Missing white woman syndrome

600,000 people go missing each year, and 4,400 corpses are found. Everyone in the world is impacted by the problem of disappearance. When someone contacts law enforcement after becoming concerned for someone's safety, the search for that person's whereabouts will begin. When each hour passes and there is a lower chance that the individual will be located, investigators begin to race against the time. An inquiry into a missing individual is most crucial within the first 72 hours because,  There are eyewitnesses, data, places, evidence,  locations, background details, etc. in the hunt for the missing individual. The first 48 hours are also crucial because it gives detectives time to pursue leads before witnesses begin to forget or evidence begins to fade. Forced disappearances have an impact on the people who are involved, their families, and the society at large. Families of the missing, face a range of challenges that can be stressful. In addition to worrying for the future of their loved ones, they usually have to cope with financial, societal, legal, and psychological challenges. Sometimes, without the aid of media and public knowledge, the mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters of missing people have been seeking for them for over 20 years.

However, week after week, we frequently hear the same stories about the same people—usually young, white women from affluent backgrounds. According to Wikipedia, this phenomenon is referred to as Missing White Woman Syndrome, or MWWS, and is described as "a form of media hype in which excessive news coverage is devoted to a specific missing or murdered white women and girls, while essentially ignoring missing men, non-white women, or other media articles." reporting on these stories often lasts for several days or weeks, sometimes even months, and displaces reporting on other current events that some people consider to be more newsworthy, such as economics and politics. This can be seen in the case of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old woman whose disappearance has drawn national attention despite the fact that many other people are missing, for example, according to The Milwaukee Journal 3-year-old Major Harris, who was abducted and later found dead; says, “Major had been missing for a week, ever since his mother, Mallery Muenzenberger, 25, was found shot to death in the backyard of a Milwaukee home Oct. 14.”

The missing white woman syndrome is caused by the prevalent white supremacist ideology. In other words, news articles are frequently published inside a white racial framing that reinforces the sense of white superiority. As a result, we glorify the disappearance of a white person while people of color are othered, marginalized, and symbolically annihilated. SO NOBODY GETS OFFENDED: This is not to suggest that these incidents are not newsworthy; rather, comparable cases involving Black, Latino, and Indigenous men and women are missed or do not receive the same level of attention. Everyone should be talked about.

Some may claim that this syndrome does not exist since these women come from affluent households with greater access to resources such as private investigators, news stories, publications, and more influence with local authorities. However, it is clear that "racist intersects with classism," According to The Berkeley Journal. The intersection between race and class is complex and specific. "Discussing class without considering race is like watching a bird fly without looking up at the sky: it's possible, but it's insufficient, since it ignores the bigger context." This means that if a Hispanic woman lives in a working-class area, her case is more likely to fail because she lacks access to news stations, private detectives, and newspaper editors. I don't know about you, but this seems absurd; everyone should have the same level of coverage and success rate.

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couple of solutions

One option might be to first publish the tales of other victims. Social justice campaigns like "Our Black Girls" and "No More Stolen Sisters" demonstrate how oppressed communities must unite around their vulnerable members and commit entire movements in order to garner the same degree of public and legal attention as young white ladies like Gabby Petito.

Another option might be to show greater understanding which is especially important within news outlets, which are generally responsible for assessing the newsworthiness of a topic. To guarantee that the victims featured are an appropriate depiction of the general demographics of such instances, media corporations must be meticulous in their editorial selections concerning missing people stories.

In conclusion, Missing White Women Syndrome is a form of privilege that everyone should be able to have. When it comes to missing people, everyone should be advocated for equally in news, magazines and communities; And allow this syndrome to be abolished so, that we can bring the people we love home

#equalityfortragedy

#freedomofthepress

Gabby Petito does not deserve less, but her [referencing Jelani Day] son and others like him deserve more." - Heather Hansman of Deseret News

Jelani Day, * * * Major Harris * * * Markie Shea Williams,

Alexis Patterson * * * Bibaa Henry * * * Nicole Smallman

Stephany Flores * * * Latoyia Figueroa * * * Sterling Prinze Redstar

* * * Lauren Cho * * * Richard Okorogheye * * * Hayad Ahmed,

today follow up on a case that you haven't heard of.