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. 

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.

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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.