Author Karya Pitts and Black and Missing Collaborates on a New Book

In an effort to raise awareness of missing black persons, author Karya Pitts and I are proposing to include pictures of missing adults and children in her new book called “I love my skin…this skin I’m in”.

Pitt's new book is a refreshing spin on how beauty is defined. Her main focus is to encourage the youth to love themselves by promoting assurance and self confidence that will allow them to feel secure in knowing that they are splendid just as they are. By including the missing, her book will further reinforce the idea that we all deserve the same amount of attention and respect both in the media and in life.

Pitts is shooting to release her book by June 15 of this year. Once the book is released, she will donate 50% of all profits to help find the missing. This money can be used to help families that are low on expenses and need help in the media (such as money to buy airtime on the radio or tv) or used in the form of reward money, leading (hopefully) to new information in the case of the missing person.

It is not Pitt’s intentions to exclude other races from this project. Her intention is to equalize the way the media handles coverage of African Americans. In order for us to get this plan started, we will need your help. We are asking that the friends or family members of the missing to come forward and give us their consent and blessing to include their loved ones in this book. We would like to use a mixture of adults and children so that the book reaches a vast audience. We want them to come home just as much as you do and it will be our pleasure to use this book as a mean to speed up the process.

If you agree with this idea, send me an email at mzdeidra@hotmail.com or simply leave a comment below this post. Your loved ones deserve attention - why not start with us?

There are many things that we can do to encourage the media to give our loved one’s equal media coverage. If we decide to stand by and accept the current situation as it is, then things will remain the same. It takes one person to make a difference. But it takes a movement to stimulate a change.


Author's Bio


Karya Pitts was born in Philadelphia, PA, the youngest of five children (two sisters and two brothers), and grew up mostly in the Germantown section of the city.

Throughout her childhood, Pitts was exposed to an environment of utter chaos. Pitts and her two brothers lived a life of poverty due to their mother’s drug addiction. Shuffled from home to home Pitts found herself homeless and placed into foster care. This may sound ironic, Pitts feels that foster care was the best thing that could have ever happened to her. After all, it was there that she began writing as a means of escaping the reality of her situation.

Pitts went on to attend Dobbins High in Philadelphia, PA. Her ninth grade English teacher gave a writing assignment. When Pitts turned in her work her teacher was so overwhelmed by what she read that even Pitts herself was surprised. After graduating, Pitts enlisted in the U.S. Army where she served 2 ½ years. After leaving the military, she moved to Macon, GA where she spent most of her time building a career in the insurance industry.

After departing from the insurance industry, Pitts took a year off to seek her true purpose. It was then that she discovered her one true purpose was to write. Pitts released her first book entitled “Christmas On Our Block”, in November of 2007. The work depicts Christmas Day in the average American household. Pitts needed to recapture some of her most memorable childhood experiences. Although her childhood was rough, Pitts always escaped that reality by focusing on those moments of happiness she experienced under the surface. It is her hope to inspire children from non-traditional homes and environments to hold on to their memories and follow their dreams. Pitts believes there is joy in every situation but it is up to us to find it.

Pitts currently works as an Administrative Assistant for a Youth Pastor and knows through spiritual guidance, she has finally found true happiness. Pitts is in the process of releasing her second book entitled “I Love My Skin….This Skin I’m in”. It is her intentions to continue writing books that will touch people in a profound way.

For more information please visit www.myspace.com/christmasonourblock.

NOTE: If you are an author or if you know any authors that might be interested in doing something like this, please do not hesitate to let me know. Also you do not have to be an author to raise awareness for missing children, any way you can will be great - even if it's just linking to this post or my blog. Thanks for your help!