Stepha Henry

The world was seeming like a better place this morning, until I sat down to watch an episode of The View (yes, I know, secret shame) that I recorded this morning. I had never heard of Stepha Henry until watching this, and the story that Jacque Reid told while they were discussing this story brought tears to my eyes. (The story happened years ago, while she was reporting part-time for one of the nighttime, major networks news shows. During the time that Laci Peterson went missing, a story paralleling it was also happening: pregnant black woman missing and the boyfriend was suspect #1. A night that Ms. Reid was reporting, the body of this woman was found and, despite the obvious, this story didn't get a second of airtime.)

But, back to Stepha Henry. 22 years old, university student out with her sister to celebrate a birthday, goes missing quickly afterward and gets naught a mention on any network. Her picture has never been displayed on national television. Her case is a web-exclusive. Stories published about her focus on how there has been no stories published about her case.

Just today I got an email about the little girl who went missing while her family was on holiday in Portugal. I am getting international news about missing people, but she can't even get a mention on a major network.

In fact, MSNBC bumped not one, but TWO stories about her in favor of covering the Paris Hilton case. I couldn't help myself and immediately went to find the link for their news network to write an email, not that it will really mean anything, I'm sure--it's not like they'd mention me on their station if I went missing.

This is a feminist issue. This is a race issue. This is a national issue.