StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Being Able To Forgive Makes More Life Possible’

lisa daniels
Lisa Daniels at the StoryCorps booth in Chicago. Courtesy of StoryCorps
lisa daniels
Lisa Daniels at the StoryCorps booth in Chicago. Courtesy of StoryCorps

StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Being Able To Forgive Makes More Life Possible’

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Last year, Lisa Daniels visited the Chicago StoryCorps booth with a friend. Daniels wanted to talk about her son, Darren Easterling, a father of two, who was shot and killed during a drug deal that went bad.

Daniels’ son died in 2012. Four years later, she was still struggling with how to respond to his death.

During that initial StoryCorps conversation, Daniels said victims’ families usually want to put distance between themselves and the people who hurt their loved ones.

A few weeks ago, Lisa Daniels came back to StoryCorps, with another friend, Tom Hurley. She wanted to talk about something that took place a few months ago, the day that she came face-to-face with the man who killed her son in open court.

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps Chicago and teaches journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him @chicagoan.