California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new bill on Sunday introducing the so-called “Ebony Alert,” making the Golden State the first in the U.S. to implement an alert notification system — similar to an Amber Alert — to address the epidemic of missing Black children and young women.
The Ebony Alert system will be used to track down missing Black teen aged 12 to 25. The new system, which takes effect on January 1, will enable the California Highway Patrol to trigger the alert at the request of local police enforcement. To broadcast information about the missing persons’ warning, the Ebony alert will make use of electronic highway signs and promote the use of radio, TV, social media, and other platforms.
According to the National Crime Information Center’s most current statistics, Black children under 18 made up around 141,000 of incidents of missing people in 2022, while Black women over 21 were involved in almost 16,500 of the events.
More than 30,000 Black Americans were still missing by the end of 2022. Although 38% of those who went missing in 2022 were Black, their tales are less likely than those of missing white persons to be covered by the media. Additionally, Black people’s missing persons investigations are open longer than those involving white individuals.
