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Official Government
Communication
Dear Friend,
Welcome to my
email newsletter. There is a lot happening at the State Capitol and it is
my hope that this email will help you stay in touch with your government.
As your Senator, I truly believe in public service. If there is anything
my office can do to assist you, please feel free to contact us.
Here to serve,
Sen. Lena
Taylor
4th District
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Improving
Community Relations with the Police
Milwaukee is in crisis. The
relationship between the police and our community is incredibly strained. The
police have been holding listening sessions with the community, but all the
talk in the world won’t help if they don’t follow through on their promises.
Respecting people and respecting life means only pulling over and detaining
people for probable cause, not because of their skin color. Action inclu des being respectful during
curbside interactions and during traffic stops. It also means that if you are
taken into custody, you aren’t murdered like Terrill Thomas, an inmate at
Milwaukee County Jail who died of dehydration while in the Sheriff’s
Department’s custody this past April.
If the police want to
rebuild trust with the community, they have to work for it. Sheriff Clarke
needs to understand that he can’t have a conversation with his community
while he’s miles away campaigning for Trump. If he wants to change things for
the better, he should be present, and that means working with the Department
of Corrections on training programs for those under his employ. Traveling
across the country instead of dealing with our community sends the message
that Clarke couldn’t care less about the issues of the people he’s been
elected to serve.
Walker has
Ties to Lead Paint
In leaked documents
obtained by The Guardian, a clear connection has been shown between
corporate money and  political action taken by Senate Republicans in the 2011-12
legislative session. The materials show a conservative third-party group Club
for Growth soliciting a $750,000 donation from NL Industries, a lead-paint
manufacturer, while Senate Republicans accepted money from CFG and passed
legislation making it more difficult for child victims of lead poisoning to
sue lead paint manufacturers like NL Industries. Even worse, Walker has
threatened the DA’s office’s staffing levels if they continue to look into
this case. Frankly, I am disgusted. These findings are beyond troubling and
show a disturbing undermining of the democratic process. Those who
participated in this exchange of cash for favors need to answer to the
families of these poisoned children. Their constituents deserve to know why
they were sold out and why their elected officials failed those they were
elected to serve.
Addressing
Milwaukee’s Trauma
After the unrest in Sherman
Park last month, the National Substance Abuse and M ental Health Services
Administration awarded the Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention a five
year $5 million grant to address trauma and assist at-risk youth and
families. This is great news. I have long said that the root of Milwaukee’s
problems is the trauma sustained by generations of systematic injustice. When
we start addressing this trauma, we also address countless other problems
that plague Milwaukee. I wish this program success and hope we’ll see more
opportunities like this in the future for our young people.
Ways to
help Lincoln Hills
It feels like every week we
get more disturbing news out of Lincoln Hills. This week was no different. We
learned t hat during a visit to the center in August 2015,
then-Corrections Secretary Ed Wall was told by multiple inmates that abuse
was happening at the center. He later also learned that corrections officers
were seizing and shredding inmates’ written complaints. We need more than
just simple reform: we need to look at alternative ways to treat our young people
who have committed criminal acts. We need programs that work to heal, not
harm, and we need corrections centers that keep these children close to their
families. While the Department of Corrections has asked for $3.3 million
dollars to get Lincoln Hills up to regulation, that is simply not enough.
Pouring money into a broken system will do nothing. I implore them to also
consider ways we can rehabilitate and heal our young people, like
implementing community-based visits and trauma-informed care. Getting our
centers to follow regulation should be expected, but need to be going above
and beyond for our young people in crisis.
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Community Events:
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