"Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children" (2020 release; 5 episodes of about 55 min. each) is a documentary mini-series about the slew of young black kids who were murdered or disappeared in Atlanta 40 years ago. As Episode 1 opens, it is "March 21, 2019", and Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor of Atlanta, and then Erika Shields, Atlanta Chief of Police, address the press, informing them and the public at large that they are reopening the investigations into the many unresolved cases, all of which took place between 1979 and 1981. We then go back in time, as we are introduced to Atlanta's background, becoming a mecca for blacks, and electing a black mayor for the first time in 1974. "Is the black mecca a myth or a reality?", asks the voice-over. It leads to the first case, when on July 28, 1979, two decomposed bodies are found in remote southwest Atlanta... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.
Couple of comments: as I didn't move to the US until 1983 (from Belgium), I was completely unaware and unfamiliar with this story. It absolutely blows the mind when you think about it: over a period of 23 months, 30 black kids (most of them in the 9 to 16 age range) met their demise or "were disappeared", and most of these cases were never resolved. Say what?!? Based on Episode 1, this series is a two-for-one: of course there is the question as to who committed these crimes (and why), but in a separate yet clearly parallel path, we look at the troubled history of racial tensions and the civil rights movement is Atlanta, the self-proclaimed "Empire City of the South" and "The City Too Busy To Hate". Of course the late 70s and early 80s are also a point in time when urban decay was at or near its peak, and we get to witness this as well, courtesy of the archive TV and film footage of that era. I can't wait to see the remaining episodes.
"Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children" premiered this weekend on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. New episodes air Sunday evenings at 8 pm Eastern. If you are a fan of true crime stories or of the underlying racial tensions that were (are?) found in big cities like Atlanta, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
