The NNPA World News app has unveiled the Missing & Black 2025 Campaign, a nationwide initiative aimed at addressing the glaring disparities in media coverage and law enforcement response to missing Black individuals. The campaign seeks to bring long-overdue visibility, resources, and justice to the thousands of missing Black children, women, and men whose cases are frequently overlooked. “With an alarming disparity in coverage and urgency between cases involving people of color and their white counterparts, this initiative calls for collective action to change the narrative and ensure that all missing persons in America receive the responsive attention that they deserve,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
Statistics from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) reveal that Black people make up nearly 40 percent of all missing persons cases in the United States, despite representing just 14.4 percent of the national population, according to the Pew Research Center. Research consistently shows that cases involving missing Black individuals receive substantially less media coverage, resulting in fewer search efforts, diminished resources, and a lower rate of case resolution. The NNPA said its Missing & Black 2025 Campaign plans to harness digital storytelling, social media outreach, and community partnerships to challenge implicit biases and elevate the urgency surrounding missing Black individuals. Supporters and interested participants can engage with the campaign by downloading the NNPA World News App, visiting BlackPressUSA.com, or following Black Press USA on social platforms using the hashtag #MissingandBlack2025.
“The Black community has to stop depending on mainstream white media to fairly and consistently report on missing Black children, women, and men.” said Carolyn Davis, owner of CDAG International and the architect of the NNPA World News App and the Missing & Black 2025 Campaign. “It will never happen. We need to utilize our own resources and networks such as the NNPA to keep these missing individuals in the public eye so they will not be forgotten,” Davis continued. “We need to show the world that you don’t have to be a blonde, thin, White woman to be valued by society.”
Separate from this campaign, the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. (BAMFI)—founded by Natalie Wilson and Derricka Wilson—continues its work to spotlight these cases. Visit www.nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/ to read more.