Affirmative Action Alert? California Highway Patrol issues first 'Ebony Alert' for a missing black woman

LOS ANGELES, CA - On Thursday, January 4th, California officials issued the state's first Ebony Alert for a teenager in Southern California who had been missing for days. 

According to reports, the alert was for 17-year-old Kayla Higgs, who was last seen on December 30, 2023 around 2:30 a.m. at Broadway and West Florence Avenue. An Ebony Alert is a new statewide alert system specifically for missing black children and young black women between the ages of 12 and 25. It acts in the same manner as an Amber Alert or Silver Alert.

At the time of the alert, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced that Higgs is five feet, six inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing yellow sweats, a black puffer coat and a teddy bear backpack. She also has a tattoo on her left ribcage that reads, "Long Beach California."

It was after FOX LA aired the Ebony Alert on FOX 11 that the young woman was safely found. A Long Beach police detective found Higgs unharmed on the morning of January 5th, and helped her return home safely. 

The Ebony Alert system went into effect on January 1st. Steven Bradford, a Democrat who represents Gardena, reportedly wrote the bill with the intent to "amplify missing people who are part of a demographic that has been historically been misrepresented and forgotten" when it comes to bringing them back to safety.

After Higgs was found, Bradford reiterated that the fact that the tool was used so quickly after being implemented shows just how necessary it is. He said, "That is exactly the reason I authored this law; I appreciate that law enforcement is already utilizing this new notification tool that became law on Jan. 1."

He added, "Black children and young women go missing at disproportionately higher rates but do not receive the same level of attention as others who go missing." Like Amber Alerts, the CHP can send Ebony Alerts via wireless emergency messages to all cell phones in a given area.

According to 2022 data from the National Crime Information Center and U.S. Census Bureau, black women and girls make up approximately 18 percent of all missing persons cases despite accounting for about seven percent of the population. Bradford said in a statement, "Evidence shows that African-American young girls and women are ignored. The resources are not committed to the same level as their counterparts when they come up missing."

Ebony Alerts follower similar criteria to Amber Alerts, but with slightly broader qualifications. The age range for an Ebony Alert expands past 17 years of age to 25 years of age, but there must still be reason to believe that the missing person is in imminent danger with no other available information that could lead to their recovery. 

Bradford said, "When was the last time you drove down the freeway and saw an Amber Alert for a missing African-American young woman or girl? But we've all known about the Gabby Petitos of the world. We just want the same level of commitment by both media and law enforcement."

With the new law, police departments throughout the state can now request that the CHP activate Ebony Alert messages and signs in respective areas when black youth are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, are at risk, have developmental disabilities, have cognitive impairments or have been abducted.