"We must ensure that every missing person is given the same amount of attention and resources, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status.”

Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, regarding California’s new statewide alert system to help locate and bring attention to missing Black children and young Black women, becoming the first in the nation to do so. The Ebony Alert system will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. While Black people make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, nearly 40 percent of missing persons cases are people of color. (NPR — Oct. 11, 2023)