Egyptian Gumbo

I’m sure just by reading the title of the post, you know exactly what this is. It’s something we all notice but no one ever talks about. A white woman goes missing, it’s national news. A black woman goes missing, it’s not even local news. And upon looking further into this you’ll realize that the news media isn’t a medium aimed to spread real, important news but rather, it’s a medium for reporting entertainment stories. And If you want to know what Dave Chappelle has to say about this subject, keep reading.

Shelton Sanders, a magistrate’s son who worked at the University of South Carolina medical school, was on track for his degree when he disappeared in June 2001. To date, no metropolitan newspaper outside his hometown has written an article about him.

Missing persons is big news. So let’s say (la qaddar Allah) that you get kidnapped and no one knows of your whereabouts. And while you are distressed no one knows where you are, you have a little hope that the media will report that you are missing and they will find you in no time! But wait, before you get excited I have a checklist for you. If you meet all of these conditions then you can be certain your story will be all over the news:

1. You have to be a woman

2. You have to be white, (sorry Latinas)

3. It will help a lot if you are either pregnant or a child

4. You have to be beautiful

5.You have to be under 35 years old

6. You have to be of middle or high-class status in society (poor people, you’re out)

If you don’t meet these conditions then consider yourself forgotten.

So why is this interesting to viewers? After all, these stories are reported more for entertainment purposes and human interest stories, rather than to actually help the person get found (this is a secondary purpose). The reason it’s interesting is because it appeals to the whole “damsel in distress” story.

You’ve probably heard of one or more of these people:

JonBenet Ramsey, Elisabeth Smart, Lucie Blackman, Laci Peterson, Jennifer Wilbanks (”The Runaway Bride”), Natalie Holloway and Jessie Marie Davis - to name a few

What do all of these women have in common? They are all white. People go missing all the time, but why is it that these select girls get chosen to get covered in the media? To me it’s sickening that the news media blatantly is telling people if you’re ugly and if you aren’t white, you don’t matter and you don’t exist to us.

Here are the real stats for people who go missing:

The fact that most of us would be shocked to learn that there are more men that go missing than women proves my point.

I remember a couple of years back a Muslimah from New Orleans was 8 months pregnant when she was murdered. She was stabbed severely several times, and no one knows who murdered her. The story got no media attention at all. And this was after Laci Peterson’s death, who was also pregnant at the time she was murdered. The difference between Laci and The Muslimah from New Orleans? MWWS.

In my minorities in the media class, A girl showed this video about MWWS. I went on youtube to find the censored version. And this was as sensored as it gets, so I apologize because apparently the FCC doesn’t sensor all bad words. Any thoughts?

Stumble it!