(PM.) A new bill proposed in California would create an “Ebony Alert” system to specifically notifiy the public when black women and children go missing. While the state already has a missing persons alert system, this one would only be for black women and children.
The state currently has an Amber Alert for missing children, a Silver Alert for missing elderly persons, and a Feather Alert for missing indigenous persons. The Amber Alert system is not race-segregated like the Ebony Alert would be.
In a release on the race-based crime bill, state senator Steven Bradford said that the bill would “address the often ignored or lack of attention given to Black children and young Black women that are missing in California.”
His reasoning is that black children, which comprised 38 percent of those reported missing in the US, are often classified as runaways, meaning that their disappearance does not trigger the Amber Alert system.
The bill does not change the requirements for determining if a missing person is a runaway, but will encourage law enforcement to use the Ebony Alert “if that agency determines that it would be an effective tool in the investigation of a missing Black youth or young Black women between the ages of 12 – 25 years.”
It would also encourage media outlets to cover these disappearances.
Amber Alert’s are specifically for those who are known to have been abducted. It does not have a racial component, but Bradford’s take is that it is discriminatory and contains within it some kind of implicit bias.
“In order for an AMBER Alert to be activated, the following criteria must be met,” California’s Amber Alert system states, “Confirmation that an abduction has occurred or a child was taken by anyone, including, but not limited to, a custodial parent or guardian.
