Precious Lives

Stories about kids, guns and how to stop the violence. Precious Lives, created by 371 Productions, is a 2-year, 100-part weekly radio series about gun violence and young people in the Milwaukee area. The series applies a public health lens to each story to help listeners understand the full scope of the problem: who are the victims and the shooters; how are the weapons obtained; and what can we change about the environment that contributes to violence in Milwaukee?

#075 Precious Lives: Stories, Songs and Poems Highlight Gun Violence's Impact on Milwaukee

WUWM 89.7 FM | By Michelle Maternowski

Published June 21, 2016 at 10:05 AM CDT

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Shamira Mcghee sharing a poem she wrote on-stage at the Pabst Theater.

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Zanaria Banks and Warren Griffin-Yates on-stage.

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Reggie Moore, director of Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention, filled in for Eric Von as host.

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Leatanya Dunn works in youth development and lost her brother to gun violence.

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Youth mentor Damien Smith talks about the impact Barber Shop Mondays.

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Kiran Vee, composer of the Precious Lives radio series and the live show.

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Spoken word artist Thomas Leonard sharing a poem.

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Khary Penebaker shares the story of his mother's suicide and of being a gun violence survivor.

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Nicole Newsom sharing a poem she wrote.

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Timberley Brown shares how gun violence has impacted her life.

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Fidel Verdin co-founded Summer of Peace.

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The show ended with a celebration of all of Milwaukee's precious lives.

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On June 15 in front of a packed Pabst Theater, kids and adults who have been touched by gun violence took the stage to perform in Precious Lives: The Live Show.

Listen to the entire performance here:

WUWM and 371 Produced dedicates this performance to those in our community who have lost a loved one to gun violence and to everyone working for peace.

A question and answer session, moderated by Precious Lives executive producer Brad Lichtenstein, took place after the live performance. You can listen to the cast answer audience questions here:

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Post-show discussion where cast members answered audience questions.

Precious Lives: The Live Show is brought to you by WUWM in collaboration with 371 Productions, as part of Finding America, a national initiative produced by AIR, with financial support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.