'My son's disappearance showed how little care there is for missing Black kids'
Share:
When Nerissa Tivy’s son Alex went missing, she was forced to face the double-edged sword of not knowing where her child was, but also systemic racism which meant Black children are less likely to be found. Her son Alex, from Edmonton, North London, went missing in August, 2008, a few days before his 17th birthday.
“When Alex went missing there was no media coverage on him, no one contacted social services, especially as he was a minor and it was like no one cared,” Nerissa told The Mirror. Research by the charity Missing People and Listen Up found that Black children and adults are most likely to be missing for more than 48 hours.
But their disappearance often receives less publicity than when a white person goes missing. This was the experience of Nerissa and her family. For three months, she received almost no support from the police. It was after an intervention from Missing People that posts publicising Alex’s disappearance were finally published.
Nerissa added: “It was my daughter who called up Missing People to say that Alex was missing and that he wouldn’t just stay away, and there was something seriously wrong. Three months later, Missing People contacted the police telling them Alex could be vulnerable and that we needed to put some coverage on him.
“It’s really sad, Black people never get the same treatment. It's this racism that’s never gonna go away. It makes money, it divides and causes war, the fact that as Black people we have to deal with this. They don’t see us. This is us for life and we have to go through this,” Nerissa said.