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Joy Reid, of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, aired out white media on Monday night’s show. The journalist called out white news publications over their continuous coverage of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito’s disappearance and the lack of coverage when Black people or other minority groups disappear.
The 52-year-old Brooklyn native didn’t hold back when she addressed the media’s “Missing White Woman Syndrome.”
“The way this story captivated the nation,” Reid told viewers, “has many wondering why not the same media attention when people of color go missing? Well, the answer actually has a name: Missing White Woman Syndrome, the term coined by the late and great Gwen Ifill to describe the media and public fascination with missing white women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway while ignoring cases involving people of color.”
Reid’s guest panelists Derrica Wilson of the Black and Missing Foundation and Lynette Grey Bull of Not Our Native Daughters Foundation referenced an open missing person’s case of a 24-year-old young Black man who disappeared after a car crash in Arizona in June.
And the women weren’t exaggerating. Per News Onyx, 24-year-old Daniel Robinson, a Black man, has been missing from Buckeye, Arizona, since June 23. Police have half-assed their search efforts, and the story has had little to no media coverage save for Black publications. Robinson’s father has set up a GoFundMe so that the family can continue its search efforts.
Petito’s disappearance has received non-stop coverage since she was reported missing on Sept. 11 after her estranged boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned home without her. The two had set out for a cross-country trek that ended with the FBI confirming that the body found on Sept. 20 in the Grand Teton’s was Petito’s. Laundrie was also never taken into police custody, even though circumstances surrounding Petito’s disappearance were shady as hell.
Of course, some white people didn’t appreciate Reid’s in-your-face call out and took to Twitter to whine and gaslight her about her accurate indictment of white media.
Others were looking for the lie and couldn’t find it.
Ironically, Minnesota just passed a law on Sept. 20 that will create a task force missing and murdered Black women in the state. The bill was initiated by Rep. Ruth Richardson.
She shared the news on Twitter.
“There are 64K+ Black women & girls missing in the U.S. BW & girls are overrepresented in missing person cases, receive less media attention, & their cases remain open 4X longer than others. We are overdue for a community response. Proud my bill became law & ready to get to work.”
It looks like Reid is definitely on the money, and other states need to follow Minnesota’s lead.