Widespread Gabby Petito coverage highlights ‘missing white woman syndrome’, US activists say
- Petito’s case drew a level of public interest that has not been shared by missing people of colour, including those from the Indigenous, Black and Asian communities
- Implicit biases, ethnic stereotypes and police choices on which cases to pursue are factors in the disparity of coverage, analysts and activists say
In the three months since 62-year-old Native American rug weaver Ella Mae Begay vanished, the haunting unanswered questions sometimes threaten to overwhelm her niece.
Seraphine Warren has organised searches of the vast Navajo Nation landscape near her aunt’s home in Arizona state, but is running out of money to pay for petrol and food for the volunteers.
“Why is it taking so long? Why aren’t our prayers being answered?” she asks.
Begay is one of thousands of Indigenous women who have disappeared throughout the US. Some receive no public attention at all, a disparity that extends to many other people of colour.
The disappearance of Gabby Petito, a white 22-year-old woman who went missing in Wyoming last month during a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, has drawn a frenzy of coverage on traditional and social media, bringing new attention to a phenomenon known as “missing white woman syndrome”.
Many families and advocates for missing people of colour are glad the attention paid to Petito’s disappearance has helped unearth clues that likely led to the tragic discovery of her body and they mourn with her family.
