{"id":6898,"date":"2022-12-01T14:21:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=6898"},"modified":"2022-12-01T14:21:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:21:33","slug":"howard-university-law-school-hosts-a-missing-black-women-panel-honoring-tamika-huston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/01\/howard-university-law-school-hosts-a-missing-black-women-panel-honoring-tamika-huston\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard University Law School Hosts a Missing Black Women Panel Honoring Tamika Huston"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Panelists from left: Ericka Alexander, Rebkah Howard, Tiffany Cross, Natalie and Derrica Wilson, and Billi Wilkerson. (Photo: Alana Matthew\/HUNewsService.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Alana Matthew<\/strong><\/em>
\nHoward University News Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Experts from all over the country assembled at Howard University on Tuesday for a panel and frank discussion about missing Black women and the lack of media coverage.<\/p>\n

Actress Ericka Alexander moderated the panel, which included Tiffany Cross, former host of MSNBC\u2019s \u201cCross Connection,\u201d Derrica and Natalie Wilson, founders of the Black & Missing Foundation; and Billi Wilkerson, managing director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard\u2019s School of Law.<\/p>\n

The event, which was held in the law school\u2019s Moot Court Room, also amplified the Audible original series \u201cFinding Tamika,\u201d co-produced by Alexander\u2019s company, Color Farm Media.<\/p>\n

The disappearance and death of Tamika Huston happened almost 20 years ago in 2004. Yet her death, and the lack of media coverage surrounding it despite best efforts, is still relevant in highlighting the magnitude of the problem.<\/p>\n

As Alexander said in her opening speech: \u201cThis series isn\u2019t just a series about her life. It also guides on why and how national media distorts the rules of engagement for so many missing persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hudson\u2019s aunt, Rebkah Howard, spoke about her experiences as a surviving family member. As a publicist, she essentially made her niece a client after her disappearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I had the skill set, the contacts, the ability to get Tamika\u2019s face out there, get her story told because that, to me, was the best hope in finding her,\u201d Howard said. \u201cIn my naivety, certainly everyone would want to hear Tamika\u2019s story, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

One resounding theme of this event was the intersections of creatives and social sciences like sociology and criminology. Many don\u2019t automatically connect the two until situations like this arise. Cross, no stranger to authentic representation in media and the cross between the two, shared some insight as to why African Americans, especially Black women, are overlooked for coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo often as Black folks, we have to be perfect, in every capacity even in our death,\u201d Cross said. \u201cWe have to have the most clean, pristine background to invite any sort of empathy from so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard has hosted many events this year, but this event stuck out to the students in attendance, especially sophomore broadcast journalism major Mackenzie Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fangirling for half the time; so that was amazing,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThe whole reason I came to Howard was to be able to network and to have these type[s] of panels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are coming to us, because they want us to speak to these issues when we get our degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event also featured representatives from the White House and an audio presentation by second-year law student Jasmine Epps.<\/p>\n

More information and resources can be found at findingtamika.org<\/a> and blackandmissinginc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alana Matthew is a reporter for HUNewsService.com, editor-in-chief of 101Magazine.net and a Solutions Journalism reporting fellow.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alana Matthew Howard University News Service Experts from all over the country assembled at Howard University on Tuesday for a panel and frank discussion about missing Black women and the lack of media coverage. Actress Ericka Alexander moderated the panel, which included Tiffany Cross, former host of MSNBC\u2019s \u201cCross Connection,\u201d Derrica and Natalie Wilson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[150],"class_list":["post-6898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6900,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions\/6900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}