Joy Reid calls out ‘missing white woman syndrome’ amid gabby petito case

[BUtterfield 8 41,818]

“The way this story captivated the nation,” Reid told her viewers, “has many wondering why not the same media attention when people of color go missing? Well, the answer actually has a name: Missing White Woman Syndrome, the term coined by the late and great Gwen Ifill to describe the media and public fascination with missing white women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway while ignoring cases involving of people of color.”

While noting the inconsistencies in the media’s coverage of Americans gone missing, Reid acknowledged the sadness of the Petito case. “It goes without saying that no family should ever endure that type of pain,” she said, “and the Petito family certainly deserves answers and justice.”

On Reid’s weekday show Monday, panelists included Derrica Wilson of the Black and Missing Foundation and Lynette Grey Bull of Not Our Native Daughters Foundation. They pointed out a case of a missing 24-year-old young Black man who disappeared after a car crash in Arizona in June. His case is only now starting to get national media attention.

“It is definitely the issue,” said Wilson. “And we have been sounding the alarm for nearly 14 years because of this. When it comes to missing persons of color, men, women and children, our cases are not taken seriously, and no one is looking for us if we were to go missing.”

Reid asked guest Grey Bull why she feels missing indigenous women don’t get media coverage, and she replied, “One of the main factors and one of the key factors that a lot of people don’t want to talk about is that it’s racism. It’s systemic racism. We’re still fighting oppression in our tribal communities. We are still facing inequality across the board, whether it comes to our community, housing, jobs.”

“I mean, you can pick any topic in any country and have an issue there,” said Grey Bull. “So, it’s no different when it comes to missing, murdered indigenous women and girls.”

Source

[Chromatography 10,186]

she’s not wrong, 100% correct.

[POP2 4,206]

Because they aren’t influencers. Idk. 

[CameronSpears 2,129]

Just now, POP2 said:

Because they aren’t influencers. Idk. 

She was hardly an influencer, her stuff did not take off until she disappeared.

[BUtterfield 8 41,818]

3 minutes ago, POP2 said:

Because they aren’t influencers. Idk. 

Gabby had 1k followers before she went missing 

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

She’s not wrong but this definitely isn’t the right time to say anything. At all. It’s tasteless to make remarks about this rn. We should focus on finding her ex/killer. Have the conversation after. 

[PartySick 172,545]

Did they not just pull this girl's body out of the woods?  she's not wrong but this really ain't the time to be dropping her name onto this issue.

[LOVE JUNKIE 3,299]

1 minute ago, ProfessionalClown said:

She’s not wrong but this definitely isn’t the right time to say anything. At all. It’s tasteless to make remarks about this rn. We should focus on finding her ex/killer. Have the conversation after. 

This reminds me of people saying not to talk about gun control right after a mass shooting. imo it's the perfect time to talk about it because it has a lot of media attention and people are more likely to care/be invested. I understand wanting to be sensitive and respectful towards the victim's family, but I don't think this conversation takes away from them in any way. If I were her family I'd be glad this conversation was happening because it would mean that more attention would be given to other missing people.

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

4 minutes ago, LOVE JUNKIE said:

This reminds me of people saying not to talk about gun control right after a mass shooting. imo it's the perfect time to talk about it because it has a lot of media attention and people are more likely to care/be invested. I understand wanting to be sensitive and respectful towards the victim's family, but I don't think this conversation takes away from them in any way. If I were her family I'd be glad this conversation was happening because it would mean that more attention would be given to other missing people.

The difference is talking about gun control after a shooting actually makes sense. It’s not belittling an experience by saying “oh it only happened bc ____”

this is just negating and belittling her case solely bc she was just a white woman. Im not her family so i won’t say how they should feel, but if my friend of sister or daughter went missing and the first thing I heard was “she only got attention because she was ____” I’d be pissed because their life is worth more than a political talking point. Yes I agree, but it’s NOT the time to talk about it, especially on the day her body was found. 
 

it DEFINITELY takes away from the case. It’s basically saying “oh, she only got found now bc she’s white. You wouldn’t do that it she’s a POC. Is her life worth more! Why did she get attention?” When someone literally DIED. She was MURDERED. I would understand if we talked about domestic abuse because this case DEFINITELY deals with that but just turning a death into a political talking point rn makes no sense.

[Fresco 1,688]

I watched when she had a person on from a group trying to find missing poc. What annoyed me was that they just used the  national media time to complain about not getting coverage. They should have used their national media time to present some of the missing, build some cases, ask for public help with something specific. If they had anyone missing in the first golden 24 hours, they should have emphasized it. Time was not well spent. I wondered why they were on just to complain about not being covered. Sheez.

[LOVE JUNKIE 3,299]

Just now, ProfessionalClown said:

The difference is talking about gun control after a shooting actually makes sense. It’s not belittling an experience by saying “oh it only happened bc ____”

this is just negating and belittling her case solely bc she was just a white woman. Im not her family so i won’t say how they should feel, but if my friend of sister or daughter went missing and the first thing I heard was “she only got attention because she was ____” I’d be pissed because their life is worth more than a political talking point. Yes I agree, but it’s NOT the time to talk about it, especially on the day her body was found. 

Could you explain where or how her case was belittled?

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

Just now, Fresco said:

I watched when she had a person on from a group trying to find missing poc. What annoyed me was that they just used the  national media time to complain about not getting coverage. They should have used their national media time to present some of the missing, build some cases, ask for public help with something specific. If they had anyone missing in the first golden 24 hours, they should have emphasized it. Time was not well spent. I wondered why they were on just to complain about not being covered. Sheez.

THANK YOU, EXACTLY THIS. 

[holy scheisse 22,932]

3 minutes ago, PartySick said:

Did they not just pull this girl's body out of the woods?  she's not wrong but this really ain't the time to be dropping her name onto this issue.

I agree this racist phenomenon is a larger bigger issue as she's talking bout here-- and, it's also sad to see a murdered girl being used as a symbol like this... I'm just sure it's difficult for her family and friends to see the conversation in the news be like "yeah Gabby died, but what about other dead women though?" 

 

Afraid to post this bc ppl are gonna call me racist or sum. But yeah. I guess there's room for both properly grieving Gabby's murder and also recognizing it's part of a bigger issue... I guess ? 

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

6 minutes ago, LOVE JUNKIE said:

Could you explain where or how her case was belittled?

The fact that her case is being dwindled down to just a political talking point about racism in the police force and detectives and the media. The fact that they aren’t even giving the family time to grieve and immediately bring up the “well she was white so of course she got attention” talking point. That’s belittling her case. Making it less than what it is. 

To joy it’s just “another missing white girl” case when it shouldn’t be just that. It should be a talking point about domestic violence can lead to things like this and how women and men can take actions to get out of bad situations.

 

[GunninMan 1,406]

Just now, ProfessionalClown said:

The fact that her case is being dwindled down to just a political talking point about racism in the police force. The fact that they aren’t even giving the family time to grieve and immediately bring up the “well she was white so of course she got attention” talking point. That’s belittling her case. Making it less than what it is. 

To joy it’s just “another missing white girl” case when it shouldn’t be just that. It should be a talking point about domestic violence can lead to things like this and how women and men can take actions to get out of bad situations.

 

So one news anchor sharing her opinion is completely belittling this case? I mean, there’s hundreds of TikTok videos and YouTube videos discussing this case, every major news media outlet is covering this case. And you wanna sit there and say that one news anchor voicing her VERY VALID opinion on this matter is belittling her case? Please. 
 

I would love for you to have the same energy you’re using on this woman, for the 710 indigenous women that have gone missing in the last year that literally no major news outlet has covered. The fact is that white women missing will always get more media coverage compared to women of color. I don’t give a **** about it being “the right time” to talk about this, because it’s always the right time to talk about the very drastic differences between how we treat white people and people of color in this country. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not the right time.