As Black Youth Project previously reported, Black girls and women are the primary targets of a spate of kidnappings and murders concerning residents of the South Side of Chicago. Because many residents do not feel like the Chicago Police Department is doing enough, in order to combat this, residents are starting many initiatives on their own to protect Black girls and women in the area.

According to independent Chicago-based journalist Charles Preston, one such initiative is being spearheaded by Angel Buckley, a Chicago State University student. Buckley is working with local mothers on the South Side to provide carpool rides to young girls so they do not have to walk the streets alone.

As Buckley writes on her Facebook page: “I’m joining forces with moms on the south side to car pool young girls to and from school to fight back against the evil that’s doing work in our city and make sure our girls are safe!”

Preston sat down with Buckley and has released a 17-minute interview discussing the murders and what has motivated Buckley to get involved with the community to help protect the young girls of Chicago:

In addition to the four women and girls missing or dead over the past month, there have been two other women and girls missing or dead since March.

Going back to last year, there has been a disproportionate number of Black girls reported missing in Chicago. Residents said then that the CPD seemed uninterested in addressing this case just as they do now. Back then, city leaders such as Sixth Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer and the City Council pushed for action but their calls were met with denials that such a problem even existed.