MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Wisconsin lawmakers are asking the state to set up a special task force on missing and murdered Black women and girls.

Rep. Shelia Stubbs and Attorney General Josh Kaul spoke alongside other community leaders and families of missing and murdered Black women at the Wisconsin State Capitol Thursday to propose the bill for the special task force.

The Wisconsin State Assembly passed the bill in 2024, but it not make it to the senate floor for a vote. Now, Stubbs said she is trying again.

“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 across the state.”

Stubbs said the 17-person task force would consist of law enforcement, lawyers, survivors and victims rights advocates. The group would look into specific cases of missing and murdered Black women while offering recommendations to prevent these cases from happening in the future.

Sheena Scarbrough, the mother of Sade Robinson, also spoke at the event. Robinson was brutally murdered in Milwaukee in 2024 just weeks before her 20th birthday.

“There’s no amount of therapy that’s ever going to heal me,” Scarbrough said. ” My angel was brutally murdered, dismembered and disrespectfully spread across Milwaukee in the worst possible way you could imagine.”

She said more resources are necessary to keep Black women safe.

“It doesn’t matter what your race is, it doesn’t matter if you are Black, Democrat, Republican,” Scarbrough said. “It doesn’t matter. These are our babies. This was my daughter. She was a granddaughter, she was a sister. She had her whole life ahead of her.”

Attorney General Josh Kaul said protecting Black women and girls through crime prevention can help everyone feel safer long term.

“That can help every Wisconsinite in every community feel safe where they live,” Kaul said.

Stubbs said she is hoping to receive a bill number for the task force in the next ten days.

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