Chicago group demands action for missing and murdered Black and Brown women

CHICAGO - One Chicago nonprofit is calling on community members and city leaders to come together to advocate for missing and murdered Black and Brown women.

The 6th Annual ‘We Walk For Her’ march drew a crowd of hundreds on Wednesday afternoon to the South Side.

"As we see time and time again, when Black women go missing, it’s always too late," said Mariah, a young organizer. "In our case, it isn't time, but lives that are being wasted."

Led by young women and girls, the march sets out to give a voice to Black and Brown women who have disappeared or who have been killed – particularly on the South and West sides.

"If we don’t step up and say something, the issue is only going to grow," said Leyla Nash.

The march is organized by the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization "Girls Who Lead."

The group gathered at 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive on Wednesday evening, and marched south to 51st Street.

They are pushing to raise awareness about missing persons cases that don't always get the same attention as others.

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Ald. Jeanette Taylor has served as a key voice in this effort, and spoke with FOX 32 Chicago ahead of the event.

"We know with some effort that we can find our missing women. Think about the postal worker who was pregnant. We still have not found this young lady or any answers for her family, and so we owe them that," Taylor said.

"We need to put the same energy in that we put into white women, I’m just going to be honest. When they go missing, there are all of these volunteers.

There’s an effort, a real coordinated effort to look for them. That’s not the same when it comes to black, brown, indigenous and trans women."

That postal worker is Kierra Coles. She disappeared in October of 2018 at 26 years old.

In attendance at the march was the daughter of Daisy Hayes, who also went missing in 2018 and was killed. On Wednesday, she shared her plea with the community.

"We mean something to our families, and our communities, and just to go like this, and it’s still hard to deal with this daily, because my mom had no justice," said Teresa Smith, daughter of Daisy Hayes.

Organizers are also calling for a local and statewide task force to be established that focuses on finding missing Black and Brown women.