Black and Missing

[DanaK]

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Four-part documentary series BLACK AND MISSING, by multiple Emmy(R) winner Geeta Gandbhir and award-winning documentarian, journalist, author and activist Soledad O'Brien, follows sisters-in-law and Black and Missing Foundation founders Derrica and Natalie Wilson as they fight an uphill battle to bring awareness to the Black missing persons cases that are marginalized by law enforcement and national media. The series, which was three years in the making, takes on new urgency given the renewed national conversation on "missing white woman syndrome".

BLACK AND MISSING debuts back-to-back episodes TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 (8:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), with the final two episodes airing back-to-back on Wednesday, November 24 at the same time. All four episodes of the series will debut on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

 

[Enero]

I'm watching this now. It's a very difficult watch, heartbreaking. 

Even sadder, that just like theme of the documentary, no one appears to be watching or talking about this.  No one seems to be interested in those who are black and missing. Very sad. 😢

[Enero]

Just finished this documentary. I thought four episodes wasn’t enough. They only touched the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more stories to tell.

I will say I didn’t agree with Derrica and Natalie’s assessment about Relisha Rudy’s mother being essentially groomed to sell her daughter to a sexual predator. GTFOH! She didn’t give a crap about her daughter. Her attitude alone when questioned about her daughter’s disappearance said it all. Very telling that she didn’t participate in this documentary either. It’s sad that the stepfather, who probably wasn’t a stepfather, but a boyfriend to the mother, lost access to the kids. He seemed like a good guy and like he cared about the kids as if they were his own, but those were not his biological children and the mother did not need to have custody being that she’d so easily sell her kid off for money.

I feel so sad for Relisha. I don’t know whether that POS sold her off to another predatory before killing his wife and then offing himself, or if he killed her and dumped her body somewhere. I kind of think it was the former because if he’d killed her they probably would’ve found her body with the wife’s body or somewhere near him. Very sad.

I would’ve liked to have seen them talk more about the aftermath when someone manages to get their missing loved one back. It’s not all rainbows and roses because the victims have likely been traumatized. In the documentary one family member was telling Derrica that her daughter was crying a lot and she thought it was because the daughter was “so scared” by her experience. But I think it goes way beyond this. I hope these families are able to get their returned loved ones therapy. Otherwise the horror of what happened to them will continue to manifest itself in their lives, causing more difficulties.

Derrick Butler was the stand out in this documentary. He did not quit. Even after Cruz went to prison for killing Derrick’s sister, he made sure the POS would never get out by persistently pursuing justice for Marta Rodriguez, Cruz’s wife, who’d also gone missing but with no traction from the authorities in searching for answers.

This was a good documentary. I wish it was an ongoing series. 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Enero

[CherryMalotte]

On 12/2/2021 at 6:35 PM, Enero said:

This was a good documentary. I wish it was an ongoing series. 

I can't agree with this enough.  This could be a six to ten part series - so many missing.  This is the case I think of from time to time. Where are they?

[Enero]

2 hours ago, CherryMalotte said:

I can't agree with this enough.  This could be a six to ten part series - so many missing.  This is the case I think of from time to time. Where are they?

I remember hearing about this case. There are so many out there like this about black children (and adults). Sadly, with this case I think the oldest daughter Tiona is probably dead. According to her family she was very good with numbers, remembering them by heart. So I’d think if she had an opportunity to access a phone she would’ve called one of her relatives. Diamond could possibly still be out there being that she was taken so young.

She could  be a case like the lady in the documentary who discovered she was a missing child 50 years after the fact. There was a similar case with an AA woman who was in her 20s several years ago. Which makes me wonder how many of these missing children might actually be still alive and either were sold into sex trafficking or taken and raised by someone pretending to be their parent.