Precious Lives

On Saturday, August 14th, a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed 23-year old Sylville Smith near the intersection of West Auer Avenue and North 44th Street. The police department reported that Smith had a gun and refused to drop it. Details are still unfolding. What we do understand is that in the Sherman Park neighborhood where this took place, tensions had been mounting for weeks. Sylville’s death sparked peaceful protests, as well as violent unrest. Footage of buildings set aflame brought national attention to the Milwaukee and its struggles. Precious Lives host Eric Von lives in Sherman Park. And producer Aisha Turner had been reporting on a related story for about a week before the major headlines began to unfold. Eric and Aisha sat down with executive producer Brad Lichtenstein to share their thoughts about what led to the the unrest and what they think is going to be necessary for the community to move forward.