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?

#065 Precious Lives: Students Learn They Have the Right to Dream Through Writing

WUWM 89.7 FM

Published April 12, 2016 at 10:37 AM CDT

Khalil Coleman and his students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School declare that the dream is still alive.

Most homicide victims are African American men and boys. So how are young people supposed to feel entitled to their dreams when the odds are stacked against them?

Khalil Coleman, educator and community activist, teaches writing workshops at several Milwaukee Public Schools. He's brought into schools to help students find their voice.

Students write essays they call “rights to life,” where they claim ownership over their entitlements as humans. For example, having and holding a dream is a basic right to life. But sometimes the environment students live in can obscure their dreams.