This Father’s Day, many families will celebrate the fathers, sons, brothers, grandfathers, and mentors who shape their lives. But for the families of missing Black men, June is a quiet, agonizing month. For them, this holiday isn’t a celebration—it is a painful reminder of an empty seat at the table and a grueling question whispered into the silence: Where is he?
Across the country, the families of these missing men carry a profound double burden. They don’t just have to navigate the deep personal trauma of losing a father, a son, or a brother; they are forced to act as their own private investigators, search crews, and publicists.
The case of Daniel Robinson is one example. Robinson, a geologist, disappeared from a job site in Arizona in June 2021. Nearly four years later, his family continues searching for answers. His father, David Robinson, has spent years organizing searches, pursuing leads, speaking with media outlets, and advocating for continued attention to his son’s disappearance.
But even within the vital conversations surrounding media disparity, missing Black men are frequently absent from it altogether. On the front lines of advocacy, we consistently see a damaging, unwritten script play out: when a Black man vanishes, public and systemic perception is immediately distorted. There is an unspoken, recurring bias that quietly assumes his disappearance is self-created and involves a criminal act, rather than treating it as a genuine crisis.
While Daniel’s case received more visibility than many missing persons cases involving Black men, his family’s experience demonstrates how much responsibility often falls on loved ones when public attention begins to wane.
Another devastating example is Ronald Dumas, an Alabama father of three who vanished in December 2024. Authorities have since classified his disappearance as an active abduction, and despite recent developments, including a multi-agency investigation, his story has barely registered outside state lines. This Father’s Day, his young children are not focused on the lack of national media coverage; they are simply asking when their father is coming home. They keep asking for him, hoping that he will walk through the door. While his family fights relentlessly for the visibility and justice Ronald deserves, his babies are left facing an empty chair on a holiday meant to celebrate the man who anchors their world.
Through our advocacy work and through our podcast, we have helped amplify both cases because we understand how critical visibility can be in missing persons investigations.
Public awareness can generate tips, encourage witnesses to come forward, and help keep cases active in the public consciousness. It can also provide families with something equally important: the knowledge that their loved one has not been forgotten.
Much has been written about the phenomenon commonly known as “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” the tendency for cases involving white women to receive significantly more media attention than cases involving people of color. While that conversation is important, missing Black men are frequently absent from it altogether.
As a result, many families find themselves navigating two difficult journeys at once. They are searching for answers while simultaneously working to maintain public awareness. They organize search efforts, distribute flyers, manage social media pages, contact reporters, and advocate for continued attention, all while coping with the uncertainty and emotional toll that accompanies a missing loved one.
This is not about suggesting that one missing person’s case deserves more attention than another. Every missing person deserves urgency.
But urgency should not be determined by race, geography, socioeconomic status, or how easily a story fits a familiar media narrative.
Missing Black men are more than statistics. They are fathers whose children are still waiting for answers. Sons whose parents continue to search. Brothers whose families refuse to give up hope. Friends whose absence is felt every day by the people who love them.
The families we work with are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the same level of concern, attention, and urgency that every family deserves when someone they love goes missing.
As families celebrate Father’s Day this year, we hope there is also room to remember those who are still searching. For some families, Father’s Day is not simply a celebration. It is a reminder of unanswered questions, empty seats at the table, and loved ones who have yet to come home.
Every missing person matters.
That commitment must extend to the families of missing Black men, many of whom continue searching long after the headlines disappear.
Written By Natalie Wilson and Derrica Wilson, Founders of the Black and Missing Foundation
