By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
On July 30, the California Highway Patrol, acting on information from the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, issued an Ebony Alert for 14-year-old Kamara Green. But Green’s mother and community advocates want to know what took so long — the teen has been missing since May 13, more than 75 days before the alert went out.
In January, California’s Ebony Alert emergency system was created to help locate young Black people who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Ebony Alerts can be issued for Black boys and girls aged 12 to 17 and young Black women aged 18 to 25.
“Our Black children and young women are disproportionately represented on the lists of missing persons. This is heartbreaking and painful for so many families and a public crisis for our entire state,” Sen. Steven Bradford said in a press release after the bill was signed into law. “The Ebony Alert can change this.”
California is the first state in the nation to enact such an alert for missing Black people. It is modeled after other missing person alerts such as Amber Alerts, Feather Alerts (for missing indigenous people) and Silver Alerts (for missing senior citizens). The law was created in response to concerns that Black missing people receive less media coverage, public attention and law enforcement resources than missing white people.
According to the Black and Missing Foundation, 38% of children reported missing in the United States are Black. Blacks account for about 13% of the U.S. population. Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to white children who are classified as “missing.” As a result, many Black children do not receive the Amber Alert or media attention highlighting that they are missing.
Black women and girls are at increased risk of being harmed and trafficked. According to a recent report on human trafficking by Rights4Girls, 40% of sex trafficking victims nationwide were identified as Black women.
Since the law was enacted, only one Ebony Alert has been requested by either the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department or the Sacramento Police Department — despite their own reports of several young Black people having gone missing this year. Sheriff’s spokesperson Amar Gandhi told The OBSERVER that Green initially didn’t meet criteria to be deemed at risk.
The sheriff’s office later requested that CHP issue an alert because of how long Green has been missing.
CHP is responsible for issuing the Emergency Alert System but it requires local law enforcement agencies to make a request before CHP makes the determination to issue an alert.
Some in the Black community have expressed their concern that Ebony Alerts are left to the discretion of local law enforcement agencies to determine if a person’s disappearance “meets the criteria” to be forwarded to the CHP. They cite that law enforcement officials have implied that Black children more often tend to leave on their own volition — such as being runaways or with their friends — instead of being abducted.
Berry Accius, community advocate and founder of Voice of the Youth, says he doesn’t understand why it takes so long for Ebony Alerts to be issued.
“When you have a 14-year-old Black girl who was supposed to be at school, I think there should be a sense of urgency because we’ve watched this play out numerous times in a negative way,” Accius said.
Kayla Green, Kamara’s mother, doesn’t feel the sheriff’s office has put in enough effort to find her daughter. “I don’t know what they’re doing,” she said.
Thirteen-year-old Sophia Barajas was missing from June 23 until she was returned home under odd circumstances Aug. 1. The sheriff’s office never released an Ebony Alert, claiming Sophia didn’t meet the criteria.
Alexis Barajas, her cousin, said Sophia was dropped off by an unknown person after her family and local advocate Leia Schenk had been out looking for her.
“Our family had been driving up and down Watt [Avenue] and suspect the sex workers in that area put pressure on whoever she was with to send her home,” Barajas told The OBSERVER.
Schenk, founder of EMPACT and Project Take, has worked for years fighting against minors being trafficked. She and Barajas were told by the sheriff’s office that an alert wasn’t issued because Sophia was deemed a runaway. However, the law was created to help find missing Black minors and young women, including runaways.
Schenk said she tried to help the sheriff’s office locate Sophia, but it claimed not to have the resources to find her.
Schenk said she received information from sources on the street that Sophia had been seen being trafficked in Vallejo and San Jose, where she was arrested but every time she told Sacramento deputies, they showed indifference or lack of concern.
“This is the work that nobody wants to do,” Schenk told The OBSERVER. “Every day that a girl is missing is another day she is being trafficked and using drugs.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Bradford, the author of the law, said the Ebony Alert was created to help all missing Black children and young women.
“One of the reasons Sen. Bradford created the legislation was because often missing people would be listed as runaways and that would not allow them to not have the same level of resources to try to find them,” the spokesperson said.
According to CHP, 26 alerts throughout the state have been issued and all but three of the missing people have been found.
As of presstime, CHP has two active Ebony Alerts, one for 19-year-old Gabrielle Walker on behalf of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and one for Kamara Green.
For an Ebony Alert to be activated, a law enforcement agency may consider the following criteria:
- The missing person is between ages 12-25.
- The missing person suffers from a mental or physical disability.
- The person is missing under circumstances that indicate their physical safety may be endangered.
- The missing person may be subject to trafficking.
- The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.
Bradford’s spokesperson said not all the criteria need to be met for an Ebony Alert to be issued.