Officials are searching for a 14-year-old Queens boy who is mute and was reported missing Friday.
Avonte Oquendo, who is 5 foot 3 and 125 pounds, was last seen leaving Center Boulevard School in Long Island City at around 12:45 p.m. Friday.
Oquendo was wearing a gray striped shirt, black jeans and black sneakers.
Anyone with information about Oquendo’s whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. #EveryoneRepostThis
In the past few days ive seen Avonte’s missing poster throughout the MTA subway system. The MTA has even formally announced his description in case someone sees him.
I also found out that Avonte is autistic.
Then yesterday, I was takin the 4 train uptown in the Bronx and a man crossed through between the train, and showed everyone on the train Avonte’s poster, announcing to everyone that Avonte was missing. He was a Guardian Angel, a group known to protect communities from violence. It was one the first times ive seen someone talk to people on the train without asking for something in return.
Then outa nowhere this young Black dude was somehow annoyed that someone would take the time outa their lives to help find a missing teenager because, apparently, there are “1,000 kids missing everyday, what makes him so special?” him and the Guardian Angel had a back n forth that was goin no where. The Black dude kept repeating his catch phrase for like 3 mins.
All this time I’m thinking, ‘shit, at least we have detailed information about this one kid. At least this kid’s family cares enough to find him. At least someone is starting somewhere. What are u doin bro? sitting there complaining aint doin shit.’
Sigh, the ignorance is real. SIGNAL BOOST!!!!!
Guys, this is seriously a very important issue and it pains me because Avonte has been missing for about a week now and nobody has heard anything of him. The flyers are all over New York now and at least once a day a few news channels report that he is still missing. Not only is he autistic, but he is also non-verbal, which means he can’t do much to help himself. Please, this is so important because my very own cousin is a non-verbal autistic child and I can only imagine the pain and worry his family members are going through.
This is such a serious and important issue and Avonte could literally be anywhere at this point. Even if you don’t live nearby, please reblog to get the word around.
