In 1942, a Black man was lynched by a mob in Sikeston, Missouri; in 2020, a young, Black father was shot and killed by police in the same small city. Speaking about these two violent tragedies, and the trauma that’s reverberated throughout the Black community, has proven difficult for the residents of Sikeston even today.
The film “Silence in Sikeston” explores how silence hinders the process of communal healing. To accompany the one-hour Local, USA documentary, now streaming on YouTube, KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony hosts a podcast by the same name that dives deeper into the generational effects of unhealed trauma and the grief that goes unacknowledged.
Anthony, who grew up in Illinois and works in Missouri, has been a journalist for 15 years, the last five of which, she says, have been focused on public health in the Midwest.
“I like to tell people that I am a descendant of the Great Migration, because my parents and grandparents moved from the South to the Midwest during that period, and so I've made my home there, and now I'm telling stories from there,” she said.
Throughout the limited series podcast, Anthony speaks with Sikeston residents, thought leaders and her own family members about what the community has experienced and how racism, racial violence and the ensuing trauma can take a devastating toll on our physical bodies.
“Suffering in silence is not just a thing that people say – it’s happening in real time,” she said. “People have experienced that across generations, and I think it's important for us to shine a light on those stories, because it can have a real impact on everyone. Even though it’s difficult and maybe makes people uncomfortable, they’re absolutely necessary to watch and listen to.”
Anthony sat down with Chris Hastings, executive producer and editor-in-chief at WORLD, to talk about the multi-platform project, her roles in its production and why the storytelling behind it is so integral to who she is and the issues she holds most important, personally and professionally.
WORLD: Tell us about the two stories told through “Silence in Sikeston.”
Cara Anthony: “Silence in Sikeston” is both a film and a podcast about a small community in the rural part of Missouri where a man named Cleo Wright was lynched in 1942. A lot of people don't know this – his case was America's first federally investigated lynching – but the story largely went untold. For a long time, people in Sikeston didn't really talk about it, because they were afraid to, even though they were living under the weight of that burden. We examine the silence around his case, and we also make a connection between lynching and modern-day police violence [through] the case of Denzel Taylor. [This project] helps us understand where we were, how we're doing, and where we're going next.
It’s a dual narrative: These are stories about Black men who were dealing with public health threats that were unique to the time that they were living in. For Cleo Wright, it was lynching; for Denzel Taylor, it is police violence and police killings. It was important to tackle both, because they are deeply connected. Black people in this country are still trying to figure out how to stay safe, how to keep their families safe, so it was critical for us to make sure that we made that modern-day connection and that it wasn't just a historical story.
W: How does the “Silence” connect to your public health background?
CA: I love telling stories about people. And health aligns, because we all live in a body. Public health, in particular, is in the air that we breathe. I tell people that, as public health reporters [at KFF Health News], it's our job to look at the wellness of a community: what makes a community sick, what's harming a community, and what's causing death in a community.
Oftentimes, we look at a police killing, or even a historic lynching, as a crime story, but really, it’s a public health story. I want people to understand that when you see a headline run across your news screen about another Black man being killed, it's not just affecting the victim’s family – it's affecting an entire community across generations.
Racism, including violence that can come with it, can make you sick. Racism can make an entire community sick. Communal mourning and grief is real. It's one thing to experience trauma; it's another to not be able to talk about it. It’s an added layer of pain and hurt that can have all sorts of health effects. That's why I wanted to make sure that we looked at this as a public health story.
W: In what ways does the podcast expand upon what we see in the film?
CA: The director of the film, Jill Rosenbaum, wanted the residents of Sikeston to tell their own story. In one [instance], a lynching witness is being interviewed by her granddaughter, which is a special way to tell the story. In the podcast, though, we talk about public health and my family story – what happened to my uncle when he was killed by a police officer. You'll hear some of my early interactions with residents during my first trip in 2020 as I started to realize how big the story was.
We had no idea that [Wright’s death] was America's first federally investigated lynching, but as time went on, these things started to be revealed. I thought, “There's something going on here.” So, you'll hear more about public health, how racism and racial violence can make you sick, and how to talk about it with your family members. I've had tough conversations with my father. I'm even trying to figure out how to talk to my 7-year-old daughter about these things, and the thing that I cherish is being able to have a template to have a conversation with her. I hope that other people feel inspired by that as well.
W: What is the importance of the storytelling we experience in “Silence in Sikeston”?
CA: One of my favorite quotes is something that Jay-Z said in a New York Times interview: “You cannot heal what you won't reveal.” That became my mantra as we pursued this story. If we don't talk about our wounds and our trauma, how can we heal?
There are people who have challenged me and said, “It’s easier to focus on Black joy." But I make the argument that we cannot have joy without pain, and the two go together. Just as much as we focus on Black joy, resilience and resistance, our pain matters, too, because people and communities are hurting. Black Americans are still dying at the hands of the police, and it is absolutely necessary for us to look at it even when it makes people uncomfortable. It was necessary for Ida B. Wells to look at it during the lynching era, so if she lived through it, certainly, I can, too.
Silence in Sikeston: A Local, USA Special is now streaming online, on YouTube & on the PBS app.
Listen to Silence in Sikeston: The Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
Learn more about Silence in Sikeston in our watch guide.
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