Unsurprisingly, no action on racial disparities in Wisconsin

It seems, more and more, that it really wasn’t about ensuring change. On the heels of the deadly protests in Kenosha last summer, Wisconsin lawmakers were urged to address issues of police violence. Instead of dealing with the issues head on, they appointed a task force, something lawmakers like to do to make it look like they are addressing an issue without really expecting anything to change. The Chair of the Task Force admitted as much in publicly-released emails when he referred to the issue of police reform as a “political loser.” The Task Force on Racial Disparities has held a series of meetings since its inception last September, but has yet to put forth a single bill designed to address the problem, or even any recommendations. In short, nothing has changed. Not a single bill to require law enforcement to document and report use of force. So far they haven’t even agreed on what constitutes an excessive use of force. Wisconsin lawmakers were urged to vote on changes to how our communities are policed, but they chose not to hold that vote months ago, and the process continues to drag on. It seems more and more clear there was never really any intent to bring change, only to make it look like there was.