Two women in Indiana managed to rescue a 5-month-old missing baby, but despite that, the heroes of the story didn’t get the a hero’s treatment once it went from local news to CNN.
Baby Kason Thomas went missing on December 19, when his mother’s car was stolen with him in the back seat, along with his twin brother, Kyair Thomas, who was found earlier. Indianapolis resident Shyann Delmar then found a woman called “Mae” who was selling toys. Delmar realized, after giving Mae a ride, that she seemed familiar from the footage that had gone out about the missing babies. She and the woman exchanged numbers, but it wasn’t until later, after placing everything together that the connection was fully made. When Mae called Delmar again, asking if she wanted to buy more toys, Delmar and her cousin, Mecka Curry, came up with a plan to meet the woman and drove her around while contacting the police.
Curry claims that “a police officer initially seemed skeptical about whether it was the abductor, and said they should take her to a shelter.” Then Curry sent the screenshot of Mae and the mugshot of the suspect, which prompted the police to act.
Knowing how cold everything was, the two women went to look for the baby by trying to find the stolen Honda. They followed a bus route map looking for Hondas left behind and, just when they were about to give up, found one by a Papa Johns that seemed abandoned.
Curry said she ran to the car and saw baby legs in the back seat and the baby’s face in the rear-view mirror, and her heart began racing, knowing this had to be the vehicle. The back car door was locked, and she feared the worst after hearing no sound. Delmar said she saw a couple officers inside a Blaze Pizza nearby and rushed to tell them about the baby.
“We’ve been alerted that the missing child may be located over here at the vehicle at 10th and Indiana,” an officer is heard saying at about 6:40 p.m. in police radio communications.
(via IndyStar)
The reporting from the source at the Indy Star, by Sarah Nelson, is a great thrilling story that puts Shyann Delmar and Mecka Curry at the center of a rescue. It is the kind of thing Benoit Blanc would be proud of. Yet, when the story made it to CNN, people noticed that the headline changed from the heroism of two Black women, to the happenstance of two cops saving the baby.
“Two police officers found a missing kidnapped baby when they stopped to eat,” isn’t just an overstatement on behalf of the police, but erases the fact that these strangers did the thing we want during the holiday season: a selfless act of service or kindness. And when it went from a local story to the big stage, they were the first thing stripped from the headline. No good deed goes unpunished, especially when a human story can become typical propaganda.
(via Indy Star, featured image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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