His body was found in the Illinois River naked. He was a college student with hoping to become a doctor. Police officailly identified his body a month after it was found. His mother said he did not deserve this -- meaning being pushed aside as if his life did not matter. Jelani Day was young, missing and black.
(The Slice) Twice this week stories of missing young, Black men on opposite ends of the country being neglected by police emerged. First we heard of the Go Fund Me effort of a fahter whose sone, Daniel Robinson, 24, a geolgist was missing in Arizonal Police say the search for him is on-going.
The latest involves a 25-year-old grad student whose mother tearfully said on CNN this morning that police were rude to her when they finally called to tell her they had identified the body of Jelani Day. Missing since, August 24, the Illinois State University Grad student hoped to be a doctor some day.
Day had nbeen missiong for two days when the Whote Chrysler 300 he drove was found in Peru, a small city an hour north of Bloomington wher he resided. The car was fouind in a wooded area police said. The clothes Day had been wearing when he was last seen were in the vehicle.
Refusing to believe that Jelani would take his own life, she told CNN police were trying to say her committed suicide, adding that he was a productive person and was not depressed. Nearly a month after his body was discovered she revelaed that it was a combination of her own invetigating, her family and the work of the community that got some answers. And in the midst of her devastation, she was police were rude to her when they delivered the painful news.
Carmen Day's son's body was officially identified through dentail records a day after she complained to authorities about the amount of attenion Gabby Petito case was getting. Petito was the young white woman who went missing and was later found dead. (To be fair, the public played a big role in getting answers about Petito's disappearance after police were not producing answered in her case.) From August to now there have been relative low news coverage on this disappearance and death but Petito's story began to gain more exposure when people on social media insisted and a crowd demanded to see her fiance, the person of interest outside of his Florida home.
Along with CNN, Newsy and People have also provided television coverage of Day's incident to help his family get the closure they desperately need. The double standard in how the cases are handled and the racist implications are becoming just as amuch a part fo the story as the subjects themselves. This can be discouraging when the public is taught to report missing persons ot the police department. Unfortunately, it is yet another layer of the onion to peel back in how behavior in law enforcement is a factor in dissatidsfcatory public service.
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