🚨 1,043 PETITION SIGNATURES ≠ 1,043 PRO VOTES
This Gap Can Cost Lives — and It’s Closing Fast 🚨Only 45 PRO Votes. That Gap Is On Us!

As of today 2/4/2026: 1,043 people have signed the Ebony Alert petition saying they support visibility for missing Black people.

But only 45 people have taken the extra 2 minutes to officially vote PRO on the legislative record and submit written testimony. Out of that 45 approximately only 10 are specific to supporting the Ebony Alert!

Let’s be very clear:
👉 Petition signatures do NOT move bills.
👉 Legislative PRO votes and written testimony DO.

Right now, we have a real opportunity to make history — Washington State could become the FIRST state in the nation with a dedicated alert system for all missing Black people.

This is not symbolic. This is life-saving.

Community, we need to be very clear about something — because right now, there is a dangerous misunderstanding that could cost our loved ones their lives.

Here is the hard truth:
Signing the petition does NOT count on the legislative record.
Petitions show public interest.
Legislative PRO votes and written testimony are what lawmakers actually use to decide whether a bill lives or dies.

Lawmakers can — and will — ask:

“If 1,043 people support this, why are only 45 showing up in the record?”
And when they don’t see matching action, they interpret that as:

Lack of urgency
Lack of priority
Lack of community buy-in
That perception alone can stall or kill a bill — even one they agree with.

🚨 WHY THIS MOMENT IS SO CRITICAL:
The Ebony Alert initiative, SB 6070, is currently scheduled to be heard in the Ways & Means Committee tomorrow, Thursday, February 5th at 1:30 PM PST.

Ways & Means is where lawmakers decide:

💰 Whether the state is willing to fund this bill
📊 Whether the cost is justified
⚖️ Whether this is essential public safety — or something that can wait
This committee does not debate the idea anymore.
They debate the investment.

And silence in the record is interpreted as permission to delay.

⏰ WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU — NOW
By Thursday, February 5th at 1:30 PM PST, please take these steps

 If you had time to sign the petition, you have 2 minutes to:

1️⃣ Sign in PRO for SB 6070 on the legislative record
2️⃣ Submit a short written testimony

One sentence is enough. Example:

“I support SB 6070 because Black lives matter and our missing loved ones deserve visibility and urgency.”

3️⃣ Share this call to action with your networks

🖤 THIS IS WHERE APATHY BECOMES HARM
We often say:

“They don’t care about Black lives”
“Our missing loved ones don’t get urgency”
“The system ignores us”
But right now, the system is literally asking:

“Is your community willing to show up in writing?”
And too many people are stopping at the petition.

Let’s be real:
If our support doesn’t move beyond awareness into documented action, it doesn’t protect anyone.

In Washington State, African Americans make up only 4.4% of the population, yet we now have the highest rate of missing people. This is Black history in real time — and too many of us are sitting it out.

Over 100,000 Black women and girls are missing nationwide.
Many are being forced into the commercial sex industry and sex trafficking.
And we’re talking about “I’ll get to it later”?

No.
Later is how bills die.
Later is how our girls stay missing.
Later is how systems keep ignoring us.

Delayed response is not neutral.
It increases risk.
It increases harm.
It increases the chance that someone is not found.

We'll Repeat:⏰ WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU — NOW!
By Thursday, February 5th at 1:30 PM PST, please take these steps

 If you had time to sign the petition, you have 2 minutes to:

1️⃣ Sign in PRO for SB 6070 on the legislative record
2️⃣ Submit a short written testimony

One sentence is enough. Example:

“I support SB 6070 because Black lives matter and our missing loved ones deserve visibility and urgency.”
3️⃣ Share this call to action with your networks

If you signed the petition already, this is how you complete the action.

Petitions raise awareness.
Legislative records change law.

 
🖤 FINAL WORD
We are not asking for comfort.
We are asking for collective responsibility.

Washington State has a real opportunity to become the FIRST state in the nation with a dedicated alert system for missing Black people.

History will not measure how many people cared quietly.
It will measure who showed up when it mattered.

Our loved ones cannot wait.

With urgency and accountability,
The Silent Task Force & Ebony Alert Advisory Committee