Gun Violence: In Memoriam

By FSM News South

Gun violence prevention has always been a topic of much discussion in Chicago, but this time it hit particularly close to home as an FSM News South alumni, Jessica Finnister, was recently shot and passed away (donations can be made to her family through the GoFundMe page).  We created this video in honor of our loved ones who have been lost. 

FSM News South crew member, Ivory Connor, also wrote a letter about her uncle who she recently lost to gun violence. She read it at a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush.

"Gun violence has become an epidemic in the city of Chicago. Nothing could have prepared my family and I for the murder of my uncle. He was shot 8 times, innocently standing on the redline station waiting on a friend to pick him up. He was murdered by an ex offender who recently had gotten off of house arrest. The offender accused my Uncle of, 'standing on his turf.'  At the time of his death he was only 23 years old. If anyone knew my uncle he was always happy. It took my grandmother nine months to give him the gift of this life and it took a gun only one second to take him out of this world. Because my uncle doesn’t have a voice anymore I AM HIS VOICE! It is my duty to speak not just for my uncle but also for the ones who could no longer speak for themselves. That’s why I stand before you today asking for stricter gun laws. So no family should ever have to endure what my family is enduring right now."