By Frank White, Attorney, Lieff Cabraser

On January 1, 2024, California’s “Ebony Alert” law took effect. California is the first state in the nation with an emergency alert notification system dedicated to addressing the crisis of missing Black children and young Black women between the ages of 12 and 25. Under the law, law enforcement agencies may request that the Department of the California Highway Patrol activate an “Ebony Alert” for young Black women and girls who are missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, cognitively impaired, or abducted.

In 2022, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center reported that more than 140,000 Black children age 17 and younger went missing—more than half of whom were girls. While the Black population only accounts for 12.4% of all people living in the United States, Black children account for around 39% of missing children in the United States. According to the Black and Missing Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to bring greater awareness to missing persons of color, the media disproportionately covers white missing persons compared to their minority counterparts. The Black and Missing Foundation reports that missing minority children are initially classified as runaways and do not receive the Amber Alert; missing minority adults are labeled as associated with criminality and drugs; and, the public is desensitized to missing minorities due to stereotypes that they live in impoverished conditions with widespread crime.

Senator Steven Bradford, the law’s author, said, “The Ebony Alert will ensure that vital resources and attention are given so we can bring home missing Black children and women in the same way we search for any missing child and missing person.”