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.
Stemming from a reporting trip by KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony in 2020, this film takes the audience to Indiana, Alabama, and where it all began in the southeastern corner of Missouri known as the Bootheel.
Wright’s lynching put this rural community on a world stage and led to the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching. But no one was held accountable. The killing was quickly hushed among locals, and his name was largely forgotten. When Taylor was shot by police in 2020 —a year when protests about police brutality rocked the nation — his killing drew little attention.
The film breaks the silence and shares the stories of these men’s families, community members, and police to uncover the consequences of this trauma on Sikeston. A limited-series podcast exploring the health effects of racial violence and articles are also part of this journalism collaboration.
“Being quiet isn’t the answer,” Michael Snider, Cleo Wright’s great-grandson, told the filmmakers.
Credits
KFF Health News
Producer and reporter: Cara Anthony
Editors: Taunya English, Kytja Weir
Copy editors: Terry Byrne, Gabe Brison-Trezise
Web producers: Lynne Shallcross, Oona Zenda, Lydia Zuraw
Photographer: Michael B. Thomas
Social media producers: Tarena Lofton, Hannah Norman
Retro Report
Director: Jill Rosenbaum
Writer: Jill Rosenbaum
Editors: Cheree Dillon, Brian Kamerzel
Senior producer: Karen M. Sughrue
Executive producer: Kyra Darnton
WORLD
Host: Tina M. McDuffie
Producer and editor: Hannah Paul
Digital producer: Sharon Wong
Editor: Jill Poisson, Cecilia Préstamo
Assistant editor: Abhi Indrekar
Digital associate producer: Brigitte McIndoe
Post-production assistant: Jenny Tan
Senior editorial adviser: Judith Vecchione
Project manager, acquisition and distribution: Georgiana Lee
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.