Sheena Scarbrough had read the headlines about missing and murdered Black people in Wisconsin and across the country — but never imagined it would hit so close to home.
On April 1, she spoke to her daughter Sade Carleena Robinson via FaceTime. On April 3 she found out the 19-year-old was missing. Scarbrough says she wasn’t notified of her daughter’s disappearance for two days, and instead of receiving updates from Milwaukee police or prosecutors, she learned more about the investigation on the evening television news.
“There’s so many other missing individuals in our community. This has been ongoing for a very long time,” she said. But there’s power in voting, she says. She wishes that she had an advocate during that time to navigate communication with police during the investigation.
Black women and girls make up 7% of the U.S. population and are 40% of the 550,000 missing women and girls cases as of 2022, according to federal data. In Wisconsin, the state’s Justice Department says there are 175 missing people from the state, but advocates say those numbers aren’t complete, especially as violence against Black women is on the rise.
In 2020, Black women were 20 times more likely to be murdered than white women in Wisconsin, according to a recent study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Those statistics are even more staggering when it comes to intimate partner, domestic and gun violence, in which Black, Indigenous and Latina women are disproportionately affected.
Since 2019, lawmakers in California and New York have followed Minnesota’s footsteps with passing legislative data-driven investigations into cases involving missing and murdered Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In Illinois, a task force has specifically focused on Black women and girls in Chicago. Scarbrough and state Rep. Shelia Stubbs said Wisconsin needs similar measures.
Stubbs, along with state Sens. LaTonya Johnson, a Democrat, and Jesse James, a Republican, have been advocating for an investigative task force to address these disparities, similar to an existing task force for missing and murdered Indigenous women overseen by the state’s attorney general’s office. However, the Republicans who stalled the bill from moving forward in the Senate have asked Attorney General Josh Kaul to take the lead.
“This is what I want the community to be aware of when they’re voting for their local government. They need to know who is advocating to bring justice, to get the funding for this task force,” Scarbrough said. “This ain’t no Republican [or] Democrat issue. I need all parties, all individuals on board. This is mandatory for our community, for the community of Milwaukee, to have a task force.”
Kaul has attributed the delay in creating the task force to budget concerns and wants to ensure the initiative can get off the ground. Stubbs, however, remains determined: “At the end of the day, I don’t care who does it, it needs to be done. I am optimistic to reintroduce this again — I’m not stopping.”
“To be degraded, and ignored”
Driving through Madison, Wisconsin, last month, Stubbs spotted an advertisement for a missing person. While she was concerned for the individual’s safety, she couldn’t help but notice the vibrant colors, large print, and clear photograph of the missing white person.
Stubbs pulled over to take a picture — a poignant reminder of her ongoing advocacy for the equitable treatment of cases involving missing and murdered Black women and girls. For three years, Stubbs has been pushing for a legislative investigation into the disparate handling of these cases by law enforcement. Without this information, Stubbs fears the number of Black crime victims may continue to increase in Wisconsin.
The striking flyer of the missing white person served as a stark contrast to the experiences many Black families face when trying to report a loved one missing. Black and white flyers, inaccurate descriptions, interrogations rather than support, and outright refusals to take reports are common realities that often deter families from reaching out to the police — fearing that the response would be inadequate and littered with racial bias.
“We have to treat all victims the same, not certain victims. I’ve never been a voice for just one type of victim,” Stubbs said in an interview ahead of Capital B’s Black Political Power Tour stop in Milwaukee on Thursday. “I believe in victims and victim voices in their families, but I’m seeing dismissiveness of African American victims, and I want to know why — it’s not OK.”
Read More: The Lawmakers Fighting the Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Black People
Stubbs, a former probation and parole officer, has listened to the painful stories of Black families in her district, particularly in predominantly Black areas of Milwaukee and Racine counties, who have felt ignored and disrespected when they approach the police about missing loved ones.
Wisconsin is among the worst places for Black people to live and was ranked the fourth-worst place economically for Black people in the country. The mother of Lasheky Hill, who went missing last March in Racine, shared her experience with Stubbs of being questioned about her daughter’s potential criminal behavior instead of receiving help.
“If your child is missing, the last thing you need is for her to be degraded and ignored,” Stubbs said, reflecting on the unknown number of families turned away when they attempted to file a report. “That’s one reason why we need this task force — because numbers are missing.”
Families like Hill’s and Scarbrough’s want the same level of attention, empathy, and resources given to missing white people to be extended to their cases.
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and Michigan U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell have reintroduced a resolution that calls in part to further prevent abusers from having access to guns.
Despite federal funding, there is a significant gap in accurately reporting the number of missing people in Wisconsin. The state Justice Department’s missing and exploited website lists only six missing Black women, but Wisconsin Missing Person’s Advocacy Inc. reports that their count has risen to 16. Additionally, two other organizations have identified four more cases, suggesting that there could be as many as 20 missing Black women and girls in Wisconsin since New Year’s Eve 1990, when Vanessa L. Smith was last seen.
Stubbs is disheartened that, despite the public attention surrounding Robinson’s case, no senators have reconsidered the pending legislation.
“I could not believe it,” Stubbs said.
“Still walking through grief”
Sade Robinson worked at the same Pizza Shuttle in Milwaukee as 15-year-old Joniah Walker, who went missing two years ago. Scarbrough remembers supporting Walker’s mother, Tanesha Howard, as she hung missing-person flyers across the city, and made daily posts on social media that she would reshare to her timeline.
During a press conference held by Stubbs in May, Howard spoke about the dismissive attitude of Milwaukee police, who claimed they had more pressing cases to handle than Walker’s. Stubbs echoed these concerns, pointing out that even the attorney general’s website inaccurately described Walker’s last known outfit. To date, Walker has not been found.
Today, Scarbrough thinks back to that April FaceTime call with Robinson.
“She looked so angelic that morning. She was glowing so beautifully. I don’t know what it was about that call,” Scarbrough, 43, told Capital B.
Daily calls were part of their routine; if one was busy, they would check in via text, but the following day would return to video or phone calls. Scarbrough had just started a new job and was preparing for graduate school to become a licensed professional counselor.
The Milwaukee Police Department declined to comment on Walker’s ongoing and active investigation, and referred questions about Robinson’s case to the Milwaukee County sheriff and district attorney offices. The department “takes all missing person investigations seriously and did extensive work on both of the missing persons investigations. We are committed to protecting and serving our community,” a spokesperson for the Milwaukee police wrote in an email to Capital B.
The detective informed Scarbrough that Robinson had been reported missing on April 2 when she missed her shift. Scarbrough later learned that Robinson had gone on a first date with 33-year-old Maxwell Anderson and had not been seen since. Scarbrough had kept close tabs on her daughter, who was a dedicated student in her last semester at Milwaukee Area Technical College, aiming for a career in military services.
As Scarbrough endured the questioning by police, her family gathered around her, including her daughter’s father, who traveled from Florida to provide DNA for testing on a severed leg found on a beach. Scarbrough was able to give the detective her daughter’s last known phone location because they had been tracking their phones for safety.
After days of hope, the family learned on April 11 that the found body part belonged to Robinson. Anderson, already in custody, faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder and mutilation of a corpse.
Robinson earned her associate’s degree posthumously in May. Her alma mater, Riverside University High School, has since launched a memorial scholarship in her honor, and a mural of Robinson has been painted on the building of the Pizza Shuttle she worked at for four years.
“Everything has been moving so fast since April. It’s overwhelming because I’m still walking through grief. I haven’t had a chance to breathe,” Scarbrough said, tears streaming down her face. “I’ve immediately had to take on endeavors that I could never have imagined. I’ve always advocated for others, and done case management, but my family and I, we didn’t ask to be placed in this position.”
Scarbrough still feels a connection with Robinson and believes her daughter continues to advocate for others who are missing.
“She’s been talking and speaking for others; my baby is still here,” Scarbrough said before taking a brief pause and placing her hand across her chest. “She communicates with me and gives me messages. She’s still fighting for the other missing people who have not been accounted for.”
This story has been updated.