Hierarchy of Missing People

On Wednesday morning there was some minor breaking news. A pair of brothers had been missing for a few hours. The news reported that the brothers may have wondered off and no foul play was suspected. On Thursday, the same thing. And on Friday, the same thing: two brothers missing, no foul play suspected. It wasn't until Saturday morning that the news started to say police suspect foul play may be involved in the disappearance of the two brothers.

Did I mention that the children in question are four and two years old??? Since when does a four year old and a two year old go missing for multiple days before "authorities" decide foul play may be involved? The answer, when the two kids are Native American.

I mean, seriously, what the fuck? Did they think the kids were hot on the trail of a herd of wild buffalo? Maybe they had decided to go on a vision quest? I dunno. Heck, maybe it being the time of year when all Americans give thanks (and especially the Native Americans: thanks for the displacement, and the disease, and oh yeah, thanks especially for eradicating a whole civilization) maybe the kids wondered off to find some white people they could lend a hand to. I bet that's what happened.

Anyway, this whole thing got me thinking about the hierarchy of "missing persons" and "foul play". Basically, the higher you are on the social economic totem poll (sorry for the bad pun) the shorter you have to wait before foul play is suspected. For example: if you're a 20 year old white girl and no one has seen you in eight or ten hours, you'll be considered missing and foul play will automatically be assumed. Matter of fact, when I was in college, my friend Erica took a nap at the library after her 8AM class and the National Gaurd was on campus before lunch time. Simply amazing. Then there's a steep drop-off as to when a person will be considered missing, let alone have foul play brought into the equation. If you're black and younger than seven, you won't be considered missing until channel 6 news is running a story on your distraught family. If you're older than seven, well, you might just be S.O.L.

Apparently for Native American children the cut off age is two. That's right two years old. If you're Native American and older than two, you will definately be S.O.L. And I don't care how well you can track or be one with the earth. When a kid is two (or even four, for that matter) and no one's seen or heard from them for more than a day, it's time to think about missing with foul play. Shit, not even baby Locke and Sayid could go as long as these kids went without someone thinking "maybe there's something not quite right here."

Well, I can't wait to see how much press this story doesn't get. I'll try to keep up this story, but I'm pretty sure some teenaged, upper-middle class white girl will decide to take an impromptu ski weekend and everyone will forget about the little lost Native american kids.