In light of the Gabby Petito missing person case gaining national attention, people are criticizing the media’s lack of coverage of missing people of color all over the nation.
In the area where Petito was found, there have been over 700 missing Indigenous individuals over the past decade reported missing. Only a few of the cases ever caught the eye of the media; those that did usually were overly graphic compared to those of white women.
The lack of coverage over the cases of people of color is frustrating to many, especially since their cases are more likely to be mishandled by law enforcement than those of white missing people cases. Only 11% of white missing people stay missing longer than a month in Wyoming, according to the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Task Force.
In 2020 alone, there were 543,018 people reported missing, with nearly 40% of the group being made up of people of color. These cases of missing people of color are normally just swept under the rug due to stereotypes about them being runaways or involved in some sort of dangerous activity.
“Automatically, law enforcement assumes that these children, they’re runaways, these adults, that they are involved in some sort of criminal activity,” said Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation.
Wilson, a Spartanburg native, is currently working with the family of Daniel Robinson, who has been missing since June.
Robinson is a South Carolina native and geologist who was last seen in Buckeye, Arizona, while on his job site. The Buckeye Police Department has not gathered any evidence in their investigation into Robinson’s disappearance due to having their own theory about Robinson’s disappearance. For this reason, his father currently has a petition on Change.org to make his case a criminal investigation.
Robinson’s case is only one example of how law enforcement is more likely to mishandle a person of color’s missing person case, due to the stereotypes law enforcement agencies have about missing people of color.
Some Winthrop University students are not surprised by the lack of media attention people of color receive when it comes to missing person cases.
“I think that it’s very typical due to our society. The POC in this country almost never gets as much attention by the media until it’s too late. White women have always had a place in society where they are seen as a damsel in distress, whereas everyone else is left to fend for themselves,” said Ari’Elle Scott, senior political science major.
The statistic for media coverage of missing Black women and other women of color compared to those of white women is unsettling, to say the least, Scott said.
“If you go and look at the unsolved missing Black women in this country, it is astronomical. But no one is talking about that. I just don’t think it’s surprising, but it definitely is sad,” Scott said.
