Domestic Violence and the Case of Gabby Petito

What are we doing about it?

Photo by Alessandro Erbetta on Unsplash

Almost two months ago I wrote a story about Gabby Petito. You can read it here:

Gabby Petito — Does our culture care if black or brown women disappear?

With this story I was attempting to accomplish the following:

1. Document in real-time a serious news story that was viral
2. Highlight actual statistics that reveal the disproportionate disappearances of black and brown women compared to white women
3. Discuss the relationship between our demand for media and what the media gives us
4. Use these ideas to explore whether our culture (and by extension “we”) care about the disappearance of women who are minorities

Now, two months later, what is the cultural meaning of a viral moment such as this?

Photo by Soragrit Wongsa on Unsplash

A lot has developed since I wrote that story, unfortunately. Since then Ms. Petito’s cause of death was…