California ‘Ebony Alert’ Bill Advances to Help Find Missing Black Youth, Women

The California State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Feb. 1, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A bill that would create a public emergency alert system for missing black youth and women in California was passed unanimously by the state’s Senate Public Safety Committee April 18.

Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena)—who introduced the bill—said it’s creating the “Ebony Alert” system, sponsored by the regional NAACP, would provide more resources and attention.

“Today’s bipartisan vote is a powerful endorsement that we must do. More to locate missing Black children and Black women who are disproportionately represented on the lists of missing persons in California,” Bradford said in a release.

The bill—Senate Bill 673—would establish a new statewide Ebony Alert system to help find missing Black youth, women, and children, who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.

If activated, the California Highway Patrol would help investigate the missing person’s report and issue a “be-on-the-lookout alert,” an electronic flyer, or changeable message signs, according to a Senate analysis.

The alert can be activated if the missing person is between 12 and 25 years old, suffers from a mental or physical disability, is possibly endangered, or is a victim of suspected kidnapping or human trafficking.

During this week’s committee hearing, Bradford told senators the problem with the state’s existing Amber Alert system for missing children was the strict criteria that must be fulfilled for a message to be publicly broadcast. The missing children are labeled as runaways if the criteria are not met.

Once listed as a runaway, they receive no media coverage and less resources are available to find them, Bradford told the committee.

According to the Black and Missing Foundation, 38 percent of children reported missing in the United States are black. The U.S. population is 14 percent black, Bradford said in a release. Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts who are classified as “missing” and, therefore, many Black children do not receive the Amber Alert, he said.

“Fewer resources are allotted for their safe return,” Bradford said. “This provides law enforcement with an additional tool—the Ebony Alert—to disseminate timely, accurate information to engage the public and the media to more effectively assist with locating black youth and young women that are missing.”

The NAACP’s state chapter spoke in support of the measure.

“We hope that SB 673 will be a starting point for the marathon ahead of us, to increase the number of Black people being found,” Taneicia Herring, a government relations specialist with the NAACP’s California and Hawaii State Conference, said during the committee meeting April 18.

The bill was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee after approval.