Summit Aims to Help Protect Children

Thelma Sardin |

Congressman Bobby Rush (1st Dist.) will hold an emergency congressional summit on Jan. 22 to discuss, strategies to protect children from attempted abductions, as well as to discuss solutions to the disparities in arrest and incarceration rates when children of color go missing, Stephanie Gadlin, Rushs spokesperson told the Citizen in a recent e-mail.

My goal is educate the community on ways to protect our children, as well as to inform them of the processes, procedures, and resources that are in place for when a child goes missing. The constituents in my district must have the trust and confidence in their public officials that everything is being done to protect our children, and when a child is abducted, finding them and bringing the perpetrators to justice is a top priority for all of us whose job it is to protect the community, Rush stated in the same e-mail.

The congressman also believes the media plays a vital role in how cases involving children of color who go missing are perceived by the larger public, said Gadlin.

The Congressman's move sheds light on the missing teen case of Yasmin Acree who disappeared from her home on January 15, 2008. Over the weekend, Acrees family members passed out fliers to help shed new light on her case. Acree was fifteen years old at the time of her vanishing.

In Baltimore, the story of another missing Black teen is slowly beginning to receive national media coverage.

Sixteen year old Phylicia Barnes of North Carolina was visiting family in Baltimore during the holidays when she disappeared on December 28. There have been several searches for Barnes whose seventeenth birthday was on January 12. According to Baltimores CBS affiliate, WJZ-TV the searches have left investigators empty-handed, but with there is a new focus on Patapsco State Park located west of Baltimore.

Through the investigative process, information has been developed, and Maryland Natural Resources Police are conducting this search at the request of the Baltimore Police Department, Sgt. Arthur Windemuth told WJZ about the latest search.

Congressman Rush is familiar with the Barnes story. He believes there should be more national coverage and he has the youths family in his prayers, stated Gadlin.

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