MADISON, Wis. — A Democratic Wisconsin lawmaker is reviving her proposal to create a state task force on missing and murdered African American women.
It’s the third time Rep. Shelia Stubbs, of Madison, has brought this bill forward to find solutions to the disproportionate levels of violence experienced by Black women in Wisconsin. In the last legislative session, it passed the state Assembly with strong bipartisan support but died in the Senate, where Republicans never scheduled it for a vote.
“How many more victims do we need in this state before we do something?” Stubbs said at a press conference on Friday. “It is not fair to these victims and their families that they have to continue to wait for this Legislature to do something.”
Watch: Wisconsin lawmakers revive proposal for task force on missing and murdered Black women
Republican opponents of the bill last session said they wanted to give equal attention to all victims of crime and not single out one racial group.
Columbia University researchers in 2020 found that Black women were 20 times more likely to be murdered than white women in Wisconsin – the greatest disparity of any state in the country.
"This is not a political thing for me. This is my daughter's life,” said Sheena Scarbrough, whose daughter Sade Robinson was murdered and dismembered in Milwaukee last year.
If created, the task force would seek to identify and address the causes of violence against Black women. Other states have created similar groups.
“This is needed. It’s urgent. There needs to be a network between families when you have a missing or murdered individual. There needs to be a systemic way of having the data, triaging it, getting resources quicker,” Scarbrough said.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
