The Crow's Nest Radio Show - December 7, 2022

On December 7, Rodney Brown, host of "The Crow's Nest" on 100.9 FM WXIR, Rochester's Urban Alternative independent radio station, hosted Mozell Lynnette Jones-Grisham — mother of Domonique Holley-Grisham — and Ray Bradley — father of Johnny Bradley — to give them the opportunity to share their experiences with how the Rochester Police Department (RPD), investigators, and the media assisted, or lack thereof according to the two, in the search for their missing children.

Brown began the show with a fact from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

"98% of children reported missing are found within days. And those who are not found within days are mostly people of African American descent," Brown said. "Earlier this year, USA Network set out to identify for the first time that reason for this disparity reports around the country have been fined for public records, an interview with families and advocates, and experts to understand why black children are less likely to be found. Black children are disproportionately classified by the authorities as runaways, which results in the child not being classified as being missing, but with just wasting time. That's what it's all about."

Jones-Grisham recalls an instance where there was a potential sighting of Domonique and explains the lack of urgency from the RPD.

"A young man from another town was like 'I believe this young man is outside the store.' I called the store, and he told me, 'Well, we have to have the police department call, we can't release any information.' So, I've called numerous times to RPD to get them to call this county to get the footage of the young man that's on camera that's important for him to store. That could be a possible sighting of Dominique," Jones-Grisham said. "When you get the missing person unit, it consists of one person and if she's not in the office, my voicemail is gonna sit. And so, my son drove to this town. You know, luckily, it wasn't Dominique, but as a parent, if someone will call in and say, I think this young man is sitting in front of the store that's been missing for years, the police department didn't even call them back. The store owner said 'Well, your local police department has to give me a call. She said as protocol, that's what they have to do. But as a mother, she allowed my son to see the video. It wasn't Dominique, but what if it was? How long was it gonna take RPD to pick up the phone to call them to send them the footage and information on Domonique's case to see if it's him? And that was just to me a slap in my face."

Brown, Jones-Grisham, and Bradley talked about how the response and urgency of the RPD was different for them then it was for families with a different skin tone.

"If you're black or brown, they don't give a you-know-what," Bradley said. "You're not gonna put that energy into it because you're not blonde with blue eyes. If you go across this country, anything that happens in a white neighborhood involving their children, you're gonna hear about it."

FOR THE FULL RADIO INTERVIEW, CHECK OUT THE AUDIO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PREVIOUS COVERAGE TAB.