Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Major
Assignment #4
The face of
American Identity
has been nothing but a horror story in relation to African Americans from their arrival in this land in the
1700s to now. So much so that the 2017 horror film, Get Out went platinum with a plot centered around the
terrifying realities of African Americans. Get Out tells the story of Chris, an African American male that
accompanies his white girlfriend, Rose, as she visits her family in her hometown. The film begins with Chris
asking Rose to caution her family about his race to avoid any unnecessary confrontation. Rose assures him
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that her family is tolerant of all races and will not be bothered by Chris race. However, the visit ends with
Chris discovering that the purpose of his visit was for his organs to be harvested by Roses family and their
secret society. Chris manages to escape death with the assistance of his worried best friend back home
and avoiding the hypnotic trance bestowed on him by Roses mom to sedate him through picking cotton
from the chair he was strapped to and using it as earbuds. I believe the film was so successful simply
because it was only horrifying to white people. From the symbolism of picking cotton in order to ensure
ones safety relating to slavery to the timeless mindset that as an African American I must understand that
my life is never going to be valued the same as my white classmates is common knowledge to me but
strange to anyone outside of my race. The real horror of Get Out was not that Chris body was going to be
harvested for a secret society, but instead that the story was not new news. Although Chris story was
fiction, the story of Phoenix Coldon, a 23 year-old African American woman that seemed to disappear
without an elaborate investigation or clue to her whereabouts is very true. Phoenixs story is just one of the
over 64,000 African American women that have seemingly disappeared without any form of representation.
Get Out just shed light on one of the many explanations for these womens disappearances. However, as a
nation that is built on the liberty and justice for all, why are my fellow African American Women
disappearing without receiving any form of recognition? Through telling the stories of these many missing
African American Women as well draw comparisons from missing Caucasian women and the historical
treatment of African Americans, I hope, like the film Get Out, to ignite thought into anyone that reads this
paper to further question the disappearances of my fellow sisters and how it fits into American Identity.
On February 12, 1793, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, allowing slave owners to retrieve their runaway
slaves far beyond their state lines. This was act was able to be passed because at the time, African
Americans were seen as property and not individuals. Although the law was created to return slaves to their
owners, oftentimes freed African Americans were kidnapped and sent to work on plantations regardless of
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their freed status. Being that African Americans were not valued in society, it was difficult for individuals to
prove that they were in fact free and seek justice against their kidnappers. Oftentimes, African Americans
were taken and never seen again by their family and loved ones. Although the current year is 2017 and the
Fugitive Slave Act as well as slavery have both been abolished, it still seems that every day more and more
African Americans are disappearing without any form of justice for their families.
On December 26th, 2011, Stacey Nicole English vanished, leaving her car parked on the side of the road
with the key in the ignition, car doors open, and the engine still running. Initially, police and Englishs family
denied any form of foul play. Her story received recognition in local Atlanta news media outlets, but lacked
any solid leads or information about her whereabouts. Unfortunately, Stacey was found a few weeks later
under a tree in an Atlanta park just a few miles from her car. Her cause of death was determined to be
hypothermia due to how exposed her body was under the tree. However, her family members refuse to
believe that Stacey would just leave her car running, lay down in a strange park and die under a tree
without having been provoked by some form of foul play. Despite their thoughts, her case has since been
closed and ruled an accidental fatality. Stacey Englishs story is a prime example of the issues that a lot of
missing African American Women and their families face. There was a lack of investigation into Staceys
actual cause of death and virtually no investigation into the mystery behind her running car on the side of
the road. Despite the actual facts surrounding her disappearance, I do believe that the inconsistencies
between her last known whereabouts with her family and friends, her running vehicle, and her body are
evidence enough to cause a reasonable doubt into how her cause of death was ruled. It is the responsibility
of local Atlanta police to protect and bring justice to all of their constituents and in this particular case of
In May 2005, young Natalee Holloway traveled to Aruba to vacation with friends, however, this was a trip
that Natalee would never return from. Almost 12 years later, her story is still remembered and broadcasted
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in the news annually as a caution to traveling young women and a reminder to many that her story has not
been forgotten. Natalee Holloway was 18 years old at the time of her disappearance and was said to have
last been seen with Joran Van der Sloot, the man of which was determined to have been ultimately
involved in Natalees disappearance. Despite justice being somewhat served, the Holloway family is still
pushing to receive more information into Natalees disappearance and a solid answer about current
wellbeing. The family was able to receive and maintain constant support in the media from major media
outlets such as CNN, ABC, and NBC, all of which provided various tributes to Natalee upon the anniversary
of her disappearance. However, despite mystery and uncertainty surrounding Natalees disappearance, the
constant reminders of her disappearance is a subtle example of privilege in America. Phoenix Coldons
story was equally as puzzling as Natalees however it received little to no media coverage. Phoenixs
mother struggled to receive any information surrounding her daughters disappearance and has cited a lack
of care of attention in her local police department surrounding her daughters case. Upon Natalees
disappearance, thousands of people were sent out to search for her, a search that still subtly continues
today. However, in Phoenixs investigation, her car was not even found by the police, it was instead called
in by a worried bystander. Her car was not search adequately and ruled unnecessary information until
Phoenixs mother searched the car and found that all of Phoenixs valuables (wallet, keys, purse, etc.) were
all inside of the vehicle as well as her glasses and one of her shoes. All of this missing information indicate
that Phoenix left in a hurry or was forced from her vehicle, however, this evidence was overlooked and
never adequately connected to her missing persons case. The difference between both of these missing
womens cases is that one is African American and received unfair treatment by the law, and the other is
Caucasian and has had every tool utilized in order to ensure her safe arrival home. The difference in
attention between the two is often referred to by media outlets as missing white women syndrome, an
issue in which the media as well as law enforcement tend to pay special attention to cases involving
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distressed Caucasian women while neglecting the needs of other races, and in this particular example,
neglecting the needs of African American Women. It is this mindset that has allowed 64,000 African
However, not all cases of missing African American Women go completely unnoticed, and in the
disappearance of Tionda and Diamond, two African American children that seemed to vanish into thin air in
July 2001, their story received nationwide attention. The girls, 10 and 3, were last seen in the apartment
that they shared with their mother, Tracey. However, upon their mothers arrival home from work, she
noticed a noted seemingly left by Tionda stating that the girls had gone up the street. When the girls did not
return home, Tracey notified the police of their disappearance. Over the next 15 years, countless efforts
would be made towards ensuring the girls safe return home. These efforts included local search parties
with police as well as utilizing the FBI to enhance their search. Sadly, the girls have yet to be found, but
their story is still remembered annually in newspapers and the search for the young girls has still continued.
Their story serves a prime example of how despite the strong efforts to rescue missing African American
Women, the longevity of their hiatus is not always due to a lack of effort by law enforcement and the
surrounding community. Websites like Black and Missing (Blackandmissing.org) serve as a constant
reminder for those that their disappearances seem to have been forgotten as well as an updated tool to
educate communities about the individuals that may be around them. Black and Missing is actively working
towards raising awareness to the injustices of not just African American Women but all African Americans
through providing detailed information surrounding each missing individual as well as the current status of
their missing peoples case and who to contact if that individual is spotted anywhere.
Although I was not able to find concrete reasons surrounding the disappearances of each of the missing
64,000+ African American Women missing in the United States due to unrest in most of their cases, I was
able to discover the lack of attention and compassion that African Americans receive in this country. Their
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societal troubles have gone far beyond the missing white women syndrome, and delve deeper into the
meaning of being an African American in the United States. To be an African American in this country is to
be a second class citizen. A citizen that does not receive protection, but whose only duty is to respect and
follow the rules of those that are deemed to be first class citizens. However, if slavery has been abolished
and the Constitution declares that all individuals are equal and deserve equal protection and right to due
process, why is a portion of the population missing without any form of annual recognition or missing black
women syndrome,? I attempted this assignment to reflect on the issues in this country and come to a
conclusion about why such injustice against a whole race is still occurring over 150 years since the Fugitive
Slave Law was repealed. However, the only conclusion that I came to is that no two missing persons cases
are the same and despite the injustice, there is not one right answer to bring home all 64,000 plus women
home.
Work Cited
Black and Missing | But Not Forgotten. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.
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<http://blackandmissing.org/>.
/.latest_citation_text
Boyette, Chris. "New Clues, Questions in Natalee Holloway Case." CNN. Cable News
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/world/natalee-holloway-new-tip/>.
Boyle, Louise. "The Faces of the Forgotten: Heartbreaking Plight of the 64,000 Black
Women Missing across America... as the Country Turns a Blind Eye." Daily Mail Online.
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088428/The-shocking--forgotten--toll-missing-
black-women-U-S.html>.
Get Out. Dir. Jordan Peele. Perf. Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams. Blumhouse
Lohr, David. "Phoenix Coldon: Cruel Hoax Costs Family of Missing Woman Their Life
missing_n_1432683.html>.
Lohr, David. "Stacey Nicole English Missing: Family and Friends Seek 'Post-Christmas
Miracle,' Search for Clues." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Jan. 2012.
missing-search_n_1184341.html>.
Wilson, Carol. Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865.
Missing 15 Years Later." Chicagotribune.com. N.p., 25 July 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bradley-sisters-anniversary-met-
20160705-story.html>.