-----Original Message----- From: African-Americans in Higher Education [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Lindsay Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 2:50 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [AFAMHED] 300 Black Boys are Missing in Britain 300 black boys are missing in Britain
DISCOVERY MADE AFTER CHILD'S BODY IS FOUND IN RIVER By Alan Cowell NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE LONDON - Even by the standards of a river that has known more than its share of death in gruesome and macabre fashions, the discovery was startling. In September 2001, in the River Thames near the soaring columns of Tower Bridge, the police discovered the torso of a dark-skinned child they called Adam. The suggestion from subsequent investigations was that he had died in some kind of ritualistic murder linked to West African witchcraft. Now, more than three years later, the discovery has brought another chilling fact to light: In the three months before the body was found, 300 other black boys from 4 to 7 years of age were missing or unaccounted for. "We were really looking at black children, black male children, aged between 4 and 7, and we found 300 of those that couldn't be accounted for," Detective Chief Inspector Will O'Reilly told British radio on Friday. "In the main these were African children." What happened to the boys remains a mystery. While the police said they had no evidence of murder, they also acknowledged that the absence of immigration records prevented the authorities from tracing the missing youngsters. When the police discovered Adam's body in 2001, they found it had been skillfully butchered and drained of blood. Forensic tests found a poisonous bean in his stomach and traces of crushed bone and clay pellets studded with fragments of gold and quartz in his lower intestine. Other inquiries, led by O'Reilly, suggested the boy originally came from a rural area of southwestern Nigeria. O'Reilly said the police questioned people who were supposed to be taking care of the missing children and were often told that they had returned to Africa. "We asked through Interpol for police to make inquiries in the local countries to which they returned," he said. "In the majority of cases we got no reply on that." Only two of the missing children were traced, he said. It is not unusual for African parents to send children to Britain and other places to be looked after by relatives and sent to school. But the people who look after them, called private carers, are not obliged to register with the British authorities. Yinka Sunmonu, an author and journalist, said some of the children are badly exploited and abused. "They are being trafficked, they are being emotionally abused, there are incidences of domestic slavery," she told the BBC. "There is physical abuse, sexual abuse." Felicity Collier, head of the British Association for Adopting and Fostering, said: "We know there are thousands of children who are missing. We know there are children being passed between adults. "We would not accept this as a society if these were white children," she added. "We have to have a law in this country that says private foster carers have to register." -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.10 - Release Date: 5/13/2005 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/LRMolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
