I am missing too

 

"Justice is color and status-coordinated." Dr. BLR

 

There is not a day that goes by without someone being reported missing to the police. The reasons for the disappearances vary, but the goal is always to ensure that the missing are returned home to their loved ones. Normally, the job of finding the missing is handled by local or state police agencies, unless the person is high-profile. 

Over the past week, the news airwaves have been inundated with cyclical coverage of Nancy Guthrie. Who is Nancy Guthrie? You may ask. She is the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, a very popular media personality who has been on the airwaves for many years. I have watched her on a few occasions and have nothing good or bad to say about her. She was just on television. 

On the day her mother was reported missing, I thought about the many Facebook posts I had seen over the years about missing children and adults from New Jersey. I silently hoped they’d be returned home safely. However, I didn’t see any news coverage of their disappearances. This is unfair, but it is typical for those deemed disposable. 

Hundreds of children and adults go missing every day for a variety of reasons. But you will not see the FBI and other federal agencies trying to determine their whereabouts to the degree Mrs. Guthrie is currently receiving. The reward for Mrs. Guthrie was just doubled to $100k. Believe me, I want this elderly mother returned safe and sound, but I am pointing out the disparity when it comes to those of lesser means and/or status. You have to ask yourself whether this much attention would be paid to the poor, minority elderly woman. Truth be told, that would be a definite NO! A detective or two may be assigned to the case to follow up on the salient leads, but once those dry up, the case will be transferred to the pending files as new cases come in. In time, the case will likely end up in the cold-case files when the department is pressured for answers. 

It is frustrating to witness the separate-and-unequal society we live in, day after day. If pressed, law enforcement will deny my assertion, but the evidence has long been exposed. I just happened to visit the FBI’s “Kidnappings and Missing Persons” website to see if I could identify anyone I had seen in the news over the last year. On the first line of the page listing individuals, Mrs. Guthrie is listed, which was to be expected. Then I scrolled through the 124 other victims and had never heard of any of them. It confirmed my point that while the FBI was taking on other cases, it didn’t put similar resources into them. Mrs. Guthrie deserves to be found by any means necessary, but so should the other men, women, and children, some of whom have been missing since 2010. 

To be fair in my critique of law enforcement, I checked the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons List and scrolled through the victims to see if I had seen anything about them over the years. Again, nothing. On their page, the victims’ last-seen dates go back to 1962. 

While I know it is not easy to investigate a missing persons case, a more concerted effort should be made to involve everyone, with the same level of attention given to the Guthrie family. They know they are being given privileged treatment, but their hearts are heavy right now, and they are not thinking about it that way. I am. All missing lives matter.  

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