The Personal Stories Of Youth Violence In Macon

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Grant Blankenship/GPB

Shaquavia Woodard pauses at the casket of her former classmate Shar’Bora Yan’Kita Shyrell Daniels before Daniels’ funeral in the auditorium of Central High School in Macon in 2012.

This week GPB’s Macon bureau is embarking on a yearlong look at youth violence, including its causes and potential solutions. GPB Macon is just one of the local newsrooms tackling the issue, with their partners, the Macon Telegraph, the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University and CBS affiliate 13 WMAZ.

To begin the conversation, Sonya Green and Evey Wilson of the Center for Collaborative Journalism talked to anonymous teenagers. They remained anonymous because of their fear of reprisal for speaking out about how violence has affected their lives.

Click through to hear the audio piece of local students sharing their personal stories.