Black women and girls in Wisconsin face alarmingly high rates of homicide, yet legislative efforts to address the crisis have repeatedly stalled, according to a recent report from WPR.

On Friday, Democratic State Rep. Shelia Stubbs of Madison announced she is reintroducing a bill to establish a Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force within the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

The proposed 17-member task force would investigate the root causes of violence against Black women and girls, improve data collection, and recommend policy solutions. The bill includes $80,200 in funding for a full-time DOJ staffer to oversee the initiative.

“Today, we say no more to violence facing African American women and girls,” Stubbs said. “We say no more to the disappearance of our loved ones. We say no more to the lack of resources, the lack of awareness, the lack of support for the issues that have impacted so many Wisconsinites.”

A National Crisis, Worse in Wisconsin

Research underscores the urgency of the issue. A 2023 Lancet study found Black women nationwide are murdered at higher rates than white women—a disparity unchanged since 1999. Wisconsin’s gap is the worst in the U.S. In 2020, Black women were 20 times more likely to be murdered than white women. Additionally, missing women of color receive far less media coverage than missing white women.

The bill has gained support from Sheena Scarbrough, whose daughter, Sade Robinson, was brutally murdered in Milwaukee last year. Robinson, a 19-year-old college student, became a tragic symbol of the violence Black women face.

“My angel was brutally murdered, dismembered and disrespectfully spread across Milwaukee in the worst possible way,” Scarbrough said to WPR. “You can imagine the things that we have gone through as a family.”

Stubbs first introduced the bill in 2021, but it died without a hearing. A revised version passed Wisconsin’s GOP-led Assembly last session but stalled in the Senate. Some Republicans, like former Sen. Duey Stroebel were against the bill. 

“I believe that every person who is missing or murdered deserves equal justice under the law,” Stroebel has previously said.  “I have a difficult time legislating in a way that allows government to prioritize justice based on a victim’s race or gender.”