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‘As much as it’s incredibly powerful to know that The Black Project has become a safe space for the community, it’s equally worrying that an Instagram account is offering Black people the feelings of protection and trust that the police should be offering.’ ‘I was contacted by a young person whose friend had run away, asking me if I could help because they didn’t want to contact the police. I’ve had many people say to me – “we need to protect our own because they aren’t protecting us.” ‘There is also a huge distrust of police. ‘From within the community, there is outrage, anger, frustration, heartbreak,’ says Brianna. Desperate families turning to social platforms for help Thankfully, this child was found safe in south London, but Brianna says experiencing such fear for a loved one without adequate support or assistance is ‘traumatic’. ‘A vulnerable young person was made even more vulnerable by the cover of night because the system that is meant to protect them is so tied up in red tape it forgets what the priority should be.’ He had filed a missing persons report, so all of those people had been informed. Not the police, not the social workers or child protection officers. ‘Instead, he was traipsing the streets at 2am trying to find his child. He was angry because his child could have been home safe by dinner time if the actual priority was child protection, and not paperwork.įrom within the community, there is outrage, anger, frustration, heartbreak. ‘The child’s father was angry when I told him this had happened. ‘They refused to do anything because I did not have the same surname as the missing person,’ Brianna explains. She did what she could to spread the word about the missing 16-year-old on her Instagram page, but when she tried to help by speaking to social services, she says she was dismissed. Recently, Brianna was working with the father of a young person who had disappeared from home. It’s crushing because we expect it and it hurts that nothing seems to be changing,’ she adds. ‘The constant understanding that we aren’t valued is a heavy weight to bear.
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On her page, the 24-year-old often engages with the families of missing people, and uses her platform to spread awareness and try to find them. ‘It’s crushing, but it’s crushing because it’s not surprising,’ Brianna O’Reilly, founder of The Black Project Instagram account, tells .uk.īrianna, who lives in east Sussex, set up the account – which now has more than 19,000 followers – in August 2020, with the aim of amplifying Black British life. It is not only the tragedy of the missing people that hurts, but also the lack of adequate response from society, the authorities, the media.įor many, it sends a message that Black lives still do not matter.