CALIFORNIA INTRODUCES EBONY ALERT LAW FOR MISSING BLACK WOMEN AND CHILDREN

National Review

 

California Introduces ‘Ebony Alerts’ for Missing Black Women and Children

By ABIGAIL ANTHONY

October 11, 2023 8:06 AM

 

California’s new “Ebony Alert” law creates a notification, like an AMBER Alert, to recognize missing Black women and children ages 12-25.

 

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 673 into law this week, which allows law enforcement to issue an Ebony Alert and the Department of the California Highway Patrol to update electronic highway signs. Media platforms, like radio and television, are encouraged but not required to participate in Ebony Alerts.

 

“Today, California is taking bold and needed action to locate missing Black children and Black women in California. I want to thank the Governor for signing the Ebony Alert into law,” said Democrat Senator Steven Bradford, who authored the bill. “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. The Ebony Alert can change this.”

 

According to the bill, the Ebony Alerts are “designed to issue and coordinate alerts with respect to Black youth, including young women and girls, who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, or cognitively impaired, or who have been abducted.”

 

There are strict criteria for a missing child to qualify for an AMBER Alert message broadcast; if not met, the child is often labeled as a “runaway.”

 

“Black missing children are disproportionately classified as ‘runaways’ in comparison to their white counterparts and do not receive the AMBER Alert, which ultimately means that fewer resources are allotted to safe return of Black children,” the bill states. The law will come into effect on January 1.

 

California also issues “Blue Alerts” for a violent attack on a law enforcement officer, “Feather Alerts” for a missing indigenous person, and “Silver Alerts” for a missing person who is elderly, developmentally, or cognitively-impaired.