Bobby Rush Hosts Panel On Missing Chicago Black Woman And Girls

CHICAGO — U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (IL-01) will host a panel discussion about the disturbing cases of missing Black women and girls in the Chicago area starting at 6 p.m. Monday, April 12. The forum is meant to spur more robust action to protect Black women and prosecute heinous crimes against them.

The forum will be moderated by ABC 7 Chicago anchor Evelyn Holmes and will include several leading community voices on the issue. The discussion will be livestreamed on Congressman Rush’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

Joining Congressman Rush and Evelyn Holmes will be the following panelists:

Thomas Hargrove, Founder, Murder Accountability Project
Rosie Dawson, Founder, Stop Taking Our Girls Campaign
Julia Flowers, Co-Founder, Stop Taking our Girls Campaign
Karen Phillips, Mother of Kierra Coles, who has been missing since 2018

Congressman Rush has been outspoken about the need to do more to address the crisis of missing and murdered Black women and girls. Following reports that dozens of murders of Black women and girls between 2001 and 2017 remained unsolved, Congressman Rush asked the FBI to intervene and start processing backlogged evidence and held a community alert meeting to hear from local law enforcement and family members of the victims. He also led an appropriations' amendment, which received unanimous support, to increase funding for a U.S. Department of Justice grant program to help clear rape kit backlogs.