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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 4, 2024 04:05 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Gina H. Curry and Rep. Carol Kazeem |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Establishing an Ebony Alert System in Pennsylvania |
| In 2022, almost 141,000 Black youth were missing, making up over 35% of all missing individuals in that same year. However, these individuals are much less likely than their White counterparts to receive the media attention they may need to be found and returned to their loved ones. Although our current Amber Alerts are incredibly helpful in finding many missing youths, the perpetuation of non-white individuals as criminals or runaways in television and print media has unfortunately led to discrimination in the news reporting of missing Black and Brown children, making it more difficult to get their stories into the eye of the public. As of now, the only state in the nation to have an Ebony Alert law is California, which has already been used to bring missing Black and Brown youth home. It is time that we followed suit and became the second state to implement this incredibly useful tool. This bill would create an Ebony Alert system, specifically tailored to finding missing Black and Brown youth, including young women and girls. Similar to the current Amber Alert system, an Ebony Alert would be overseen by the Pennsylvania State Police and would require law enforcement to immediately activate an alert if one or more requirements, like age or possibly mental or physical disability, have been met. In addition, this legislation would create a penalty for intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently creating an Ebony Alert, with individuals subject to a civil penalty of up to $5,000.00. In addition, the bill would impose an additional cost on individual convicted of certain crimes, to be used for the establishment and maintenance of this alert system. As elected officials, we must recognize the difficulties and discrimination that Black and Brown families face daily, including when their loved ones go missing. Please join me in supporting this far-overdue legislation to finally create this comprehensive resource to protect missing and endangered Pennsylvanians of color. |
Introduced as HB2461