We have all seen the report on television, read the report in the newspapers, or heard the report on the radio. Or... we’ve overheard people discussing this story. I’m talking about the disappearance of Natalee Hollaway, the high school senior from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who, with her senior class, and several chaperones, went on a class trip to the beautiful Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.
Natalee disappeared hours before her flight departure from Aruba. Initially, the investigation took officers to three young men who had been identified as having been the last people Natalee was seen with. They were released and two other men were questioned and subsequently jailed as suspects in her disappearance. They were former hotel security guards of the hotel where Natalee was reportedly staying .
What happened to this young girl? Was she really ‘returned’ back to her hotel after going for a drive with the three young men? Complete strangers, I might add.
As I prepare this column, most of us HBCU members, indeed if not all of us, are preparing for college. There are only a couple of months left before school resumes. We are excitedly running around (with our girls or boys), maybe to the malls, furniture stores, electronic stores to purchase those ‘must-have’ items for dorm rooms, etc.
That isn’t the case for Natalee Holloway. She’s not visiting the Gap or Old Navy or any stores in preparation for college this fall. I believe that I read that she received a full scholarship to the University of Alabama.
She isn’t texting her girlfriends and screaming her excitement about leaving home. She isn’t circling the Sonic Drive-in or hanging out at Starbucks with her friends. She isn’t on the phone talking to her guy for hours about, well, nothing (according to most parents).lol
So, what if we have been bombarded lately with many ‘white damsels in distress’ reports (the runaway bride, etc) according to one reporter for DiversityInc magazine? Be that as it may, Natalee is a young TEEN somewhere on a strange island. She is someone’s daughter…someone’s granddaughter, someone’s niece, someone’s aunt, someone’s cousin, and someone’s friend. I don’t care that she is a ‘White female’. She’s a human being. Period.
Recently, one suspect was reported as saying, ‘something bad happened to her’. I hope and pray that Natalee is still alive. I cannot imagine her family’s distress. I can only say that if this were MY daughter or simply a relative of mine, I would be overcome with grief. Anticipatory grief. A parent’s worst fear when a child vanishes…that they have been murdered.
I am deeply wounded by this news story. It is my heartfelt prayer that this tragic story will have a happy ending. It is not about Black or White. It’s about uniting as ‘human beings’. And while it’s true that the media hasn’t provided extensive national coverage or zero coverage to African-American disappearances, please, don’t allow that fact to desensitize you toward the sufferings of others. A case in point is the disappearance of Tamika Huston. Tamika, 24, disappeared nearly a year ago from her home in Spartanburg, S.C. Tamika’s disappearance received only local media coverage. So, how did I hear about Tamika? CNN NEWS, DATELINE, LARRY KING LIVE??? NO, Black America Web. Check out her story by news columnist Deborah Mathis@www.blackamericaweb.com.
Ms. Mathis’ article posed the questions, “Could it be that a black woman’s life is just not thought to be as valuable as that of her white peers? Is black tragedy not as tragic? Is black trouble not as troubling? Is black sorrow not as sorrowful?”
Sadly, the media’s lack of coverage on Black Americans disappearances lead us to respond affirmatively to these questions.
It is my prayer that ALL those who have ‘disappeared’ without a trace will be given the attention their disappearances deserve. May they be kept in our thoughts and in our prayers.
*Thanks! Tressia
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Monday, June 13th 2005 at 4:10PM
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