5-Year-Old Black Girl Disappears and No One Cares

[DainBramaged]

There are several striking similarities between the disappearances of 10-month-old baby Lisa Irwin and 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley. Both children are girls, both were last seen in their homes. Lisa has been missing for over a week, Jhessye has been missing for nearly a week. Police investigating both cases have been challenged by strings of dead-end tips and a lack of evidence in general. The mothers of both Lisa and Jhessye have made tearful televised pleas for their children's safe return.

Right about now you may be wondering why you haven't heard more about Jhessye Shockley, or maybe even why you haven't heard of her at all, when Lisa Irwin's story has been plastered all over the news.

The fact of the matter is, you probably haven't heard much about Jhessye Shockley because of the one striking difference between her and Lisa Irwin:

Lisa Irwin is white. Jhessye Shockley is black.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/127539/5yearold_black_girl_disappears_and?utm_medium=sem2&utm_campaign=outbrain&utm_source=outbrain&utm_content=outbrain


Jhessye's three siblings are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, while Lisa Irwin's two brothers are at home, being sheltered from the press.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Extremely sad. nt

[laundry_queen]

2. This case was on CNN headline news on Friday

It's a horrible case. In this one I'm convinced it was the mother. She has spent time in jail for child abuse. Even her mom and sister weren't saying for sure they think the mother is innocent.

I don't think it's just a racism thing though, I think abducted babies get more attention than abducted school-aged children. For instance, there is always the possibility a 5 year old wandered away and got lost (as her mother asserts). A baby doesn't just wander out of the home, KWIM? I think that's more the fascination. But yeah, in general, they pay far less attention to cases involving black children, sadly.

[HipChick]

4. Sadly have to dis-agree...There was the missing woman from Malibu

Who happened to be black...her case was hardly mentioned. The media does seem to under-report

[laundry_queen]

10. I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with

I said that in general, yes the media under-reports on missing black children. I'm just not sure if you can make an equivalency in this case with an infant and a school-age child. In general, yes, the missing blond 20 year old will get precedence over the missing black 20 year old in the media. It's disgusting. So I'm in agreement with you.

[JoeyT]

11. There's a reason it's called missing white woman syndrome.

Adult white women (As long as they're sufficiently photogenic) that go missing can sometimes stay in the news for weeks or months, even when they went missing in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalee_Holloway">another country entirely, so keeping them on the news doesn't even raise the possibility of finding them somewhere. Black women, no matter how pretty, do not.

The same standard is applied no matter what the age is.

[seabeyond]

3. we didnt learn much about Jhessye in that story either. 5 days, as opposed to how many

with lisa's mom. we learned an awful lot about the mom, family, ect... over time. this sounds like the cops are doing their job. it sounds like this is getting on the news. sounds like help is being asked for. there are other differences between the two cases, writer ignores to support conclusion

but since i have so little info, i cant really conclude much

[Firebrand Gary]

5. I hate this. When are we going to stop with the bias in this supposed "equal" country.

We must change our media..

[JustAnotherGen]

6. CNN covered

Saturday, October 22nd. I was watching it at the time . . . the talking head on Saturday morning also highlighted an organization that brings to the forefront missing minority children. After that - nothing else. :-(

[HopeHoops]

7. Where's FOX with the 24x7 live coverage from Aruba?

Sadly, this is just another case of not-so-subtle racism showing through.

[Tsiyu]

8. It's pretty sick

how the media only care about lost Caucasians.

But the Media are the 1%, never forget.


Hope they find both children, even if the media only care about one of them.

[ChazII]

9. Luckily (?) because I live in Phx

we hear and see more about Jhessy Shocley. In Glendale, the community is coming together to help find her. Fliers are posted as well as being handed out by volunteer searchers.