Although African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, we account for 33 percent of the missing in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s database. Cases involving African Americans also tend to receive less media coverage than missing Whites, with missing men of color getting even less attention.
NewsOne has partnered with the Black and Missing Foundation and TV One to focus on the crisis of missing African Americans.
To be a part of the solution, NewsOne will profile a missing person weekly and provide tips about how to keep your loved ones safe and what to do if someone goes missing, while TV One‘s newest show, “Find Our Missing,” hosted by award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson, tells these stories in visual form.
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The second season of TV One’s Find Our Missing with Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkeson kicks off at 9/8C tonight. The hour-long show profiles missing African-Americans who often go under the radar of mainstream media. By providing in-depth details of two cases per show, the program hopes to spark the memories of viewers to help solve missing persons cases and bring closure to families.
“Find Our Missing” aims to help bring more missing persons home or provide much needed closure for families,” said Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation which partners with NewsOne and TV One.
“At a time when there has been an increase in the number of persons of color who have simply vanished from our communities, the series, in conjunction with Black and Missing Foundation, Inc, will continue to be instrumental in getting the message out as broadly as possible to help find “our missing.””
African-Americans account for more than a third of the missing persons in the FBI’s database but make up just 13 percent of the country’s population.
“Missing persons of color such as Stevie Bates, Bianca Green, Athena Curry, and Larry Stackhouse, Jr. are often uninteresting to major networks and their stories are rarely told. We are excited that season two of “Find our Missing” will provide extra visibility to help bring more missing persons home or provide much needed closure for families,” added Black and Missing Foundation president and co-founder Derrica Wilson.
This season, the show will profile or update cases on missing individuals such as Phoenix Coldon, a 23-year-old college student who was last seen backing out of her parent’s driveway. The keys were found in her car and the car was still running. It wasn’t until Coldon went missing that her parents discovered things about their daughter that they didn’t know. Her parents told NewsOne recently that there were hopeful developments in the case.
This season will also delve into the tale of Terrance Deon Williams, who disappeared in 2004 at the age of 27 from Naples, Florida. Williams was last seen with a local sheriff’s deputy. His case has drawn the attention of filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry. A full season two list of Find Our Missing episodes can be found here.
“We hope that these profiles will compel someone with information to come forward and help these families. We can all play a part– big or small– in addressing this issue,” said Natalie Wilson.
