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 Sherman Park Uprising After a tragic officer involved shooting, unrest broke out in the 4th Senate District. Soon, we were on the national news. There is a lot of trauma that we must address. I feel for the people who are hurting. I mourn for the friends and family of the young man who was killed, and I feel for the entrepreneurs who saw their work go up in smoke. We must not only clean up the damage done to our community, we must clean up generations of damage done to our people. We live in a whirlpool of trauma. We hear the gunshots, we see the poverty and we live with the results of mass incarceration. The Sherman Park uprising was a community calling for change in the only way it knew how: out of frustration from untreated pain. What’s happening in Milwaukee is about more than a response to an isolated officer-involved shooting. Last week was about Milwaukee being rated the most segregated city in America; it was about this being the worst place in the nation to raise a black child; it was about the educational, economic and incarceration disparities we see every day in our community that have not been corrected. Each and every one of these items is a piece of kindling that was added to the fire that burned in Milwaukee last week. Most parents in Wisconsin don’t have to worry if their child will ever see their first birthday, graduate high school and go to college or get a job. Most parents don’t have to worry that their child will turn to a life of crime out of desperation and end up perpetuating the cycle of trauma in our neighborhoods. Now more than ever, our people need understanding, not judgment. We need love and faith. We need calm, we need answers and we need solutions. If you want more information about my thoughts about these events, please feel free to look at these interviews here and here. Lincoln Hills Back in the News When it comes to our children, safety should be a priority and that extends to children in the Juvenile Justice system. It doesn’t matter if you have been convicted of a crime or not; everyone deserves to be safe, especially when they are in the care of the state. This is why I find the most recent news in a string of reported misconduct at Lincoln Hills to be absolutely appalling. According to information released by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, staff at the prison were taught to use abusive techniques when dealing with teenage offenders. The product of the training led to a large amount of injuries including broken arms and wrists. How anyone can see this as acceptable is beyond me. Those incarcerated are under the care of the state and should be kept safe regardless of their criminal record. The fact that these injuries happened to Juvenile offenders makes this news even more sickening; kids in the Juvenile Justice system deserve time to reflect and improve their futures, not more pain. While this was certainly a tragedy, you’ll be comforted to know that the training officer is no longer with the Department of Corrections and all employees have been retrained on safer and more humane tactics. Higher Ed In UW Madison, officials are adding new aspects to their programs meant to reduce sexual assault. The additions, which include involving graduate and professional students in mandatory training, required workshops for students, and increased bystander training for student athletes and Greek life, aim to increase student awareness about sexual assault. Meanwhile, the UW System at large has requested funds to implement cultural fluency across its campuses, a move which echoes the cultural competency programs UW Madison will soon implement this academic year. These programs are a step forward for higher education.  To allow our students to learn, we must promote environments that make it safe for them to do so. Educating students on race and sexual assault is crucial; if we want our young people to be positive impacts in their community, we must give them the resources to do so. I look forward to seeing these programs rolled out officially and hope to see them implemented across the UW system as a whole. Thanks you! I’d like to take a moment to voice my sincere thanks to the voters who rewarded my 13 years of work on August 9^th. Being a senator has never been about the title for me; it’s about the work. I am a public servant, not a politician, and over the last thirteen years, my team and I have put a lot of hard work into serving you. We’ve passed 101 bills into law, brought hundreds of millions of dollars back to our community and we’ve been contacted more than 75,000 times from over 50,000 people. The day after the election, people began to ask me “what’s next?” The answer is simple: I’m going to keep working for you and I will continue to give a voice to the voiceless. This includes our prisoners, who are too often locked away and forgotten, our children, who deserve a quality education, and our community as a whole. Over the next four years, you can expect the same service that I have given over the last thirteen years, and I encourage you to reach out to me. As my team and I plan my January agenda, I’d love to hear your feedback. If you have an idea you think should be a law, call me at 414-342-7176 or email me at sen.taylor@legis.wisconsin.gov.	Stay in touch: Email: Sen.Taylor@legis.wi.gov     Milwaukee:  414-342-7176     Madison:     608-266-5810 Community Events: Haircuts for a Cause August 29th. 10-7 726 N. Milwaukee St., and in Mequon at 11649 N. Port Washington Road Stylists will be cutting hair for who want to donate their long locks to Children With Hair Loss. The wigs are provided to children for no cost. Each haircut will cost $10.
	Quote of the Week: “The flames that burned in Milwaukee last weekend after an officer-involved shooting death have been slowly burning for generations. Our problems run deep and cannot be solved in one 30 minute television sitcom.” -Sen. Lena Taylor on the unrest in Milwaukee This is an official government communication from Sen. Lena C. Taylor. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here to send me an email to unsubscribe.