(NewsNation Now) — A new docuseries airing later this month looks into why cases of missing Black people go unsolved an average of four times longer than those of white people.
“I think you find that a lot of these stories just don’t get the attention that other stories seem to get,” Soledad O’Brien, an award-winning documentarian, journalist and activist, said on “NewsNation Prime.”
O’Brien is behind the four-part HBO docuseries “BLACK AND MISSING,” which debuts Nov. 23 on HBO and HBO Max.
The documentary highlights the Black and Missing Foundation’s commitment to locating missing persons of color.
More than 543,000 people were reported missing last year alone. According to the foundation, nearly 40% of those cases involve people of color, yet African Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population.
“What we find is that actually, people of color get a lot less attention from the media,” O’Brien said. “Law enforcement is a little less enthusiastic and aggressive about trying to figure out what happened to those people. And also, I think Derrica and Natalie, who run the Black and Missing Foundation, would say even the communities where they live are not up in arms. And without that, it’s hard to get those stories to get the attention that they need.”
The foundation’s founders have a background in either law enforcement or media. O’Brien said they know they have to work with both to accomplish their goal.
“The Black and Missing Foundation wants us to help people find some kind of closure,” O’Brien said. “They just want an answer to, ‘what happened?’ Sometimes that closure is great news. They’re able to reunite the family. Sometimes that closure is terrible news that someone has died. But knowing what happened to your loved one is so critical. And that’s why there needs to be attention to everyone who’s missing.”