Missing Woman Coverage a Black and White Issue?

Missing Woman Coverage a Black and White Issue?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3898158&page=1

Police Chief Wants Media Help in Finding Missing College Student

By DAVID SCHOETZ
Nov. 21, 2007

Why does one missing woman get all the attention while another woman's story becomes a buried headline?

Jackson, Miss.,

Police Chief Malcolm McMillin, who has been heading a search over the past eight days for 20-year-old Latasha Norman,
thinks he knows one reason why. "As far as the interest by the national media in the story, I think race probably had an impact," the police chief said.

Norman, who is an honors student at Jackson State University, is black.

"It's a small college in the South. It's the daughter of simple people who maybe are not important outside of their circle, and maybe we don't attach the same importance to them that we do for other people," said McMillin, who is white.

The chief contrasted the lack of publicity over the Norman search to the widespread coverage of Stacy Peterson's disappearance. Peterson, who is white, is the 23-year-old wife of former Illinois cop Drew Peterson who vanished in late October. The media glare on the Peterson case has prompted police to reopen the criminal investigation into the death of Drew Peterson's third wife.

"We're looking for the media to give this case as much exposure as it can so that we can develop some leads," McMillin said.

Norman, an accounting major from Greenville, Miss., was last seen on Tuesday, Nov. 13 when she left a marketing class around 2:30 p.m. She was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans at the time.

Luther Samuel, an investigator for the Jackson State Department of Public Safety, said the department is limited in the details it can release, but said they have received a number of tips and that several areas, including the campus, have been searched.

Continued.....

http://crime.about.com/b/2007/11/26/missing-students-case-gets-little-coverage.htm">Missing Student's Case Gets Little Coverage

http://crime.about.com/b/2007/11/26/missing-students-case-gets-little-coverage.htm

Investigators are desperately seeking leads in the disappearance of a 20-year-old accounting major at Jackson State University who was last seen at an afternoon class Nov. 13. Jackson, Mississippi, Police Chief Malcolm McMillin believes the case would have received more attention from the media if the missing woman, Latasha Norman, was white instead of black.


This undated image provided by Jackson State University shows Latasha Norman.
The 20-year-old college student has been missing for a week, and this city's police
chief says her race is the reason her disappearance hasn't gotten more attention.
Norman, who is black, was last seen Nov. 13, 2007 in one of her classes at Jackson
State University. Her car was left on the campus, and the 20-year-old never returned
to her dormitory room. (AP Photo/Jackson State University via The Jackson Clarion-Ledger)


"As far as the interest by the national media in the story, I think race probably had an impact," said the police chief, who is white. "It's a small college in the South. It's the daughter of simple people who maybe are not important outside of their circle, and maybe we don't attach the same importance to them that we do for other people."

Norman, who comes from Greenville, Mississippi in the impoverished Mississippi Delta, went to Jackson State without a scholarship and was working her way through school with a job at a local craft shop as well as a work-study job on the college newspaper. She has a 3.5 average and is known for being a serious, smart student.

Looking for More Clues

Police have no suspects in the case, in spite of receiving dozens of tips. They have interviewed her currrent boyfriend and ex-boyfriend, a former student at Jackson State.

Norman's father said in recent weeks someone slashed her car tires and removed the license plate from her vehicle. She filed reports about the incidents with the campus police.

She was wearing a white shirt and jeans when she was last seen leaving a marketing class around 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 13.

"We're looking for the media to give this case as much exposure as it can so that we can develop some leads," McMillin said.

See Also:

FBI Looking at Case of Missing Student
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071122/D8T2EKOO0.html

Missing Woman Coverage a Black and White Issue?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3898158&page=1