Representative Shelia Stubbs, Ms. Sheena Scarbrough, Ms. Tanesha Howard, and Community Partners Testify in Support of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force Legislation in Senate Hearing

Madison, WI – Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families held a public hearing on Senate Bill 404-Relating to: creating a Task Force on Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls and making an appropriation. Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) released the following statement:

“Yesterday, I had the honor of testifying before the Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families in support of Senate Bill 404, which would create a task force on missing and murdered African American women and girls in the State of Wisconsin.

I would like to acknowledge my co-authors Senator Jesse James, Senator LaTonya Johnson, and Representative Patrick Snyder and thank them for their bipartisan collaboration and continued support on this legislation.

In the hearing, we also heard testimony from victims’ families who have been deeply impacted by this issue. I want to recognize Ms. Sheena Scarbrough, mother of Sade Robinson and Ms. Tanesha Howard, mother of Joniah Walker and thank them for coming and sharing their stories.

I also want to thank all of the community partners and organizations in attendance who voiced their strong support for this legislation, including Madison Police Department Chief John Patterson, Executive Director of Wisconsin Catholic Conference Barbara Sella, and Mr. Ralph Sirmons.

Senate Bill 404 is necessary to improve the mechanisms for preventing, investigating, and healing from all forms of gender-based violence in our state, which impact women and girls of all racial backgrounds, but which affect Black women and girls at the highest rate.

In 2020, across our nation, 90,333 Black women and girls were filed as missing, and 5 Black women were killed every day.

In that year, Wisconsin, the state I love, the state I live in, the state where I’m raising my family, had the highest homicide rate for African American women and girls in the entire United States of America at 20.2/100,000, which had doubled from the previous year’s rate of 10.1/100,000.

Underlying this startling rate of Black female homicide are various other forms of violence, including sexual violence and domestic violence, which African American women across the nation suffer at higher rates than their white counterparts.

The challenges to addressing the crisis of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls are numerous.

First, we are lacking crucial data, especially in Wisconsin. Furthermore, the data already gathered is insufficient and lacks critical detail to understand the circumstances of violence.

Additionally, this crisis lacks public and media attention and care. According to some sources, the press is 4 times less likely to report on the disappearance of a person of color.

Compounding on the lack of public and media attention, difficulties with the criminal justice system also play a major role in the racial disparities between outcomes of missing persons and homicide cases.

Senate Bill 404 would create a Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force for the State of Wisconsin. This 17-member task force would consist of legislators, law enforcement experts, community partners that address violence impacting Black women and girls, and Black victims of gender-based violence and their families.

The task force would be charged with collecting data on this issue, providing support to victims and their families, and identifying and addressing the underlying structural issues that contribute to the crisis we see today.

Our neighboring states of Minnesota and Illinois have taken measures to investigate and prevent these disproportionate levels of violence. Through their state legislatures, both have created task forces to examine the root causes of gender-based violence against women of color.

This task force will specifically investigate missing and murdered African American Women and Girls because of all women in our state, they are the most likely to be victimized by violence. However, by getting to the roots of this violence and combating them, we will prevent and reduce violence for all women in Wisconsin.

Since I first introduced this bill in the 2021 legislative session, it has gotten not just local, not just statewide, not just national, but international attention. From organizations like Community Justice Action Fund and March for Our Lives, to media outlets like The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report, people across our country are looking to Wisconsin for action. Today, I am proud to report that this bill has received 12 letters of support.

The momentum around this legislation is growing, because the people of Wisconsin have realized the magnitude of this issue.

The people of Wisconsin have realized that we cannot wait for one more African American woman or girl to be murdered or go missing.

The people of Wisconsin have realized that no community is safe until every community is safe.

I am grateful for today’s opportunity to testify in support of this necessary legislation that will ensure safety and justice for all Wisconsinites.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.