Tune In: Our ‘Silence In Sikeston’ Project Is Now Available
A multimedia reporting project from KFF Health News, Retro Report, and GBH's WORLD explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police shooting in the same rural Missouri community.
KFF Health News:
Podcast Episode 2: Hush, Fix Your Face
In Episode 2 of the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma. (Anthony, 9/17)
→ Catch up on Episode 1 of the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast: “Racism Can Make You Sick”
KFF Health News:
Watch: New Documentary Film Explores A Lynching And A Police Killing 78 Years Apart
In 1942, a young Black man named Cleo Wright was removed from a Sikeston, Missouri, jail and lynched by a white mob. Nearly 80 years later, another young Black man, Denzel Taylor, was shot at least 18 times by police in the same small community. In the hourlong “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film broadcast on WORLD’s “Local, USA,” KFF Health News and Retro Report explore how the impact of these men’s killings tells a story about trauma and racism, but also resilience and healing. (Anthony, 9/17)
→ Read KFF Health News’ Midwest Correspondent Cara Anthony’s essay about what reporting on this project helped her learn about her own family’s hidden past.
→ Click here for more details on the "Silence in Sikeston" project.
