Akia Eggleston's Father Testifies At Hearing On 'Neglected Epidemic' Of Missing Women And Girls Of Color
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A congressional committee held a hearing Thursday to discuss the "neglected epidemic" of missing women and girls of color.
In 2020, 40% of all missing women and children were people of color.
The father of Akia Eggleston, the pregnant woman who went missing nearly five years ago, testified in front of a congressional committee about the lack of attention these types of missing persons cases get.
Even with a suspect behind bars, the Eggleston's family suffers pain daily because the bodies of Eggleston and her unborn child have not been found.
"How do you wrap your mind around the fact of Akia and baby's disappearance, domestic violence and subsequent murder investigation in the same breath?" Shawn Wilkinson said.
Akia went missing when she was eight months pregnant.
Police arrested the father of her unborn child last month.
Members of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and those who testified said these cases are often overlooked and do not get adequate media attention.
The subcommittee is chaired by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin.
"Missing persons of color cases only receive seven percent of the national media coverage and we can all name Gabby Petito, Natalie Holloway, Chandra Levy and many other white women who have gone missing, but can any of you name a person of color who have garnered national media coverage?" said Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation.
They also said sometimes these cases are not properly recorded.
"There's really no data on what happened to them," Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York said. "No one knows where they are. It's just a shocking, almost unbelievable situation in this country and we're going to have to do a much better job in helping these women and really documenting what is happening."
Akia's father said it's time to make a change.
"Support for black and indigenous or people of color is needed now," Wilkinson said. "We are important and deserve the same attention as whites."
The lawmakers at Thursday's hearing talked about ways to solve this problem, including bills dealing with violence against women and sex trafficking. Those are two things, the committee said severely impact women and girls of color.
