While the disappearance of white women continues to receive national coverage, people of color have a harder time obtaining such attention.

A group of New York parents has decided to take matters into their own hands by creating a mobile app in search of missing children, Algulf reports.

The group is paving a way for families to utilize tools that assist in the search of their loved ones by offering the 911missing.org app. Its development is in direct response to the lack of media coverage for missing people of color, and law enforcement's apparent lack of urgency to find them.

Rose Cobo, whose daughter Chelsea Cobo went missing five years ago, understands the ways technology could aid in finding missing people.

“We are developing an app for smartphones,” Rose said at a Manhattan vigil Saturday evening. “That thing that everyone has connected to them is going to be our power now.”

Chelsea has yet to be found, and her mom's frustration, along with other parents' frustration, stems from seeing the minimal visibility missing children of color receive from national and local media coverage.

Joining other parents and supporters outside of New York City Hall, Rose emphasized the importance of bringing attention to the ongoing issue.

“Missing people, let’s face it, the statistics are out of control,” she said. “I understand the pain. We all understand the pain.”

Rose said she hopes that 911missing.org will become a productive measure to combat the disappearance of children, and will show why victims of color are equally important to their white counterparts.

The app is in its early stage of development and is currently accepting donations in support of its completion.

Derrica Wilson, co-founder and CEO of Black and Missing Foundation, Inc., emphasized the need for the app.

“No one can name one missing woman of color who has bubbled up [on national news], not one," she said, according to The Guardian. "Can you name one?”

Earlier this year, Jelani Day's mother, Carmen Bolden Day, made an appearance on Good Morning America, where she, too, pleaded for answers in the search of her missing son, as Blavity previously reported.

"Jelani did not disappear into thin air," she said.

His body would later be found in Peru, Illinois.

According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, 45% of over 89,000 active missing persons cases at the end of 2020 were people of color.

Maplewood-New Jersey

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