Spotlight on Missing Black Women: Erika Marie Rivers’ “Our Black Girls”

Journalist and activist Erika Marie Rivers launched the website *Our Black Girls* in 2018. Working nights after a music-news job that ends at midnight, Rivers combs missing-persons databases, archived news footage and personal accounts to publish a new story roughly every other day. She says she could “have easily been one of these missing girls and women. Anyone could.”

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In 2020 the National Crime Information Center recorded 268,884 missing girls and women. Of those, 90,333 (?34 %) were Black, while Black females comprise only about 15 % of the U.S. female population. White girls and women—including those who identify as Hispanic—accounted for 59 % of missing persons but represent 75 % of the female population. In Wyoming, more than 400 Indigenous girls and women vanished between 2011 and 2020, and Indigenous people made up 21 % of homicide victims (2000-2020) despite being less than 3 % of the state’s population. Yet only 18 % of Indigenous female victims received media coverage, compared with 51 % of white victims.

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The national focus on cases like Gabby Petito illustrates the “missing white woman syndrome” that sidelines Black and Indigenous victims. Rivers notes the media “ignores missing Black and Indigenous women,” a disparity that persists despite the higher proportional rates of disappearance.

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Beyond Rivers, the Black and Missing Foundation—founded by two Black women in 2008—advocates for broader awareness. Podcasts such as *Crime Noir*, *Black Girl Gone* and *Black Girl Missing* also amplify these stories. Rivers urges the public to stay informed, share local information, and avoid sensationalism, emphasizing that “these were actual human beings… Their lives matter.”

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• “It could happen to me at any time.” — Erika Marie Rivers

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• “I want there to be an end to their story or an end to this chapter, whether we find out what happened, whether somebody got justice, whatever it is.” — Erika Marie Rivers

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• “She is our sister and her life matters.” — *Our Black Girls* tagline.

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