A public memorial for 19-year-old Sade Robinson, who was killed and dismembered last year, is moving forward with the help of a fundraising effort after Milwaukee County officials withdrew plans for the site due to a “flurry of racist emails.”
Robinson went missing in April after a first date. Maxwell Anderson, 33, was quickly named a person of interest in case. He was charged in April with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez said he had been in touch with Robinson’s mother to help create a memorial for her at Warnimont Park in Cudahy — the location of where one of Robinson’s body parts was found. A county resolution said $7,000 would be spent on the site.
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But during a recent Milwaukee County Committee on Parks and Culture meeting, Martinez withdrew the plan for the memorial after it received backlash from some in the community, including a “flurry of racist emails” from people opposed to the proposal.
“We have all agreed that it would be best to withdraw the resolution,” Martinez said during the meeting.
Martinez said he and Robinson’s mother wanted the memorial to “honor her legacy and honor her memory.”
“I just want to say shame on people for treating a grieving mother this way and making it a race thing, and treating her subhuman, when it’s absolutely unnecessary and absolutely unethical and it shows the most disgusting and detestable parts of our society,” Martinez said.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Jack Eckblad also said he received negative emails from some residents about the memorial.
“There are plenty of folks who just had honest, empathetic things to say, but there were others who really crossed several lines,” Eckblad said during the meeting.
The resolution for the memorial said it would honor and celebrate her life, and also, “bring awareness to the pervasive issue of gender-based violence against women of color.”
After those plans were withdrawn, Omar Shaikh, co-owner of 3rd Street Market Hall and Carnevor Steakhouse, announced he’d hold a private dinner to collect $4,000 for the memorial. But after receiving several messages of support from the community, he now plans to hold a fundraising event on Feb. 16 at 3rd Street Market Hall to raise money for the memorial and for Sade’s Voice Foundation.
“The donations are the most important, but also, I’d really love to show out and just have a ton of people come to be there and support to show love to the family, to show that look … most of this community are great people and care and have their back,” Shaikh said.
Shaikh said he has the county’s support. A statement from a spokesperson for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Crowley “fully supports the new grassroots fundraising effort to make the memorial a reality.”
Shaikh said people attending the event will be charged $50. It’s possible that more than $7,000 will be raised.
“Let’s get the memorial done, maybe they can do it in grander fashion,” Shaikh said. “Maybe they can throw a big party for the family or use it towards daily needs.”
During the debate at the committee meeting, Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Steve Taylor said said there should be a better process for how public memorials are approved.
“Taxpayer dollars are still taxpayer dollars,” Taylor said.
“It’s a slippery slope,” he added. “If you say yes to one [public memorial], now do you say yes to all, and now you’re picking and choosing — what’s more important, what tragedy is … sadder than the other.”
Robinson was ‘beloved by everybody’
Robinson was attending Milwaukee Area Technical College. A GoFundMe page set up for her family said she was a “loving daughter, a cherished sister, and a dear friend to many.”
Shaikh said she also worked at Pizza Shuttle, which now has a location inside 3rd Street Market Hall.
“They (the owners) told me she was kind of the face of the company,” Shaikh said. “She was so beloved by everybody, and just was such a great girl.”
In the days after Robinson went missing, body parts began to be found across the Milwaukee area. After Anderson was charged, local law enforcement officials called the crime “heinous” and a “horrendous tragedy.“
A criminal complaint said police executed a search warrant at Anderson’s home. The complaint said, “blood was located on bedding in one of the bedrooms and on the walls leading towards the basement.”
A jury trial for Anderson is set to start in May, according to online court records.
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