Updates: Megan Williams, Barnes & Noble

Megan Williams

• In the comments, Cherise asked "Does anyone know if there has been any funding put into place to help with her medical bills, or therapy needs she may have?" Universalwriter replied that Chase Bank has set up a trust fund for Megan Williams. Universalwriter has set up a website providing ongoing coverage of the Megan Williams case and has posted the info on how to donate:

A TRUST FUND has been set up by Chase Bank for Megan Williams
A spokeswoman for Chase Bank said that donations to the trust fund
for Megan can be made at any Chase Bank.

The donations can also be mailed to:

Welana Megan Williams Trust Fund Donation Account
707 Virginia St. E.
Charleston, WV 25301.

View source - Link to Charleston GazetteMail

• The Katrinacrat Blog asks, "Is it because she isn't white?"

Imagine, if you could even think of the horrific situation, where a 20 year old "pretty white woman" was abducted by six black men and women, raped, stabbed, made to eat rat droppings, drink from a toilet, threatened with death if she tried to escape and tortured for around a week.Imagine, not only what living hell that poor woman went through, but also the fact that she was still undergoing treatment for her injuries around a month later. Imagine the 24 hour outrage on the cable news, the papers, every caring human being, not to mention the outrage by the racist people who would be decrying this, "the culture that promotes animals like this", how this was a hate crime and the potential revenge for these horrific acts.

Imagine that the suspects all had prior arrests and records for prior crimes, including one who was arrested for murder of an 84 year old woman but pled to a lesser charge of manslaughter. We would hear about this for months, and we would all know her name, the suspects names, backgrounds and every little development in her treatment, the case and the potential blowback to the community....

When was the last time that a missing “non-white” woman was reported as missing for more than a few minute segment? What kind of coverage would a story like this get if Ms. Williams was a “pretty white woman”? And whose family has lots of money?

• The mainstream media doesn't cover disappearances of Black women, but Deidre does. She has started a blog devoted to the subject: Black and Missing But Not Forgotten.

Barnes & Noble

• In the comments to the Blaxploitation Endcap Sightings post, Ash-Lee shared the link to this YouTube video by George:
  
  And yes, that appears to be the same George from All About George and the ever classy and much valued NEGROPhile. George found one of the displays in Oakland, CA.

• downloadsquad reports that Barnes & Noble has gone web 2.0 with its new website. I clicked over to the site and found that the titles promoted in the stores are not what come up when you look for African American Fiction on the website: there, the first titles that come up under African American Fiction & Literature are much more what you might expect.