Missing Black Women In Chicago Subject Of Panel Discussion

Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Reporter at Block Club Chicago, is part of a panel discussion titled, Missing Black Women in Chicago, at the Printers Row Lit Fest. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST.
Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Reporter at Block Club Chicago, is part of a panel discussion titled, Missing Black Women in Chicago, at the Printers Row Lit Fest. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST.

Missing Black Women In Chicago Subject Of Panel Discussion

By Tia Carol Jones

Missing Black Women in Chicago is the subject of a panel discussion that will take place at the Printers Row Lit Fest. The discussion will feature Jamie Nesbitt Golden of Block HunClub Chicago, Pulitzer Prize winning Journalists trina reynolds-tyler, of Invisible Institute, and Sarah Conway of City Bureau, and Olivia Obineme of Public Narrative.

The Printers Row Lit Fest will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 7th to 8th,  on South Dearborn Street, from Ida B. Wells Drive to Polk Street. The event is free and open to the public. Missing Black Women in Chicago will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7th,  on the Center State, in Printers Row Park, between Polk and Harrison Streets, on the west side of Dearborn.

Conway and reynolds-tyler worked on a three-part investigative series titled “Missing in Chicago,” which won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. The series, with research that spanned across two years, looked at how the Chicago Police Department handled missing persons cases. They spoke with families of missing and murdered families in Chicago. Prior to their research, Nesbitt Golden reported on missing and murdered women in Chicago and what local and state officials were doing to bring attention to the issue. Her initial reporting influenced the data research.

“Their project was incredible and speaks to the urgency of this issue. There is no reason why hundreds of women go missing over a short period of time and nothing is done about it until attention is called,” Nesbitt Golden said.

Nesbitt Golden added that reynolds-tyler and Conway have kept in touch with the families of the women who were the subject of their research and reporting, checking on them and helping out where they can. She said that while journalists can walk away from stories like this once they are filed, for the families who have experienced the loss, there is no walking away from it. She said that whatever can be done to hold officials accountable, while also to continue to look out for the families who have been affected, is a good thing.

Nesbitt Golden said that everyone is not aware of what is happening in the city and throughout the country when it comes to missing and murdered Black women and girls. She said that the Printers Row Lit Fest is a good platform to bring more awareness to the issue and a good place to talk about solutions.

“We’re giving people tools to hopefully, when the time comes, to help in this mission. For so long, people have been talking about missing white women syndrome, but we’re beginning a change in the tide, particularly in how the missing Black women are covered in the media,” she said.

Nesbitt Golden said there are outlets that are dedicated to finding missing Black people that were not around a decade ago, which is encouraging, but she believes that more awareness is needed. She hopes people see that the circumstances which led to Black women and girls going missing, they still deserve respect and dignity. She said what stays with her in doing her reporting is how the families say they were treated by authorities when they were reaching out to inquire about their loved ones. She wants the takeaway to be that there are things people can do like investing in community, getting to know the people in their community and the people who live on their block. That way, when something happens, people in the community can mobilize and help out.

Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, author of “Seasons of Separation (S.O.S.) An Igbo Family Tale,” will be part of a conversation with Jim Joyce and Amanda Lima, talking about her work in a discussion titled, Between Worlds: The Immigrant Experience in Poetry and Fiction. The discussion will take place at 10 a.m. on Sept. 7th, at Grace Place, which is located at 637 S. Dearborn, on the first floor.

Nwaogwugwu is inspired by life and her life inspire her. As a poet, she is an observer of life. Nwaogwugwu has been a writer since 1997 and Printers Row Lit Fest was always something she thought would be an amazing thing to be part of, so when she was asked to be part of it, she was highly honored.

“It’s just something I think is very beautiful for the city, bringing people together through words and worlds together through words is what I see Printers Row List Fest doing,” she said.

For more information about the Printers Row Lit Fest, visit www.printersrowlitfest.org.

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