Does race really play a factor in how missing children are being viewed in the media?

Earlier this week, I blogged about little Shaniya Davis and the tragic events surrounding her disappearance and death. This story is still heavy on my mind. It is a sad, sad story with a tragic end. When I first heard about the story on Sunday, the picture of little Shaniya’s mother flashed on my computer screen, as well as her alleged kidnapper. My initial thought was this is some sick country shit that is going on. However, when I started to read the article I was puzzled about many things. However, when I saw the news and I saw little Shaniya’s father crying his heart out, I began to be overwhelmed with grief. It was heart breaking to watch him break down and cry, all his pain, hurt, and agony was there on my television screen.

Now, when I first saw the mother of Shaniya she looked as if she had some issues whether they were financial disadvantage or drug related, which is not an uncommon truth or stereotype among black people. However, this story had a twist that wasn’t the norm. Usually, when stories such as kidnapping are displayed in the news, it is either a white family (Elizabeth Smart) that is affected or it is high profile black family (Jennifer Hudson’s family tragedy). However, you rarely see the family dynamics of Shaniya Davis in cases such as hers.

In one frame the news is showing pictures of Antoinette Nicole Davis, and her sister’s boyfriend, Mario Andrette McNeill (alleged kidnapper). And seconds later the screen flashed to Bradley Lockheart, the father of Shaniya Davis. Scratching my head for a moment, here you have this black woman who has the appearance of a drug addict and this white guy with the appearance of a clean cut guy. Many would say an odd couple but that is beyond the point. Whatever, their relationship was they produced a beautiful angelic child.

Now getting back to my original point of this post, does race really play a factor in how missing children are being viewed in the media? Don’t get me wrong this was a heinous, cruel, demented and sick crime. However, situations like this happen to people of color all the time. Especially, in impoverished areas and you hardly ever hear about the incidents that occur unless it is a three minute blip across the screen. Why is that?

Currently, I live in the suburbs of Baltimore. However, I am not too far from the inner city. Every year there are hundreds of stories of heinous crimes, involving missing children that occur and lead to tragedies such as this one or worse. For example, I can remember a few years ago that a little girl went missing and her mother’s boyfriend had raped her and left her dead in the woods. The little girl was missing for weeks. There was no national coverage, hell there was barely local coverage. If you drove south past Columbia, Maryland or north past Joppa, Maryland you might not have even heard that a little black girl was missing. After her body was recovered, it was business as usual in the media.

Two years ago, a man who suffered from mental illness and was awarded visitation by a negligent Judge, decided because he was not getting his way regarding the child he was going to drop his child, (Turner Jordan) ALIVE over of one of the largest bridges in the state of Maryland. The little boy’s body wasn’t recovered until almost 6 months later. I remember briefly hearing about it on the news and it was even harder to find news articles to be updated as to what happened. As a matter of a fact, it hasn’t been discussed in the news as to the outcome of the case. There was no commentary as to reform of child custody/visitation issues or how things like this could be prevented. Imagine a child in your neighborhood being alive and dropped 150 feet to their death, in the dead of winter. On the other hand, a situation similar happened with a Chinese man throwing his kids off a bridge. What was the different besides it was multiple kids or that he was Chinese and in their culture things like this don’t happen?

There have been hundreds of thousands of cases like this all over the country. Each day there are approximately 2,000 missing children. Can you tell me what they look like? What are their family dynamics? And, what is the motive for new coverage for one missing person over another? Shamefully, we would have never heard about Julius King being missing if it wasn’t for the fact that his Aunt was an Oscar winning superstar, Jennifer Hudson.

In my eyes tragedy is tragedy, murder is murder, and kidnapping is kidnapping. I sincerely hope that the media will not continue to only shine the light on one group of people over another. We all bleed the same, we all hurt the same and we all are human beings that have the right to fair media coverage to aid with the recovery and or search for our loved ones.

Prayerfully, the family of Shaniya Davis will be able to heal and receive an overwhelming outpour of support for their local community and being in the national spotlight. I also pray harder for the families of missing child that never received the five minutes that was necessary to make a difference. I hope that there is a call for action on this issue that has been prevalent in our society for so long. Slavery is over, Colored only fountains are gone… abolish the separate but equal clause and media outlets need to recognized people of all colors are in need of coverage. After all, this is the future potential leaders of America. So many potential, doctors, lawyers, teachers have been lost already. Now, is the time for America to wake up and understand that when tragedy occurs it doesn’t have a color, it has a feeling of irreplaceable emotions of pain, loss and devastation. There is no price you can put on a human life so isn’t it time the media starts to value all.

• This article is dedicated to Nicholas David Tonic. In December of 2005, he disappeared and wasn’t found until 6 weeks later. There were no leads as to the persons responsible behind his murder and disappearance. To date, the case is still open as an unsolved murder with the Anne Arundel County police.