The state of Arizona issued its first Turquoise Alert this week, stirring a lot of curiosity and no small bit of confusion.

The first child named in such an alert was a 6-year-old White girl that Hawaii police were trying to locate because she was with her mother, who did not have legal custody of the child. 

The child had last been seen at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The alert was issued. The child was quickly found safe in Cottonwood.

But the alert itself raised questions. And in particular, this one:

A White girl? 

Much of the news around the Turquoise Alert and its obvious name reference to Arizona’s Indigenous peoples had centered on the serious problem of missing women and girls from those communities.

House Bill 2281 that established the alert was named “

© Arizona Republic