The Massachusetts State House could reportedly pass legislation to protect Black women and girls, according to a new report.
Reported by NBC, a new proposal creating an Ebony Alert is currently being circulated on Beacon Hill. Known as Massachusetts House Bill 3913, the proposed system would create an Ebony Alert system that lets people know when Black women and girls go missing.
Set for a reporting due date of April 8 and also sent to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, the bill would also generate a comprehensive report on the data of missing persons and homicide cases involving Black women and girls.
The Ebony Alert was previously signed into effect by California in October. Months after its introduction in April, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would become the first state to adopt the bill.
Already effective since the start of the year, the Ebony Alert is activated if someone ranging from the years 12 to 15 or has a disability went missing. It’s also put into effect if they went missing under “suspicious circumstances” or are considered to be in unsafe conditions.
The alert is then received by radios, TVs, electronic highway signs and other tech systems.
Nonprofit My Life My Choice has been a prominent and vocal advocate for the bill’s similar implementation in Massachusetts particularly because a lack of focus is put on Black women and girls when they go missing as opposed to white women.
“If a youth is from an upper middle-class white family, a lot of times they have access to the media,” said co-executive director of the nonprofit, Audrey Morrissey, per NBC. “They can get the word out when their person goes missing. What I do know about Black and brown people is a lot of times they don’t have that access.”
The inadequate coverage of missing Black women comes amidst reports that they are most likely to go missing.
According to a report of missing person statistics by the F.B.I., although they make up seven percent of the population, in 2022, 18% of missing persons were Black women.
Overall, 546,000 people were missing in the U.S. of which approximately half were identified as women. Out of these 271,000 women, nearly 98,000 Black women were reported as missing.
To help combat the lack of attention to these women, nonprofits such as Black and Missing, From The Bottom Up Foundation and the Girls Like Me Project help draw attention to the missing Black women whose stories are often left untold.
