Editor’s message: Believing Black women, ShaCarri’s shine, and more

Carlee lied and 15,000 Black women are still missing

By now, everyone knows that Carlee Russell, the missing AL woman who the world thought was kidnapped, made up the whole thing. Like thousands of people following this story, I was heartbroken to learn it was a hoax. While I’m not one of those “I want my prayer back” folks…I am disappointed because we FINALLY got the world to pay attention to a missing Black woman…and it was a hoax done reportedly to get back at a cheating boyfriend. As a former young woman, and the mother of two young women, I understand that young people make dumb mistakes. Carlee’s just happened to go viral. So, yeah, I’m upset about it…but I don’t have time to wallow in that fake story when there are more than 15-thousand REAL missing Black women and girls in the world, according to the Black and Missing Foundation, a Maryland-based nonprofit group that works to bring awareness to missing people of color.

Does Carlee owe the world an explanation? Now. She lied. Her telling us why and explaining her actions on Tik Tok isn’t going to change that. But I’m not going to apologize for believing a Black girl. We have to prove to people that we’re worthy of empathy, worthy of protection, worthy of being believed. We cannot let the outcome of Russell’s case derail us from the task of finding Black women who go missing. We can never give up in spreading awareness and searching for our sisters.

Missing Black women deserve awareness. One lying Black woman shouldn’t change that.

Give Shacarri her shine, just like you give her hate

Remember Sha’Carri Richardson? She’s the Olympics-bound runner who had a high-profile stripping of her first national title due to allegations of using marijuana. It was 2021, and Richardson’s loss, and the circumstances surrounding it, became front-page news and went viral. She quickly became one of the most recognized and talked about athletes that year. Now, two years later, Richardson is dominating this year’s races — but where’s that same energy that made her go viral?

Richardson recently broke all kinds of records, including defeating the world’s fastest woman of 2023, Shericka Jackson, a huge accomplishment, and social media is silent. People loved putting up memes and posting derogatory comments when Richardson was experiencing a setback, but now that she’s winning and doing well, crickets. Let’s do better people.

Really, Travis King?

You know it’s bad when you’d rather take your chances in North Korea than come back to America. But it looks like that’s exactly the choice Travis King, a Black soldier, recently made.

King had recently been released from a South Korean prison on assault charges. He was also fined for damaging a local police car. Following his release, he was set to return to a military base in Texas where he was likely to be disciplined further. On the way back, King took off into North Korea and hasn’t been seen since.

I understand his family is horrified and scared. I would be too. The U.S. is working to get him out, but Bruh chose violence and if he went to the rouge country of North Korea, chances are he’s going to get it.

By the way, I’m talking more in depth about all these stories at DefenderNetwork.com

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