On behalf of End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin (End Abuse), our statewide coalition of victim service providers and advocates, and on the day of the Senate Hearing for Senate Bill 404 /Assembly Bill 392, I again express strong support of establishing a Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force in Wisconsin.
As Executive Director, I have the privilege of working closely with survivors, community organizations, and frontline advocates across our state. Their experiences, supported by data, make clear that urgent, coordinated action via this Task Force is necessary to address profound disparities in violence affecting African American women and girls in Wisconsin. In the development of this Task Force, I see an obvious opportunity to address our state’s severely lacking institutional response to violent and preventable inequity.
Nationally, Black women and girls experience disproportionately high rates of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and homicide. According to an investigation by the Guardian, Wisconsin has the highest homicide rate for Black women and girls. Black women are 20 times more likely to die by homicide than white women, and Black women are more likely than white women to be killed by guns. Further, disproportionate media coverage limits public awareness and calls for accountability. By some accounts, the press is 4 times more likely to report on white missing persons cases compared to cases where a Black or brown person is missing.
These harms too often remain unseen, underreported, or inadequately investigated. Families are left without answers, and communities shoulder the weight of unresolved trauma. Systemic racism, sexism, economic inequality, and longstanding barriers to safety drive preventable tragedies. This is a statewide crisis that demands a comprehensive, data-informed response defined and led by those most impacted.
The Task Force would examine contributing factors to violence, improve investigations, develop strategies to prevent violence, and support impacted families. It would offer a practical, evidence-based mechanism to coordinate between state agencies, legislators, tribal and community leaders, victim service providers, law enforcement, public health experts, and survivors. Resource disparities and systemic racism can be better addressed via strengthened coordination between local, state, and federal partners, ensuring no case is overlooked. Data collection and analysis would identify patterns, gaps, and systemic points of failure that could be addressed via recommendations for improving prevention, early intervention, reporting, and investigative practices.
Centering lived experiences of survivors’ and families’ voices is essential to address where current systems fall short. This Task Force offers an opportunity to address root causes of violence and support culturally-specific services and community-led safety strategies to a crisis Wisconsin has failed to adequately address via policy and funding.
End Abuse knows firsthand how culturally specific advocacy and community partnerships save lives. Organizations that serve African American women and girls are uniquely positioned to address barriers that mainstream systems may not fully recognize or understand, and they often do this work with limited funding despite high demand. Now more than ever in the context of extreme funding insecurity for these very programs, the Task Force can elevate and support life-saving programs, ensuring they have needed resources, visibility, and partnerships to keep communities safe.
Every Wisconsinite deserves safety, to be believed, and to receive a timely and thorough response when they or their loved ones go missing or are harmed. This Task Force is a critical step toward what these women and girls deserve. I encourage review of the expertise offered in End Abuse’s February 2025 panel of survivors, family and community members, antiviolence advocates, and experts in gender-based violence. The discussion is summarized in our latest Homicide Report, and laid bare a series of interlocking issues as well as a throughline: an imperative to follow the leadership of those most impacted.
Thank you for your commitment to the safety and well-being of all Wisconsinites. I urge you to support legislation that establishes a well-resourced Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force. Wisconsin has the expertise, the community will, and the moral obligation to act, today. End Abuse remains in support of this initiative and ready to collaborate closely with Task Force members as the work continues.
Monique Minkens
Executive Director, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin
*graphics include quotations taken from the December 11, 2025 article, “The Killing of Black Women in America: A Public Health Crisis,” by Dustin Roberto