Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Mitrice Richardson Still Missing After 18 Days: Are The Police Hoping She Stays "Lost"?

In what has to be one of the worst cases of neglect and CYA the authorities claim to be "baffled" as to what happened to the missing 24 year-old after they released her from booking. I'm wondering now IF she was actually released the way the police claim and what condition she was in when they did so. Sure it's all pure speculation on my part but if you get arrested for skipping out of paying a meal under $100 at a Malibu restaurant and have family and friends willing and able to help, you should not simply disappear into thin air afterwards.

Mitrice's family claims she has mental deficiencies that would have clearly manifested themselves. The restaurant owner - who's gotten a lot of negative press has gone on record to publicly trash Mitrice's mother to stem the backlash. What a way to stay classy. Not that what she did wasn't breaking the law but an $89 bill wasn't grand theft larceny. This certainly isn't going to make attending a restaurant any easier when there's often a negative connotation that certain blacks won't tip well - but that pales in comparison to this situation.

It simply doesn't make any sense for a young woman with no money or a cell phone to be wandering the streets at 130am - which is the time she was released by the cops. I'm wondering how she got to the restaurant and whether she had a purse with her to begin with. That would raise a red flag with me. Either the family is being dishonest or the police messed up in not recognizing Mitrice's diminished capacity. I can't help but think of the possible parallels between this young woman and Maia Campbell. Clearly there's more to this story than meets the eye. We'll continue to observe and hope for the best.

Here's an interview with Mitrice's dad on Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell - one of the few media outlets giving national coverage to this case by the way. Also you should note the ratings for her show have traditionally fared better than Glen Beck's. I only mention this because of what I think was the misguided black male protectionist-oriented focus on targeting him to begin with by some wanna-be Civil Rights organization. The attention may have gotten advertisers to pull out of that particular show (but not with the entire network) yet it tripled his ratings.

Mitchell's show now has a focus on what she terms the "War Against Women" and her coverage doesn't exclusively focus on white women as the sole victims of crimes and neglect unlike say Nancy Grace and 99.99% of the corporate media. This is what we need to be supporting instead of focusing on a wanna-be Limbaugh who displays a negative obsession with the president for ratings and money. Real women are being harmed, neglected and overlooked and very few have protectors.


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6 comments:

Vera B. said...

I hope this woman is still alive and i thought if u were to go to jail, and u don't have a way home they'll take u. I don't know much about this story but i hope she's found alive.

Tracy said...

There is something that baffles me about the restaurant:

She called home, there was someone willing to give another credit card as payment, and the restaurant wouldn't take it?

I'm embarrassed to say that that has happened to me - and there was no problem taking the other charge over the phone...

It's been too long without some word or anything from Mitrice, I fear the worst has happened...

Unknown said...

Hi,
Great post- I couldn't have said it better. I also agree that she may not have had a purse to begin with and that there are too many missing elements to this story. Someone is being untruthful!! I wish the police would release the telephone records- these hold the only clue to who she may have been reaching out and where she might be. I've been tuning into Jane Velez Mitchell daily for updates since she's the only one giving this story any attention. I pray for the safe return of Mitrice

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

The Misses: Welcome and thanks for your comment. No the police are not obligated to assist you after you've been released in any way. Of course common courtesy is too much to ask for these days apparently.

Tracy: Yeah whatever went down at the restaurant is a big chunk of the missing key and the owner's foul behavior only adds fuel to the fire. Credit cards get declined all the time. We're not being told all the facts. I hope she is still found okay.

Jazmine: Yeah the circumstances make no sense and we may never know what really happened. As long as attention continues to be paid though some people who'd clearly like to will NOT be able to sweep it under the rug.

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

The cops released her in the dead of night, citing over-crowded conditions. They could have placed her in the drunk tank since she was intoxicated. One question that has come up is would they have released a young blonde drunk woman with no ID in the dead of night?

And why was the jail over-crowded in the first place? Was it b/c the cops are too quick to lock up people, when they could just as easily write a citation on spot, like they could have with this girl? Heck, they could have driven her home to confirm her identity with her parents, and I'll bet that trip would have taken the same amount of time as a trip to County jail - and less paperwork and expense of a court hearing the next day, had that happened.

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

KIT: You bring up some valid points. Maybe they arrested her because she was drunk whereas they would've simply issued a citation had she not been.

The only thing this illustrates and black women really need to take heed: WE ARE ON OUR OWN as far as decency, chivalry, common courtesy, basic interactions 101, etc.

From the woman who was assaulted by the white male racist at the Cracker Barrel, this story, my post today about the police officer who struck and killed a young black woman and tried to cover it up - heck to Chris Rock and his MOCKumentary, we need to assess the climate for what it is: HOSTILE.

We can't control everything but we must move away from the leeches and parasites and navigate to calmer waters and get our value back because like so many stocks, we've plummeted and are being treated accordingly.