Gabby Petito, a young woman who has been missing for more than a week.
Gabby went on a month long road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. Laundrie returned from the trip, but Petito did not. Now, a body matching her description has been found in Wyoming.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid claims that focus on Petito’s case is just a result of “missing white woman syndrome.”
“It goes without saying that no family should ever have to endure that kind of pain. And the Petito family certainly deserves answers and justice,” Reid asserted, “But the way this story has captivated the nation 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 Iffil to describe the media and public fascination with missing White women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway, while ignoring cases involving missing people of color,” Reid said.
The idea that people of color are unable to captivate the attention of America in the same way that white people are able to is ludicrous.
Some pointed to the fact that Joy Reid herself has a platform, that she isn’t using to practice what she preaches. Others point to black lives that have drawn massive media attention.
When George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, his death was the largest, and most talked about news story in the entire country. Far overshadowing the story of Gabby Petito if the two stories were to have occurred at the same time.
The death of Breonna Taylor was another widely talked about death. Taylor was a woman of color.
Their deaths sparked more than a year of riots, and political protests. They drew millions of dollars in donations from wealthy supporters.