Black women, men and children are going missing at alarming rates in Oakland and throughout California, but often their cases don't get the attention they should.
Now, local and state leaders are making a call to action to help solve the problem in the form of a specific new alert system.
“We are going missing at a very alarming rate and someone needs to do something in order to make sure we are returning home,” said Taneicia Herring of the California Hawaii State Conference NAACP.
She said their names don’t appear on an Amber Alert in flashing lights.
“What makes the Ebony Alert different is we are saying ‘OK, if you are missing under an unexplained, suspicious circumstance then you are going to get the Ebony Alert and we are going to do everything we can to get you home,’” said Herring.
The NAACP is working with Senator Steven Bradford on the proposed alert system specific to missing Black children and young adults in the state. Amber alerts broadcast when a child 17 or under is missing or abducted or in imminent danger -- while an Ebony Alert would include notifications for Black 12 to 25-year-olds that go missing under nearly any circumstance.
“It speaks to the disparities that still exist not only in California but across the nation when it comes to race,” said Bradford.
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In Oakland, those disparities are growing.
“We make up 23-24% of the population in Oakland for the Black community yet 60% of those who are missing,” said Oakland Councilmember Treva Reid.
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Out of 1,500 missing people in the city, Reird said 900 Black men, women and children make up 900 of those cases and little to none have ever received an Amber Alert. Council unanimously voted to support the bill this week.
“For our Black women and our Black youth we are misclassified as runaways, we are misclassified as gang affiliated, we are misclassified for all these reasons that don’t bring a level of value and attention to their lives mattering,” said Reid.
Oakland community members hosted an emergency town hall Thursday night to educate parents on the dangers while empowering them with tips to keep their families safe.
Nola Brantly works with families trying to bring their missing kids home and says more needs to be done.
“When we come up missing the response is not the same as it would be for a white woman,” she said. “We need things like the Ebony Alert to say, these people matter too.”
