they've had compared to white and hispanic kids?

or maybe i'm completly wrong.cause what i mostly read about are white/hispanic kids being abducted or being a runaway.what do you huys think?.
All kids get abducted and raped. Just like you said the media showcases white and other groups. The media also showcases blacks as victims of violent crime, which is unfair also.

are you hinting that you want people to only abduct black kids to make up for the late start they've had compared to white and hispanic kids?
no i'm just making a observasion,cause when i went to the center for missing and exploited kids website most of the profiles on there was white/hispanic kids.VERRY rarely do i come across black profiles.i would always assume that the media coverage was just on sided.

It's not that they don't get abducted or runaway - they do - but, traditionally the media and TV shows have focused more on people from other groups.
that is one of my theories,along with the fact more black kids tends to handle themselves well or maybe its something completely different? :confused:

Its also possible that many black kids live in urban areas where there is a high tendancy for kids to runaway and therefore the parents dont report them missing, assuming they've runaway. If you go to indvividual big city missing children cites you will find there are quite a few missing black children.

Its also possible that many black kids live in urban areas where there is a high tendancy for kids to runaway and therefore the parents dont report them missing, assuming they've runaway. If you go to indvividual big city missing children cites you will find there are quite a few missing black children.
of course therse plenty of runaways,i just havent seen many abduction reports.

that is one of my theories,along with the fact more black kids tends to handle themselves well or maybe its something completely different? :confused:
i think it might also be the fact black kids hang in groups,and the fact most adults are scared of them.


interestingly enough black comedians often joke that black people make bad barganing tools as no one cares.

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=elizabeth_smart

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=elizabeth_smart
my point exactly lol

One of the best things about UM is that the show profiled the cases of anyone, regardless of race/ethnicity. Same thing about America's Most Wanted....Unlike various other media outlets, UM and AMW seem to value everyone's life....

Where I live, we hear about ALL abductions (especially of young people). Doesn't matter what their ethnic background. I don't think our media is as subjective as the U.S.'s though.

^ its really not.

All kids get abducted and raped. Just like you said the media showcases white and other groups. The media also showcases blacks as victims of violent crime, which is unfair also.
Exactly. Look at that Natalie Hollaway case. That girl is still missing for what? A year and a half, and I still see news stories on her. What abt a little black girl that was "lost" by the welfare system in Florida by the foster lady? I was following that case and not heard anything for two years.

I hate to be the one to state the obvious, but blacks are only about 12 percent of the population in the U.S. If kidnapping is already a rare event (in statistical terms) than there would have to be a pretty hefty number of black kids getting kidnapped for it to seem like it happens more than rarely.

"that is one of my theories,along with the fact more black kids tends to handle themselves well or maybe its something completely different"

Perhaps do other people remember the little Black girl who was like 4 or maybe 6 & she was kidnapped in the morning, chewed through the tape & was back home in time to see herself on the evening news. She didn't just lay there & wait for something else to happen she saved herself.

I think Black children or other minority children don't get the media attention that other children get. It's a sad but true fact. I think also that a Black child may be more apt to fight you to the death instead of just go along with you willingly, quietly. I hate to stereotype but I do think these are factors.

I think also that a Black child may be more apt to fight you to the death instead of just go along with you willingly, quietly. I hate to stereotype but I do think these are factors.as a black man i agree...

It happens all the time. You just don't hear about it. If JonBenet Ramsey had been everything she was, but Afro-American, it would have been a much shorter news story and we wouldn't still be getting all these updates on it ten years later.

The same day she was killed, a little girl in Chicago was raped and strangled in almost exactly the same way. She lived and named her attacker. Yet in all the hoopla about JonBenet, the mainstream newspapers carried not one word about "Girl X". The Public Guardian said he'd seen it before -- this media frenzy happens only over white children, particularly if they're girls, particularly if they're blue-eyed blonds.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985957,00.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20020210/ai_n12452509

You know, there's that whole scene in A Time to Kill where Matthew McConaughey delivers this really gripping closing statement in regards to the young black girl that was kidnapped, mutilated and raped, which then prompted her father to kill the men who hurt his daughter out of a sense of vigilante justice. The part of that closing argument that always stuck with me was where McConaughey described the crime scene in vivid detail and ended his closing statement with, "I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine that she's white."

Perhaps John Grisham knows a bit more than the legal field is willing to give him credit for...

".

I think Black children or other minority children don't get the media attention that other children get. It's a sad but true fact.

I agree. There was a story about this a couple of years ago. It seem like if you are white and from upper-middle to upper-class then missing children are more likely to be shown on tv versus minority children.

I didn't agree with your stereotype because it basically falls into what people believe that blacks are better at sports because they are more equipped or blacks lack this or that, etc. etc.

I think making blanket statements like "the media is not interested in covering black children abductions" is an unsophsiticated argument. Evidently, the primary reason that you do not see black children abductions covered on the news relates to statistical reasons. Blacks comprise about 15% of the population, while whites comprise 70%. Moreover, because whites make up more of the population, there's a stronger probability that whites are living in locations typically void of crime, so when crime does happen in these locations, the media is quick to jump on it because of sensationalism. That's not to say that blacks do not live in crime-free areas, they do. However, the probability is higher for a white person to live in a crime-free area, than a black person, and it's simply because there are more whites. I think it's mainly an argument of statistics, probability, and location instead of media bias. I'm sure if you look at percentages, blacks and whites are abducted equally, but news coverage, since it is mainly interested in sensational news stories, will cover the rarer event (abductions in crime-free areas which are statistically more likely to contain whites).

Evidently, the primary reason that you do not see black children abductions covered on the news relates to statistical reasons. um.......apparently not. media people who defend (well rationalize) this type of media bias never use statistical reasons as a defense. they usually say its because of how sensational the case is.........BUT....... this still doesn't explain why black sensational abductions are being over looked. further more it also doesn't explain why males, and older people get overlooked either.

I think another factor here is that, statistically speaking, black men are far less likely to be child molesters than white men. There was a famous case in Atlanta of a black man who was a child murderer; he kidnapped and killed a number of young boys. But it took the FBI a long time to catch him because they profiled any child abudctor/rapist/murderer as a white guy.

Since the vast majority of child abductors are white and Latino, and not black, it's not surprising that most of their targets are white and Latino. We still live in a country that has a lot of de facto segregation, and child molesters tend not to be the most sophisticated people anyway. It's not surprising to see this prejudice among that group.

It's maybe the only instance I can think of where the prejudice of non-blacks is actually advantageous to blacks (insofar as it makes their children much less likely to be abducted/killed).

That said, black kids DO get abducted, make no mistake, and the media's hysteria over pretty white girls compared to their relative indifference concerning the disappearance of black women and children is one of the most disturbing and obvious signs of the continued racism in the country.

Very good point Mozart! Your point also covers the question I had after oicvah's post about the percentage difference in population. His explanation might have covered blacks and whites, but didn't account for hispanics. They're also in the minority, but you hear of more hispanic abductions than you do blacks even.

Unfortunately, at least within the U.S., I think discrimination does play a role with the media. It doesn't here. You look at the wall of missing children in any Wal-Mart and there's at least as many pictures of minority kids as there are whites.

It sickens me - EVERY missing child is just as tragic and important as the next.

You know, there's that whole scene in A Time to Kill where Matthew McConaughey delivers this really gripping closing statement in regards to the young black girl that was kidnapped, mutilated and raped, which then prompted her father to kill the men who hurt his daughter out of a sense of vigilante justice. The part of that closing argument that always stuck with me was where McConaughey described the crime scene in vivid detail and ended his closing statement with, "I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine that she's white."

Perhaps John Grisham knows a bit more than the legal field is willing to give him credit for...

OMG, CRicci, I love that scene, it's incredibly moving.

I do think that a lot of it is a race issue (and I hate to say that) but unfortuntely, there are many examples where minority children (or adult) cases are swept under the rug in favor of showing a news clip about a (insert your own adjective here) "beautiful, blond, privledged" abductee. It's so sad.

it sounds like that there is not only racism surfacing regarding these kidnapping cases that come forward, but also lookism. Lookism is probably the least talked about form of discrimination, but it is very common in today's society. It basically means favoring people deemed as 'good looking'. Whether or not you are considered 'good looking' can mean the difference as to whether or not you get off with a warning or a traffic ticket, or how much $ you get as tips. If you do some research, there should be plenty of info on the net.

it sounds like that there is not only racism surfacing regarding these kidnapping cases that come forward, but also lookism. Lookism is probably the least talked about form of discrimination, but it is very common in today's society. It basically means favoring people deemed as 'good looking'. Whether or not you are considered 'good looking' can mean the difference as to whether or not you get off with a warning or a traffic ticket, or how much $ you get as tips. If you do some research, there should be plenty of info on the net.

There's an entry in wikipedia, regarding this issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

In 2004, American television's The Daily Show released America: The Book, which among other political topics parodied MWWS by offering a fictional formula regarding media coverage of a kidnapping.

Click on the link, and go see "Parodies of MWWS" to see said formula. Unfortunately, I could not cut and paste it in this post.

It sickens me - EVERY missing child is just as tragic and important as the next.
agreed...

it sounds like that there is not only racism surfacing regarding these kidnapping cases that come forward, but also lookism. Lookism is probably the least talked about form of discrimination, but it is very common in today's society. It basically means favoring people deemed as 'good looking'. Whether or not you are considered 'good looking' can mean the difference as to whether or not you get off with a warning or a traffic ticket, or how much $ you get as tips. If you do some research, there should be plenty of info on the net.one thing that always bugged me was the reaction people had when they found out Carla komolka ands her husband was attractive. almost as if they were saying only ugly people can be murderous monsters. :rolleyes:

In a state like mine.....where kidnappings/abductions are very rare and the last notorious case (to gain any sort of notable attention) was that of John Joubert......(20+ yrs ago).....anytime something like this happens, the media/community jumps on it.

Our most recent abduction was of a 12 year old black girl Amber Harris......the case gained a ton of attention and was even profiled on AMW

(Amber Harris AMW Case Link (http://www.amw.com/missing_children/brief.cfm?id=36863))

I also remember Mark Klaas (father of Polly) coming up here for a bit to help with the search for Amber (back before her body was found)......

There's an entry in wikipedia, regarding this issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

That led me to a very sad story: Ugly Girl Killed (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30112)

That led me to a very sad story: Ugly Girl Killed (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30112)


:lol:

That's pretty funny...

:lol:

That's pretty funny...

Gotta love The Onion for their bitting satire.

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=elizabeth_smart
God help you one day you are not in a situation where some jerk kidnaps your child! :mad: