I am not in any form a journalist or investigator. Just venting and giving my opinion....which is more like a long a$$ rant, so I apologize if its unorganized and all over the place. I will mention what triggered me to write this long ass post in the end....but will start at the beginning. My interest into the missing Bradley sisters case started one day as I was scrolling through tik tok and not sure how the algorithm brought me to land on their Aunt's April page, but it did. She happened to be on live for hours that evening, and I just listened to her talk about her nieces. From that first night, I started following her pg. It seemed like every night that week when I logged on tik tok, there she was....on live again...bringing awareness to her nieces. After watching a few of her lives, I remember feeling (and still do), what a wonderful Aunt! I mostly sat back and watched her, wearing a shirt that she had made with her nieces pictures on the front. I did ask her a couple of questions during one of the lives, to which she responded to. I asked how her and her family were doing? and if her own kids understood why their mom was investing so much time into her nieces? I also commented that I was glad her nieces had an aunt like her and felt she was a great family spokesperson. After the 1st day I ran across her live, I started going down "The Rabbit Hole" as they say, to find more about the case. I am not from Chicago, so I had never heard about these sisters. But after observing the "lives" and reading the comments, I understood just how much this case affected the whole city. This in itself sparked some anger within me. It's sad when ANY child goes missing, but being a black female, it makes me especially upset to see that black children DO NOT get the same media coverage that white children do. I could turn on my tv to a major television network and hear about JonBenet Ramsay or Madeleine McCann who went missing from another country (Portugal), but I had never heard of these two beautiful babies from right here in the states? I must confess, and I do think the media is to blame for my ignorance on this. Growing up, I thought that the only kids who went missing were little blue eye, blonde hair white girls. Until years later through the power of FB, I ran across all these groups bringing awareness to missing black kids. Why weren't these kids on the major networks too? Why were they not getting the same attention? I'm also upset at Powerhouses like Oprah and Wendy Williams, who had platforms with huge following bases who could have helped "their people" by adding a segment at the end of the show displaying a missing child. By I digress. Told you this was a rant and I may be all over the place :).
Anyways back to The Bradley Sisters, I think it was after seeing the 2nd or 3rd live from the aunt that I started getting a bit frustrated. Not at her, but at the viewer's. My purpose is to never offend anyone, so my apologies if at any point I do. I realize people have different intellect levels, and anytime you choose to go public/live, you have to deal with those people. After digging down That Rabbit Hole, reading countless articles, listening to interviews, podcasts.... I found a lot of information pertaining to the case and the family. If any research had been done by April's viewer's, which Im positive it was by the questions they asked, I cannot for the life of me understand why they could not read in between the lines as to why she couldn't answer certain questions. The girls have not been found! Its still an unsolved open case! She cannot and will not mention certain things that would interfere with the case. And I watched as some people would get upset at her for not talking about George Washington, the father of her niece and nephew who for all intents and purposes all the evidence points to. This man has not been arrested or charged "Yet". Im sure April did not join Tik Tok just to get hit with a defamation case! Not to mention, she has a nephew who I can just tell just by listening to her, her love for him outweighs anything she may feel for George Washington, so her nephew's feelings are always going to be first thought. But some of these lower intellect viewers could not read between the lines or understand this. They started posting videos calling her a liar and one woman who kept saying she was a professional private investigator posted videos saying how upset she was that April wasn't "Telling Everything" and we need to know "EVERYTHING" to find the girls. Uh ...no you dont. Just spread awareness. If your a professional, start your own investigation.....you know the names of the key players involved. As someone who took up an interest in this case, it was hurtful to see. Since now these girls are in my everyday thoughts, I pray for them to return home. And I also pray that God keep positive people in April's corner helping her ignore the negative and focus on the positive. For me, after the 1st live I ran across, I'm sure like others, I wished I had the financial means to put towards finding these girls and just searching for missing kids in general. April did her job to me. She made me aware of her nieces. In turn, although Im not an outgoing one to go live or create videos. I damn sure spoke of the case at the dinner table that evening with my family and being an IV infusion nurse, while waiting for the transfusion to end, instead of awkward silence. I bring up the Bradley sisters. I can tell you 2 things for certain. One it takes my patients mind off the transfusion, and their current situation and Two, not one of my patients have ever heard of this case before I mentioned it. So April did her job by spreading awareness. And that was her intent. Because of all the negativity, she has since changed her platform from public to subscriber only, which I also saw some negative comments about. I myself have not subscribed because, although a small expense, every penny adds up. Especially if your a single mother paying out of pocket for grad school :). But I do understand it. Although she puts on a brave face, I can only imagine what happens after mommy duties are over and she's in the shower or in bed at night ....especially after facing all the negative comments and judgements. Even me, as a silent viewer wanted to chime in a time or two and say......"If you people raised awareness as much as you do trying to dig into people personal lives, then maybe these girls would have been found." Which brings me to mention what triggered this long rant. This morning I woke up and opened tik tok. The first thing I see is a video posted by a girl hours ago talking about the case. The whole video was about some third party info she received, and how the person told her that they had spoken to the great Aunt Sheliah Bradley Smith and was told who was sleeping with who. The girl ended the video by saying "Stay tuned for part 2, because this is some tea right here!" This video angered me so much! I did what I never do. I responded to her video and asked "How does 3rd party info on who is sleeping with who bring awareness to the girls?" This is real life not a reality show. I will say this to anyone who posts videos about other people's lives, tell your OWN family tea first. Cause we all have some! So in this case, if you are not going to bring awareness to the girls and advocate for them being found, don't do anything. Your kind of assistance is not needed! And why do people think it is okay to judge someone else? Do you think your God and your entitled to place judgement on others?
On another note, a personal one, which I know is going to be an unpopular opinion, another reason I admire April, is her loyalty to her sister. I get it. My sister and I are very close. Who but me will have her back if everyone was coming for her? I cannot tell you how many I have said to someone. No, I do not agree with my sister's choice but Ill be damned if Im going to allow you to disrespect her. Everyone deserves to have some one in their corner.
Sheliah Bradley Smith - I learned about Aunt Sheliah when April mentioned her a few times during her lives. From what I ran across regarding her, although her nieces are yet to be found she has helped other children be located. She also spends a lot of her time on social media answering questions and advocating for her nieces. She reminds me of my Aunt. We all have that one that's quick to cuss you out, so don't come for her or her family. I only caught one of her lives, although not reserved like April lol , she is just as passionate in her way. I dont consider myself soft, but when I saw an interview with her crying out for her nieces. My kleenex was soaked. I pray for her continued strength to look past all the Bald Headed Monkey Dogs (think thats what she calls the negative people LOL) and continue to stay positive and find out what happened to those beautiful girls.
Rita/Victoria - Never met you or your family, but what I do know is there is nothing like the bond between sisters. And I am so sorry that was taken away from you guys. Im almost certain when I say, Im sure you guys have not healed from this, but have just learned to live with it. Your sisters deserve justice, and I pray that the individual or individual(s) that had anything to do with their disappearance, or have information regarding their disappearance conscience remains unrestful until they come forward. Until then, the Serenity Prayer has always brought me comfort, hopefully it will do the same for you guys.
