In a partnership with Midwest Mujeres, WPR’s “Wisconsin Life” shares the stories of six women of color working to build community and better themselves in southern Wisconsin.
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Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores is involved in many different communities in Madison, Wisconsin. Not only is she involved in her near east side neighborhood association, but she’s also connected with fellow artists, community gardeners and chefs. Plus, she’s a mother and works with a number of young people.
“There’s a lot of momming that I do behind closed doors, mostly to LGBTQ, Black and brown youth who — for whatever reason — may not have supportive parents at home.”
Kilfoy-Flores talked about this as part of a storytelling partnership with Midwest Mujeres in Madison.
She has always been politically active. But there was one incident in Madison that changed everything for her.
“Yeah, it’s a hard one. My neighbor was killed by a police officer,” she said tearing up. “He wasn’t just a neighbor. He was a family friend. He was a friend of my daughter’s. He was the son of friends of mine.”
That friend was Tony Robinson Jr., the biracial 19 year-old shot and killed by a white Madison police officer in 2015.
“It’s been very, very hard to see the snowball of damage that his death has created,” Kilfoy-Flores added.
Robinson’s death sparked widespread demonstrations in the city. The Dane County district attorney did not press charges against police officer Matt Kenny, who fatally shot Robinson. The family has worked for years to try to change that. The family did settle a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2017.
Kilfoy-Flores and her daughter, Sirena Flores, channeled their grief by participating in the protests. Then, Sirena was arrested at a demonstration outside of her high school.
“She cried about the loss of freedom and that she had never felt so degraded and scared all at the same time,” said Kilfoy-Flores. “I don’t know that you ever heal from having your freedom taken away.”
The charges against Sirena Flores were later dropped. But, this moment — paired with the shooting — made Kilfoy-Flores want to do more. So, she joined Madison’s Police Civilian Oversight Board, the first of its kind in the state. The board works with an independent police monitor and makes recommendations around police use of force and discipline.
“While we don’t have say any say in punitive punishment for officers, we can make recommendations in terms of being able to investigate (someone) and find out, ‘Is this someone who has a history of abusing their authority or is this is this a good officer? Were they having a bad day? Is this something that is a misunderstanding or is this, in fact, misconduct on the officer’s part?'” said Kilfoy-Flores. “I believe that we have a lot of influence and sometimes that can make a difference.”
Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores on the UW-Madison campus just before recording her “Wisconsin Life” and Midwest Mujeres story on April 13, 2023. (Angela Major/WPR
Kilfoy-Flores is now the chair of the Police Civilian Oversight Board. One of her goals is to create a safer community for civilians AND officers.
“I’m hoping that this can be a sustainable tool for accountability, but also for creating a bridge for communication. I think it’s really important for our community to feel safe and our officers to feel safe, all of us together to feel safer,” said Kilfoy-Flores. “But particularly those who’ve been entrusted with our care, these people who have been put into positions of authority … for the community to be able to have more input in how we’re being policed, I think is really important.”
The Police Civilian Oversight Board has had its challenges. Progress has not been as quick as board members, like Kilfoy-Flores, had hoped. According to “Isthmus,” much of the board’s time in 2021 was spent finding an independent police monitor through a lengthy hiring process.
Then, Kilfoy-Flores had her own personal issue in 2023, when someone shot at her car on Madison’s east side.
Despite the recent challenges, Kilfoy-Flores continues to look forward. She has big goals. Once her time with the Police Civilian Oversight Board is up in fall 2024, she’d like to focus her attention on creating local, state and federal legislation surrounding police accountability. She’s also advocating for the expansion of East High School’s Moms On a Mission violence prevention program to become a citywide program.
And in the meantime, she hopes to encourage others to stand up for issues that they believe in.
“Be the change that you want to see. If you see that something needs to happen, sometimes you got to make it happen yourself,” she said. “We cannot always depend on others making the changes that we want. Sometimes you got to get off your duff and make it happen.”
Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores shared her story with us as part of a partnership with Midwest Mujeres in Madison. “Wisconsin Life” has partnered with the organization to share stories of women who live in southern Wisconsin.
The Midwest Mujeres cohort just before recording their stories for Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life” on April 13, 2023. (top l-r) Yazmin Lopez, Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores, (middle l-r) Araceli Esparza, Angela Morgan, Katalina Sanchez, (bottom) Samantha Green. (Angela Major/WPR)
