New Missouri law tackles crisis of missing Black women and girls

The newly signed law establishes a task force to investigate why Black women and girls go missing at such high rates and recommend solutions.

Lawmakers in Missouri are finally taking the crisis of missing Black women and girls seriously.

Earlier this year, the state passed a new bill establishing the “Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force,” which was just signed into law by Governor Mike Kehoe and is set to take effect August 28, KOMU 8 News reported. 

The task force will work to understand why Black women and girls go missing at such high rates, evaluate the state’s response, and provide policy recommendations to improve how cases are handled. And they are hitting the ground running. The group must hold its first meeting by no later than October 1 and submit initial findings to the governor and legislature by the end of the year.

The bill, sponsored by Missouri state senator Angela Mosley, has been years in the making. Inspired by a bill that recently passed in Minnesota addressing the same problem, Mosley initially proposed the bill in 2024. The lawmaker didn’t give up after it failed to pass the House and instead pushed it until she saw it become a success.  

“We are an endangered species,” Mosley said of Black women to KOMU 8 News. “If you listen to our music, we’re the main target. We’re degraded … called out of our names that need to change. We need to be teaching our young men and men to respect Black women and protect us. Right now, we’re not protected at all.”

Black women make up about roughly 14% of the U.S. female population but account for nearly 35% of all missing women reported, according to recent data by the National Crime Information Center. In many cases, disappearances involving Black women and girls receive little media attention or are mischaracterized by law enforcement, leading to delays in action. This disparity is even more acute in Southern states like Missouri, where underfunded public safety departments, racial bias, and strained relationships between Black communities and law enforcement exacerbate the issue.

The new task force will include representatives from the Department of Public Safety, law enforcement agencies, advocates, and policy experts. It will study current practices, identify gaps in prevention and investigation, and make concrete recommendations for change. The group will expire in 2027, but the Department of Public Safety can choose to extend it through 2029 if necessary.

Supporters say the bill is an important acknowledgment that these lives matter. 

“Everybody is important,” Theda Wilson, founder of the Missouri-based nonprofit Looking for an Angel, told KFVS12 News last year as the bill was up for consideration. 

Wilson founded her organization after her 9-year-old son, Christian, went missing in 2003 and has since gone on to help many families, including those looking for women and girls. 

“I’m appreciative of what was given me, but there’s so many other people that I work with where they never had media time,”  Wilson said. “There shouldn’t be a differentiation, but we know biases exist. We don’t have time to wait on them to decide that our case is important.”