A few hundred people marched in Chicago on Thursday in the “We Walk for Her” demonstration, a youth-led walk to demand justice for missing and murdered Black women and girls, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Brittany Lindsey, 12, walked for her mom’s childhood neighbors, sisters Diamond and Tionda Bradley, who went missing from their South Side apartment in 2001 at ages 10 and 3, respectively, and have still not been found. “I came out here to really just help out my community and like represent all the Black girls that went missing,” Brittany said. Despite making up about 12% of Cook County’s population, Black women and girls account for about 30% of Cook County’s active missing persons, according to the county sheriff’s office and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Leaders of the march called out double standards in police resources and media coverage of missing persons who are Black or members of other minority groups, when compared with those who are white. Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization leaders are lobbying city officials to add a citizen liaison between police officers and families whose loved ones are missing. Leaders also are calling on the state to implement a system similar to one enacted in California called the Ebony Alert that, comparable to the Amber Alert in abduction cases, notifies residents about the suspicious disappearance of a Black person between 12 and 25 years old who suffers from a mental or physical impairment.