You’re right.
#raceshouldntmatter .
But those who’ve made sure that it does…
know that the #amberalert system defacto labels black & bipoc kids as runaways immediately due to protocols that system has outright Refused to change for years.
Which means the meager instances of black & bipoc missing kids being seen as worthy of Amber alerts Was & is by design.
What instead often seeps into the media cycle has been gaslit coverage of the Fight of black families For coverage, as trauma voyeurism.
They can call this bill the #ebonyalert pejoratively all they want.
The actual liberal AND conservative racist pushback is against seeing abducted black kids with the same lens as abducted white kids.
It is a push against learned& practiced talking points that have been ingrained in the dilettantes of the social work system for four decades+.
That’s why the quiet part is being angrily said aloud now:
“People who don’t care will just ignore the alerts because they’re black!”
“Cops can decide to not pay attn to them because You’ve factored in color ! “
Yeah.
The current system helps them to do that already, unofficially.
But now those people who can … have to do it-Ignore the alert the original System protected them from Ever having to deal with- Consciously.
& shout-out for picking the blacface bots & cowards in cyberblackface for their coverage of the supposed outrage, as well as uninformed black people who haven’t grasped why seeing a black kid on an amber alert’ is so rare… There’s one dog whistle for all breeds of dog.
The system no longer giving racists the psychological padding to practice their racist apathy passively/fake-unconsciously means they’d have to look themselves in the eye with no chaser after turning away, unable to call why they turned away anything but what it is spiritually.
It leaves them to grapple in their own homes with the actual scum they’re Consciously being, unable to hide Behind a coddling loophole their parents had to not even know a black kid was kidnapped.
It means the heavy lifting they need to do At home would not show up publicly…timed to the crisis…to impede a little black or brown kid safely making it home.
Look at them…
They’re making a system to bring kidnapped kids of color home…
about Their titular discomfort. But that discomfort is also over the AUDACITY of the black community having Made this move that overrides their already systemic, categorically indifferent moves from the beginning when it comes to children of color.
Black & bipoc people not wrestling with the systemic forced victimization of our kids For public spectacle…
Not fighting to entertain them with our heartache over someone violating kids within our communities…
And recognizing that unfortunately black & brown kids tend to mean nothing to these “outraged people” sans the elements of ignorance, oversexualization, scapegoating, victimization or entertainment…
Is Terrifying to those used to being centered at all times and costs, even in the midst of a child’s potential trauma.
Us going “what’s the real issue at hand?”
& doing something to protect our kids & galvanize All Interested Communities To see these kids as worthy of return…
is HUGE…proactive & anarchistic…to some.
an·ar·chy
/ˈanərkē/noun1.a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority or other controlling systems.2.
.the organization of society on the basis of voluntary cooperation, without political institutions or hierarchical government; anarchism.
Black people finally saying Fuck you to the system that has said fuck you regarding concerns for their children …and then turning around and using That same system to meet its needs legally, alongside the segment of the system that found them unworthy is…gorgeous.
It overturns a game of dehumanization that’s been run for ages.
& to THOSE WHO SAY “fine!…JUST FIX THE AMBER ALERT SYSTEM”?
Look into the pushback from the purveyors of that system when it comes to anyone speaking out against it.
Julia Kearney goes in-depth on the various attempts prior to this one that have tried to address the AMBER alert failings.
https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/first-year-writing/writing-contest/journal/julia-kearney/
&yes, once again, the power to decide if a black human being is worthy of attention in a life or death situation has been unequivocally placed in the hands of police departments, who have consistently shown their inability to see humanity in black & brown people across the board, especially when it comes to children of color.
In the case of Chrystul Kizer https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/crime-courts/chrystul-kizer-charged-with-2018-homicide-back-in-kenosha-county-court-for-hearing/article_b918d54a-5d4d-11ee-990d-5b6f7e7afda9.html
Those who volunteered to serve & protect knew they’d released a predator who targeted 9 to 13 year old black girls back into their community…& turned around and presented this teenaged violinist as a monster for killing her abuser/trafficker , then tried to throw the book at her.
Those…”blue” folks classifying 9 to 13 yr old raped girls as willing on autopilot happened because even in a situation with an obviously monstrous white man, his humanity was held in their hearts as identifiably higher than the scores of kids that man raped, prostituted & pornographied for others who looked like him.
I bring that up now to underscore that the cops not taking black kids being victimized or going missing as important is already part and parcel to the job. And as is often the case these days…therein lies the true root of today’s choreographed outrage.Or, therein lies the rub, as they say.
….Things(already being )done in the dark are coming to light.
& in the light…you don’t have to fight the dark. Just be the light.
Getting all kids home= what matters.
You can’t get all kids home until you unmask what is systemically & pointedly an impediment To ‘ALL KIDS GETTING HOME.