I have to give a very warm message of appreciation for Eugene Robinson of the
Washington Post. Mr. Robinson pointed out a fact that I have been wanting to
write about for sometime now. In an

article published in the Post today, Mr. Robinson pointed out that our media
seems to be engrossed with stories of damsels in distress. Not only are they
damsels, but they are white damsels like Natalee Holloway.

Now I am a full bred mutt – part Scottish, part Dutch, part Russian and part
Indian and this story upsets me. In a time where we hear about scandals that
effect the lives of every person living in this country, and ones that lead our
nations military into an unjust war, it seems the mainstream media has to focus
their attention to the poor missing white girl in Aruba.

She is not the first case of this either. We have had numerous such as Amber
Frey, Chandra Levy, JonBenet Ramsey and even Jessica Lynch. I am not saying what
has happened to these girls is outrageous and horrible, what I am saying is “Why
don’t we see about Hispanic, Latino or even African girls that get abducted?”.

Why – because the media doesn’t feel the public would care about them. In a
time when we should have racism and prejudice well behind us, we realize it
isn’t. And our media is not the only ones at fault here. Our own government has
sent agents to Aruba to aide in the search for this girl. This is something that
you would not see if this was a girl of ethnic background.

I became outraged about this last night while thumbing through the cable news
networks. Simultaneously all three major networks were talking about about the
Natalee Holloway story. Now while I do feel this is a sad story, I also feel
there are more important stories out there that cover facts that will ultimately
effect everyone of us.

Now the sad part is I searched for missing children on the net and almost all
I find is involving white children. So is it if your of an ethnic background you
don’t get listed, or are the parents not reporting the missing children? I truly
wish I knew the answer to this but I don’t. However, I do think it is an
important question facing our country today that needs to be investigated and
answered because every missing child is as important as the last.

As for the media, I appreciate your concern for poor Natalee, but it does not
require all of your attention. Amber Alerts are good because they help inform
the public to keep their eyes out for missing children in our neighborhoods.
Natalee is missing in another country and the chances of one of us driving down
the street and spotting her are slim to none. Remember the little boy that cried
wolf. This is what is going to happen to you when you keep rehashing stories of
these missing girls. I can not help to think I am the only one who would rather
watch some people get publicly insulted on a reality show than see anymore about
these missing children.

How about for a news story you cover the 1700+ U.S soldiers that have given
their life in Iraq, and the fact that new evidence keeps emerging that shows
this was a personal agenda of our President. Do the lives of those soldiers and
their loved ones mean that little to you? Are you unpatriotic and hate America
that much? Stop focusing on the stories that don’t affect the lives of every
American and start reporting on news that is important to me. If you can not
handle that stress or attention of that then quit. We need true journalism is
this nation, not tabloid style stories you keep shoving down our throats.

As for Mr. Robinson, thank you for pointing out something that I am sure many
Americans feel. Sadly though in the time we live in you are probably going to be
coined as a instigator of race, which couldn’t be further from the truth. You
sir have done nothing more than show the harsh cold truth surrounding our media
today!