Abducted? It helps to be a white woman.

[livinginphotographs]

"If you're missing, it helps to be young, white, and female."

<snip>
"Two bright, ambitious students at the main state university disappear in the same town, under similar circumstances. One of them becomes “an inescapable name and face,” in the words of The Greenville News. The other is largely forgotten. No one can say why with absolute certainty.

But there is one unavoidable difference between the two cases:

Dail Dinwiddie is a white woman. Shelton Sanders is a black man."
<snip>

more:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5325808/

[RobertSeattle]

1. No kidding

Last night Seattle Channel 5 10 o'clock news has one of those "urgent" 2 minute stories about a woman missing in Salt Lake City - thats 1000 miles away. And of course she's Caucasian and 5 weeks pregnant (don't know why that needed to added). Amazing.

[Heddi]

2. I said this during the "Summer of Kidnappings" a few years ago

And was called a RACIST by a very few (but vocal) people on this board (hard to be a racist against white people when I'm white, but I guess some people don't let logic get in the way of their fits and tantrums :shrug: )


I was, and still am, VERY distressed by the amount of National Coverage that is given to some (not all) missing people reports that you see on the news. 98% of the cases are local news. Laci Peterson, for example--100% local news that should have never ever seen the light of day on CNN. Same with Dru Sodjin (sp?). Totally 100% local news.

That's not to say that I think it's okay they were abducted, or killed, or anything. HARDLY the case. But what the fuck does someone in Florida know about a missing girl in Nebraska? THere are much more pressing issues that concern ALL Americans.

But newscasters know that if it Bleeds it Leads, and if the blood is from a Pretty, White, Affluent, Blonde, Woman, then it Leads even more.

Remember Elizabeth Smart (how could you not?) Nothing but the Smarts on CNN 24 fucking hours a day. I'm sure their pain was immense. I'm sure that they were terrified to have their daughter missing. But I found it odd that you never ever heard about any black children who were abducted. Or latino kids. Or MALE children. Or poor children. Or fat ugly kids with pock marks and a club foot. Nope. None of those people matter. Just the pretty blonde girls with award-winning smiles who come from affluent families. THOSE are the only kids that are kidnapped in the US apparently.

Same thing with Jessica Lynch and Soshanna Johnson (I know I totally butchered her name). Both were injured. One was a POW, one was made an "honorary POW" because it fit the agenda. ONly one was paraded around by the media and the military and the president as being MISS ALL AMERICA 2003! What about the black woman, who was injured more severely than Jessica was? What about her book deal? Her TV movie? Her Dateline NBC interviews? Her hero's welcome home?

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

I'm sure you could ask 100 people and they could either identify Jessica Lynch by photo or by name. I doubt that even 1/3 of them could match a face or a name to Ms. Johnson.

Same with Elizabeth Smart. We all know her name. What about the hundreds of thousands of other missing children. Where are their TV miniseries? Why aren't their families sitting on the couch with Oprah? Why doesn't CNN devote 24 hour-a-day coverage to THEIR abductions?

Racism. Classism. Sexism. "Non White Pretty Blonde Affluent Girl"ism Pure and simple.

[livinginphotographs]

4. Well said.

And if I'd have been here back then, I'd have been defending you.

[tom_paine]

9. I'd have been defending you, too. This is self-evident and obvious

All one has to do is ask yourself, "When is the last time I even SAW a front page story about someone missing other than a Pretty Young White Woman?"

You will have to think long and hard to find an answer, if you can even remember one.

[morgan2]

8. i disagree

i think it helps to be thought of as cute by the news media.

[livinginphotographs]

10. How is that disagreeing?

n/t

[Connie_Corleone]

3. It amazes me.

In the city I live in, women go missing and are found dead, but they don't end up being the lead story on CNN, MSNBC and FOXNEWS.

We had a case of a pregnant woman who went missing and a couple of days later, the husband admitted he beat her to death with a baseball bat and dumped her body near the expressway. I think it happened the same year as Laci Peterson.

[Solly Mack]

5. Remember "Girl X"? Most people don't

But I bet everyone remembers Jon Benet Ramsey...


"Girl X" was attacked on the same day the little Ramsey girl was murdered. "Girl X" was raped repeatedly, beaten, and choked. Gasoline was forced down her throat in hopes of forever keeping her from telling, should she survive.

One crime got national exposure and made the talk show circuits. One crime did not....until much much later.
One was white. One was black
One was rich. One lived at Cabrini Green.
One's a household name that sparks both sympathy and outrage. One is not.

It's typical of America to value one life over another based on race, money, and "social" standing. So very typical...and so very racists, bigoted, and chocked full of pretension and phoney ideas of what qualifies as a social standing. But ain't that America...for you and me?

[Romulus]

6. sorry, dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x700369

[livinginphotographs]

7. Damn!

My first thread on DU to be locked.....I should go out with a bang. ;)