Have you ever received a notification on your phone? Someone’s missing or a kidnapping that occurred? It’s pretty crazy to think about it, that your name can pop up on thousands of phones in the area because someone noticed you were gone. But as we’ve evolved from Amber Alerts, there comes the new need for a better notification system. Something that can be titled aptly for the need of searching for missing Black young adolescents and adults… That alert system is known as “Ebony Alert” in the Senate Bill 673. And that’s been introduced by Senator Steven Bradford, whom is hoping the Ebony Alert system can assist local law enforcement with the support of California Highway Patrol.
It could be useful, honestly, as they make moves to locate missing individuals with various forms of missing-person advertisements. With a “be-on-the-lookout alert, an electronic flyer, or changeable message signs.”
Using the Ebony Alert is useful with the resources and attention available.
All to benefit Black families in a similar manner that can be used for whichever missing children or people in the area. Such a bill will be considerate as the Ebony Alert is issued, regardless if the disappearances in general occur between 15 and 25 years of age. This could also work well if there’s a mental or physical disabilities as well as if the physical safety could be endangered in of it’s own.
In the bill, it’s noted how black kids are usually wrongly titled as “runaways” much in stark contrast to white counterparts. In which case, there’s less communication less resources that would be used to find them.
After there’s people that are missing as a runaway, for a second time, there’s a lot less importance emphasized on the disappearances of runaways that no one is even sure are missing.
Just in the past year, Governor Gavin Newsom has made it known that the “Feather Alert” would also be implemented for the purposes of finding indigenous people as they’re reported missing.
Governor Newsom had been able to sign the Assembly Bill 1314 early on to create a system much like the Amber Alert, specifically for indigenous people having gone missing through “unexplained or suspicious circumstances. The Feather Alert has been in effect since January 1st.
There are hopes that these new alerts will be crucial and helpful for Good Samaritans. There’s all sorts of possibilities to be had when technology updates itself to help the authorities find missing people of every walk of life.
