Minnesota Launches First Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women

What's the story?

• This year, Minnesota enacted a law creating the nation's first Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls to address the disparity in resources and police focus on cases involving minority women.

What will the office do?

• Taking inspiration from offices and task forces that focus on finding and getting justice for Indigenous women and girls, Minnesota's office will investigate cold cases. The office will also reopen suspicious instances in which Black women and girls were declared to have died via suicide or drug overdose.
• The office will also assist police agencies and community groups in active cases.
• The office will serve as a new, dedicated point of contact for those reluctant to speak with police due to fears of being dismissed or marginalized.
• Advocates point to the frequency with which law enforcement ignores calls for assistance when Black women go missing and decry the fact that families often have to organize and fund their own search efforts.

The statistics

• A Minnesota task force reported last year that African American women and girls represent 40% of domestic violence victims, despite only making up 7% of the state population. They are almost three times more likely than their white peers to be murdered in the state.
• Across the country, Black women make up 13% of the female population, but studies have shown that they make up 35% percent of missing women in the U.S.
• Cases that involve missing Black women and girls stay open and unsolved four times as long as cases involving white women.
• Brittany Lewis, co-founder of Research in Action, said:

"[N]ational statistics tell us that over 60,000 Black women are missing, and Black women are twice as likely than they appear to be victims of homicide." 

• Democratic state Rep. Ruth Richardson is the author of House Bill HF55, which created the new office. Richardson said:

"One of the reasons this is so important is because when we see this data that our cases are not getting solved, or cases are not getting resources, it actually puts a target on the back of Black women and girls."

• Suwana Kirkland, vice chair for the National Association of Black Police Officers, said:

"I've been in law enforcement for 19 years as an officer. And as a leader, I have seen an increase in incidents of violence within our communities of for Black women and girls, and a decrease in resources and services and dedicated efforts and support to help solve these crimes."

• Dr. Verna Price, the founder of Girls Taking Action, said:

"If a white girl with blond hair and blue eyes goes missing, every light comes on. [But] when a Black girl or Black woman goes missing you never hear about it." 

• Activist Erika Marie Rivers launched the website "Our Black Girls" in 2018 to tell the stories of unsolved cases involving Black women and girls and highlight the epidemic on a nationwide scale.

Should more states do the same?

—Emma Kansiz 

(Photo Credit: Black and Missing)