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Sorry I didn't finish this!! If this was a girl from a working class background without influencial parents, with money, who had their fingers in a lot of pies this case wouldn't hav gathered even a tenth of the momentum. Never mind the funds. There were hundreds of children going missing in that area around the time Madeline did, and they didn't get any coverage, and that infuriated the locals. There was a HUGE child trafficking problem and it was never highlighted. Whether you his is what happened to Madeline, we don't know, but they could have brought the other missing children to the attention of the media too, but they never x
THIS 100%
This case IS an example of missing white syndrome. If this case, as you said, had been a working/poorer class person from UK it would never have been the focus.
Even more so if she was a child of colour.
Media attention, especially on her parent’s actions and culpability, would be very different.
This bias against minority groups from the media and the authorities (be it their investigation efforts or criminal system) is well documented in many horrific cases.
USA
Gary Ridgeway “Green River Killer” - 48 known victims, mostly black women - was loose far longer than should have due to police inaction and discrediting of his victims.
Atlanta Child Murders - 28 known victims (including adults) but mostly black boys. One convicted but others at large as widely suspected more than one perpetrator
Cleveland Strangler - think around 12 black women killed.
Being America and serial killings we could list these all day.
Canada
Highway of Tears - upwards of 50 girls and women murdered along a section of highway in Canada. No one has been brought to justice. Most victims were indigenous girls in their teens, hitchhiking after running away from reservations. Their families have put up billboards along the road in response to their lack of justice. Very sad, read into this if you haven’t.
UK
Shannon Matthews - how authorities and media treated her disappearance and her family was markedly different due to their socio economic background
Stephen Porter “Grindr Killer” - known 4 murder victims and hundreds of rape victims. Targeted gay men, drugged them and attacked them. He got away with this for so long because of Police failure and homophobia in their “investigations” (2 victims were found... IN THE SAME LOCATION ON SEPARATE DATES) yet police still viewed them isolated. Incredibly sad as these men’s families and friends kept approaching police. This was only recent as well.
Rose and Fred West - infamous yes. But They went unnoticed for so long. Systemic failures of authorities such as schools to notice children just missing. (Their own two daughters whom they murdered)
These are just some examples of the bias against minority groups, be it POC, classism or gay discrimination.