Missing...Now Murdered Black Woman Syndrome

Professor Tracey, WAOD contributer

A suspect has been arrested and is being held pending charges of first degree murder in relation to the death of formerly missing person, Ms. Nailah Franklin. The alleged suspect in her murder is a former boyfriend. Considering Ms. Franklin's case with the murder of Mississippi State University student Latasha Norman, whose ex-boyfriend has also been charged with her murder, an extremely disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge.

Not only have both these cases reached a tragic conclusion, but were initially ignored by the mainstream media when the women first went missing, but have only received scant coverage since they have moved from being missing persons to murder victims. Even more disturbing is the fact that these women had their lives taken by individuals that they had been intimately involved with; men with histories of physical violence and verbal threats against them and other women.

These cases not only represent an enormous tragedy for these women and their families, but for the entire black community as well. Not only have two vibrant and young lives been extinguished, but two young black men are facing spending the rest of their lives behind bars. It is not that I do not believe that these men do not deserve the punishments they are facing, but in the larger scope of things, these cases represent losses that black people as a social group in American society cannot afford. The cycle of violence within the black community must cease immediately as well as the unforgivable indifference of the mainstream media and political leadership to our plight.

And by the way......Stepha Henry is still missing.