OpEd: Honor Women’s Equality Day with Justice for Missing BIPOC Women

Of the more than 250,000 women and girls reported missing across the country in 2020, 40 percent were BIPOC.

On Aug. 26, New Yorkers will celebrate Women’s Equality Day, marking the anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote. This year, I urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to celebrate this important anniversary by signing legislation that will ensure a safe, secure, and healthy future for all women and girls.

Earlier this year, Assemblymember Karines Reyes and I fought hard to secure $750,000 in this year’s state budget to fund the NYS BIPOC Task Force (S4266A Webb/A5088A Reyes). Our legislation would create a nine-person state panel to address the epidemic of missing and murdered Black, Indigenous, and Women and Girls of Color and to make sure that when they go missing or are murdered, their cases are treated with the care and concern that they and their families deserve. Additionally, the NYS BIPOC Task Force would be charged with developing policies to increase community education and to identify hubs where abductions are more likely to occur.

A staggering number of women and girls go missing or are murdered every year in the United States. The statistics are disproportionately worse for the BIPOC community nationwide and here in New York. Of the more than 250,000 women and girls reported missing across the country in 2020, 40 percent were BIPOC, with Black women and girls making up 30 percent of those numbers, according to data from the National Crime Information Center. These statistics are even more concerning when you take into account that Black people comprise just 12 percent of the U.S. population.  According to the 2020 NYS Missing Persons Clearinghouse Annual Report, 59.8 percent of children reported missing were female and 29.2 percent of them were Black.

Compounding the proportional disparity in the number of disappearances impacting the BIPOC community is the fact that their cases receive far less media attention and resources. A recent study published in the Columbia Journalism Review examined thousands of news articles related to missing people and found that a missing white woman would be covered by more than 120 stories in the media. By contrast, a missing Latinx woman would garner an average of eight stories in the press. 

As a result, cases involving Black women and girls are not treated with the same sense of urgency, the community is less likely to be alerted by the media, and fewer resources are invested in their cases.  

By signing the BIPOC Task Force legislation, Governor Hochul could take important steps toward a safer New York for all women and girls, addressing this epidemic of missing and murdered women and girls. Several states have similar task forces in place, including Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico and Oregon.

We must not let missing and murdered women and girls of color and their families fall victim to systemic failures for which they are not responsible. By developing a task force on this crisis, New York state can take charge and acknowledge the work that must be done to bring justice for missing women and girls and girls of color.

Sen. Lea Webb chairs the state Senate’s Committee on Women’s Issues. She represents the 52nd Senate District, which includes Cortland County, Tompkins County, and part of Broome County.