Missing, murdered Black women and girls task force; push continues

Missing, murdered Black women task force push

There?s new life to the effort to pass a bill that would create a task force for missing and murdered African American women and girls in Wisconsin.

MILWAUKEE - There’s new life to the effort to pass a bill that would create a task force for missing and murdered African American women and girls in Wisconsin. Legislators pushing the bill hope the third time is the charm.

The backstory:

Signs displayed inside the Wisconsin Capitol shed light on alarming statistics from The Guardian: Wisconsin ranked No. 1 in the nation for the highest rate of homicide among Black women and girls in 2020.

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"How much longer must we wait before the state that we live in decides to do something with the worst disparity in the nation?" said State Rep. Shelia Stubbs. "It is not fair to these victims and their families that they have to continue to wait."

Since 2021, Stubbs has been pushing to pass a bill to create the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force. The Wisconsin State Assembly passed her bill in 2024, but it stalled in the Senate.

Push for task force on missing Black women

Wisconsin Representative Shelia Stubbs urges the state to set up a special task force on missing and murdered Black women and girls.

"I'm hopeful. I'm reintroducing this bill because I believe the people of Wisconsin will continue to advocate and support this legislation," Stubbs said. "There are so many families that reach out to my office saying it's near and dear time that this legislation is passed."

Columbia researchers found Black women in Wisconsin between 2019 and 2020 were 20 times more likely to be murdered than white women. The researchers said that was the worst disparity in the country.

The task force would be made up of police, survivors, attorneys, and victims' rights experts. It would look into what leads to violence against these people, and the task force would have to give recommendations on how to stop it. 

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What you can do:

Stubbs also put out a call for anyone with missing loved ones to contact her office. 

What they're saying:

The faces of the task force are victims from southeast Wisconsin: Joniah Walker, LaSheaky Hill and Sade Robinson.

"Unfortunately, three years ago, my daughter was lured away online, and I haven’t seen her since," said Tanesha Howard, Walker's mother.

Robinson went missing after a first date in 2024. In June, a jury found Maxwell Anderson guilty of killing her. Her mother, Sheena Scarbrough, has started a foundation in her honor.

Joniah Walker, Sade Robinson, LaSheaky Hill

"My angel was brutally murdered, dismembered and disrespectfully spread across Milwaukee," she said.

Now, with the re-introduction, the fight for funding continues to add a full-time position to the state Department of Justice to oversee task force efforts. Scarbrough supports Stubbs' vision for a 17-member task force.

"It doesn't matter if you are Black, Republican, Democrat, religion – it doesn’t matter. These are our babies," she said.

"It's something we need to invest in because it's about making our communities safer," said Attorney General Josh Kaul.