Ali Lisha Gilmore Vanished Feb. 6, 2006

Is Racism Alive and Well and Living in Florida?


January 24th a pretty blonde haired 24 year old woman disappears while going to mail a package. Seventeen days later the media is still inundated with reports daily on this missing persons case. Without even mentioning her name her pictures and details that surround her case flash across your mind. While on February 6th a 30 year old pregnant woman vanishes and no one knows about her. I am referring to Ali Lisha Gilmore. Name still doesn’t ring a bell? That is because there are no planned searches, no posters covering every inch of Florida and only 3 newspaper stories. Her picture or the circumstances around her disappearance don’t flash across your mind. Is it because she doesn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes? Ali is African American and just as loved and missed as Jennifer Kesse. And yet we don’t see a daily barrage of attention for her.

When I post a missing person on my site the one thing that never pops into my mind is what color is the person. I am baffled by the prejudices that to this day are still evident in the media’s reporting of Missing People. If you are elderly with medical problems and missing you rate a brief write up on the local TV station websites or paper. But within days unless they are found deceased the public never hears about them again.


I like to think I stay pretty up to date on any and all missing people. And I post them accordingly based on age. Adults go in our Endangered /Missing Adults forum. Children who are considered abducted go in the Current Amber and Missing Children Alerts forum. And Endangered Runaways have their own section that list them all no matter the circumstances . We don’t have separate sections based on the color of their skin so why is the media so biased. After doing this for awhile now the pattern of who gets publicity and who doesn’t is very clear. The younger, prettier and white you are the better chance you have to being picked up by mainstream media.


Do the families of missing people care what the color of their loved one is, of coarse not they love them and want them found safe so they can be reunited. I was raised to believe it is never the color of a persons skin that defines them or makes them superior so why is Jennifer’s case more important than Ali’s?


Ali is 4 months pregnant and according to the Tallahassee Police Department there are no leads, no evidence, no witnesses, nothing to tell them what happened to this Department of Health employee. I like to think we are all equal in the eyes of the media but it is as clear as black and white that we aren’t.


What can be done to change this injustice? Bring it to the forefront so the public knows it is happening. I’m hoping this story will do just that. Ali Lisha Gilmore, 30 years old, 5’6”, weighs 180 pounds, is 4 months pregnant and missing.


For more on Ali Gilmore click Here.