Phylicia Simone Barnes: Baltimore PD Says Race May Have Been a Factor in Media Coverage of Missing Teen
From Black Voices — As soon as they were called in on the missing persons case of Phylicia Simone Barnes, Baltimore Police knew something was gravely wrong.
A gifted student from North Carolina who was visiting family in Baltimore over the holidays, Barnes was scheduled to graduate early from high school. She did not have a history of running away or being a troubled child.
“Based on the timeline and background we were pretty certain she did not run away and we expected foul play almost immediately,” Baltimore Police spokespersonAnthony Guglielmi told Aol. BlackVoices in an interview.
Police thought that Barnes might have been abducted and taken out of the state ofMaryland. The now-17-year-old was reported missing on December 28. They wanted to get her face on as many televisions and billboards across the country as quickly possible.
“In the event someone picked her up in van and drove outside of Baltimore no one knows she’s missing unless we get the word out. If they drove her to Conneticut, no one knows she is missing,” said Guglielmi.
That’s when police reached out to the national media for attention. The response was less than enthusiastic.
“I noticed the reaction from national media was a bit anemic. It was very frustrating to turn on cable news channels and see the big story of the day was birds dropping out of the sky in Arkansas and dead fish. Meanwhile Phylicia is missing and could be in danger. I just wanted them to flash her face out there for a few minutes,” said Guglielmi.
The reason soon became clear to Guglielmi when he thought about other missing persons cases such as that of Natalee Holloway, a white girl who went missing in Aruba in 2005.
“I didn’t feel Phylicia’s case was being treated the same way as Natalee Holloway. Phylicia is a wholesome, good student. She’s not in a gang and not into drugs. She is a beautiful young lady who graduated high school early and is going to college,” said Gugliemli. “The only difference between Phylicia Barnes and Natalee Holoway is that Phylicia went missing in Baltimore and is African-American.”
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This is nothing new or shocking. It’s business as usual in Amerikkka. I’ve noticed this decades ago. Here it is 15 years later and I’m still hearing about JonBenét Ramsey. Of course most white people will find every other excuse in the book to explain this away, except for the obvious…..racism. We see it every day. In our society black life just doesn’t have the same value as white life. To prove this, all you have to do is look at capital punishment. I’ve personally done tons of research on this topic using the government’s own statistics. The largest factor in determining who gets sentenced to death is THE RACE OF THE VICTIM. The race, age, gender and socioeconomic status of the accused are also factors. But the race of the victim is the largest factor in determining whether or not the DA will seek the death penalty. District Attorney’s are elected public officials. To secure their livelihood by ensuring reelection they must appease the public (voters). Who makes up the majority of the public? Other white people. Therefore, when a white person is murdered they demand the ultimate punishment…..death. If you want to commit suicide, just murder a wealthy, white female. A spot on death row will quickly be reserved for you. God forbid she’s blond too. A lynch mob might get to you before the lethal injection is prepared.
Prayers are going up continually for Phyllicia and we have faith that she will be found. Any evil directed towards this beautiful little girl is bound on earth; and because it has been bound on earth it shall also be bound in Heaven. Lord, bring her back to her parents in Jesus’ name. Amen
We love you Phyllicia — God loves you even more!!
Sad but soooo true. Not saying its right but whites control the media so of course they are going look out for their own over others. Its human nature to protect those that look like you. I would hope that if blacks controlled the media other blacks would be their first priority. The only way to change the bias in the media is for us to own and operate our own networks. We can’t wait for whites to see us as equals because they never will. I really hope this girl is found safely. I hope that the police are diligent in finding her despite the lack of media attention
I didn’t even hear or see this news about Phylicia, my gosh what is going on in this world and why hasn’t it been on constant replay in the news?
“I didn’t even hear or see this news about Phylicia, my gosh what is going on in this world and why hasn’t it been on constant replay in the news?”
My point exactly!
What do all of these names have in common?
Chandra Levy
Polly Klaas
Elizabeth Smart
Laci Peterson
Natalee Holloway
They are all missing persons cases that have garnished so much national attention that the victims have become household names. Now, there is even a term for this phenomenon. It’s called Missing White Woman Syndrome (MWWS). If you don’t believe me, look it up on Wikipedia.
An excerpt from the Wikipedia page:
“While the disappearance of Laci Peterson became a huge news story, a pregnant black woman named LaToyia Figueroa disappeared from Philadelphia at around the same time and attracted no national attention, despite efforts by her family to enlist the media to help find her. (Figueroa was later found murdered.) Some observers also saw contrasts between the attention received by Peterson and Evelyn Hernandez who was nine months pregnant when she disappeared in 2002.”
Evelyn Hernandez disappeared along with her 5 year old son. She was also pregnant (8 months) at the time she went missing. Her torso was later found floating in the San Francisco Bay. Her full term baby and her 5 year old son have never been found. Bet you didn’t hear that plastered all over the news for months like the Laci Peterson case.
My point is this. I’m not saying that cases of missing white women shouldn’t get the attention that they do. To the contrary. What I’m saying is that cases of missing women of color should get “equal” coverage. We don’t love our sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, cousins and nieces any less than our white counterparts.
Black life has for the most part had little to no value unless that’s person is well-known and/or important to the white community. Anyone that’s missing no matter their skin color need immediate attention. This reminds me of people of blinded conscience, who make the distinction that foreign women and children, who are human trafficked are in a different category than those here in the US. Human trafficking is human trafficking period!
I hope this beautiful young woman is found and since the media doesn’t see us humans we have to be the ones to make noise about this young woman’s plight and many others. Also the saddest reality is the perpetrators, who are doing this know women of color will receive little to no attention when missing.
It’s concrete state of being, thinking, existing,ect…the black woman has no value to america..never has and never will. The darker the skin tone the more obsolete she becomes…just take a listen to hip-hop music, Rap star Lil wayne, lyrically insults dark skin woman in particular in the song “right above it, with no concern to the consequences of his remarkes. How do black americans expect white media, corperate american or anyone else to care for us when we as blacks don’t even care for each other….it’s sick and sad. we see each other as redbones, yellow a$$,
black bitches, all the while white america’s definitions of (all) blacks is the same and will never change even if the dictionary does and even if the presidents get’s tan. Until, blacks look @ each other with a real purpose other than how big an ass is or wallet. Until, we can invest the kind of trust and respect in each other that other races do. We Will always be at the bottom of the barrel with the mexicans on top, though I don’t feel like anyone should be on the bottom: what is held high is always meant to reflect (light) never never to absorb it. u kno about color? cuz I do and I’m expert!
Clutch you are surprisingly late… I read an article like this already like last week!
How can we be mad at “Amerikkka” when Black Americans don’t care ourselves?
It should be common knowledge in our community by now that the American media doesn’t care about us EVEN when we are rich and famous. Even then the media will cover our missing persons story with a sense of compassion-less sympathy, a “he/she deserved it” and ‘guilty til proven innocent’ attitude.
Now what are WE going to do now that we know this? What responsibility is it of OURS to set up a system where Black people can be aware of the missing children in our community?
I know there is the website http://www.blackandmissinginc.com/ but this is not enough. What now?
@S. Ditto.
Some of the “responsibility” has to be shared by minority controlled media as well. BET, TVOne, Tavis Smiley, The Big “O”, radio DJs across the country, and minority operated blogs/websites/magazines. If these media outlets do not hold this as important how can others be expected to or why are others being asked to be accountable?—-stop the total dependence on other media outlets.
Solutions for us will have to start with us! Let this be our 2011 motto! We can empower ourselves.
This whole thing just hurts my heart. When did it become a matter of color when dealing with a life? Is my life of less value because of my skin tone? Really?! Who made this ok? My questions are ridicluous because it really shouldn’t be the case, yet facts says it is. The human race disturbs me.
I heard about this case on Tumblr. NEVER have I seen it on local/national television. Hella sad because everyone’s Life is valuable, but we all know the cards are decked against us. Sometimes we have to do the grassroots level & fight to get it addressed on a national level. Always fighting, unfortunately :/
Just to let everyone know… Nancy Grace is covering the story and I saw this story on Jane Velez-Mitchell first
CNN also covered this story. The mother was being interviewed.
One soultion: Place a missing ad(picture) on this website and stop waiting for others to take action. SOS..save our selves!
It’s sad but unfortunately this is not uncommon. We all know that missing minorites get less attention in the mainstream media. I agree with everyone else. Black media (like this site and others) needs to step up and starting airing our own missing person cases. We cannot wait for the mainstream media to take notice…
Post it on your facebook, myspace, share her story with all your friends, they will share it and get the word out about her!
MAY have been a factor??? What country is this? Of course it’s a factor.
@SoulfulOne I agree.
We have to take care of each other, please stop expecting white amerikkka to do so. They won’t. We are our power and our voice.