Important work that confirms and reinforces the listening exercise Grace Gayle (she/her) conducted last year.
Perception isn't the same as reality - research by Missing People in 2021 found Black missing people are actually more likely to receive press releases (22% of press releases compared to 14% of missing person cases) - but perception leads to very real differences in behaviour, and lack of trust is putting people at unnecessary risk.
Its good to see investment in this topic - very detailed work by Karen Shalev (BSc, MSc, PhD) et al. on race and missing person risk assessments currently under way.
It's complex, nuanced, painstaking work that will likely take a long time to fully understand and we are only going to reach that understanding with continued investment. Like with the above 22%/14% statistic: indications are that Black people tend to be missing for longer and you don't put out a press release for someone who's only gone a couple of hours, so of course a higher proportion of Black missing people are subject of press releases. The baseline characteristics are very different (eg, a much lower proportion of Black missing people are female, and female mispers tend to be graded as higher risk; Black people are more likely to live in urban areas [one in 10 white people live in the countryside compared to 1 in 100 Black people] and in police forces that are less likely than the national average to grade any missing person as high risk) so the overly simplistic presentation of race statistics by the national press is grossly misleading. Trust me on this one: this is not an area we are going to crack without sustained investment and the involvement of dedicated specialists.
Important takeaway from page 41: "Professionals working with Black children... need to be cognisant of these experiences and the impact that racism may have had on people's perception of support, their ability to advocate, and the levels of risk".
Also nice to see that my responses to the survey have been quoted! Grace Gayle (she/her), can you spot my writing style (or recognise my rants)?
Today we have published groundbreaking research into the experience of missing Black children and their families. Listen Up and Missing People UK worked in partnership to explore an overlooked and unaddressed issue.
https://lnkd.in/eKAd3Bqu
Account Manager at Projection, inc
2moThank you for letting Projection work with you on the 115th #NAACPConvention. The energy and importance of this meeting was infectious.