SIKESTON, Mo. — For residents of Sikeston, as for Black People across the nation, talking brazenly about experiences with racial violence will be taboo and, in some instances, forbidden.
As a baby, Larry McClellon’s mom informed him to not ask too many questions on the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright of their hometown of Sikeston. McClellon, now an outspoken activist, needs his neighborhood to acknowledge town’s painful previous, in addition to the racism and violence.
“They don’t need to discuss that topic,” McClellon stated. “That’s a hush-hush.”
Additionally on this episode, host Cara Anthony uncovers particulars of a police killing in her circle of relatives. Anthony unpacks her household’s story with Aiesha Lee, a licensed skilled counselor and an assistant professor at Penn State.
“This ache has compounded over generations,” Lee stated. “We’re going to must deconstruct it or heal it over generations.”
Host
Cara Anthony
Midwest correspondent, KFF Well being Information
@CaraRAnthony
Learn Cara’s tales
Cara is an Edward R. Murrow and Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists award-winning reporter from East St. Louis, Illinois. Her work has appeared in The New York Occasions, Time journal, NPR, and different retailers nationwide. Her reporting journey to the Missouri Bootheel in August 2020 launched the “Silence in Sikeston” challenge. She is a producer on the documentary and the podcast’s host.
In Dialog With …
Aiesha Lee
Assistant professor of counselor training, Penn State
click on to open the transcript
Transcript: Hush, Repair Your Face
Editor’s notice: If you’re ready, we encourage you to take heed to the audio of “Silence in Sikeston,” which incorporates emotion and emphasis not discovered within the transcript. This transcript, generated utilizing transcription software program, has been edited for model and readability. Please use the transcript as a software however examine the corresponding audio earlier than quoting the podcast.
Cara Anthony: A lynching isn’t an remoted, singular act.
The violence — and the silence round it — was a deliberate, community-wide lesson meant to be handed on.
And handed down.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: In Sikeston, Missouri, a 25-year-old soon-to-be father named Cleo Wright was lynched by a white mob.
It occurred in 1942. However you didn’t must be there, and even born but, to get the message.
Larry McClellon: I grew up right here in Sikeston, Missouri. My age … 77.
Cara Anthony: That’s neighborhood elder Larry McClellon.
He was born two years after Cleo Wright’s physique was dragged throughout the railroad tracks to the Black facet of city.
Larry McClellon: Again within the previous days, when darkish comes, you don’t need to be caught over right here after 6 o’clock. You need to be on this facet of the tracks.
I didn’t cross the road. As a result of I knew what was ready. I knew what time it was right here in Sikeston, Missouri.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: I’m Cara Anthony. I’m a journalist. I’ve been visiting Sikeston for years to work on a documentary movie and podcast concerning the lynching of Cleo Wright.
And the police killing in 2020 of one other younger, Black father, Denzel Taylor.
Larry McClellon: All these Black males are getting shot down, dropping their life.
Cara Anthony: Cleo and Denzel, killed some 80 years aside. In the identical metropolis.
Larry McClellon: They don’t need to discuss that topic. That’s a hush-hush.
Cara Anthony: On this episode of the podcast, we’re exploring how that “hush” hurts the neighborhood. And the way in which it hurts individuals’s well being.
Right here’s an instance: Larry says it’s arduous to really feel protected in your hometown when Black males are killed and practically everybody appears the opposite means.
Rising up, Larry had a number of questions on Cleo.
Larry McClellon: I used to ask Mother. You understand, “What is that this with this man that supposedly, uh, acquired lynched?” And she or he informed me, “Hey, you steer clear of that. … Don’t you be asking no questions on Cleo Wright as a result of that was only a no-no.”
Cara Anthony: Why was {that a} no-no?
Larry McClellon: As a result of she’s afraid for me that they’d most likely take me out and do one thing to me. Possibly bodily hurt or one thing like that.
Cara Anthony: “They” being white neighbors.
Regardless of these classes, Larry grew to become an outspoken activist for racial justice and police reform in Sikeston. He based a company right here referred to as And Justice for All.
Being vocal has come at a value, he says.
Larry McClellon: Any person referred to as me and stated, “Uh, Mr. Larry, your constructing is on fireplace.”
So, I didn’t even actually cling the cellphone up actual good. I simply jumped up and are available up the freeway.
Cara Anthony: It was April 2019 — Larry rushed to the headquarters of And Justice for All.
Larry McClellon: I may see the flame was excessive as something in Sikeston, may as nicely say. So, I will get up there and, uh, fireplace burning. So, all the fireplace division get on the market pouring water and every thing.
Cara Anthony: The constructing was a complete loss.
Larry McClellon: The constructing was set on fireplace. That’s what, that’s what occurred.
Who would are available in and destroy one thing like that?
Cara Anthony: The police report says it was arson, however nothing actually got here of the investigation. Larry suspects it was a focused assault — retaliation for his activism, for talking out. Retaliation that might proceed.
Larry McClellon: I acquired 4 acres over there. Quite a lot of timber and so forth. And a few of my very own individuals, they make jokes out of it someday, like, “Man, you going to be hanging from a type of timber down there, or someone’s going to set over in these bushes with a high-powered rifle and going to shoot you while you stroll out the door or shoot you while you pull up.”
Cara Anthony: And nonetheless, Larry’s determined he’s not going to carry his tongue.
As a result of protecting quiet causes its personal bother, its personal harm and ache.
That is “Silence in Sikeston.” The podcast all about discovering the phrases to say the issues that go unsaid.
From WORLD Channel and KFF Well being Information and distributed by PRX.
Episode 2: “Hush, Repair Your Face.”
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Larry’s protecting on along with his work in Sikeston. However all these warnings from his mom a long time in the past to maintain quiet about Cleo’s lynching left a mark.
I referred to as up Aiesha Lee to speak about this. She’s a licensed psychological well being skilled and likewise an assistant professor at Penn State.
One of many first issues she needed me to know is that silence has been used as a software of systemic oppression in America for a really very long time.
Aiesha Lee says lynching — and the neighborhood terror it triggered — was a part of a wider effort to impose white supremacy.
Aiesha Lee: It is a design. Let me be clear, that is, it was very a lot designed for us to be these subservient, submissive individuals who don’t ask questions, who don’t say something, and simply do as they’re informed.
Cara Anthony: One in every of Aiesha’s areas of experience is how racism can impression bodily and psychological well being — throughout generations. She sees indicators of it in her purchasers daily.
Aiesha Lee: Nobody truly is available in and says, “Hey, I’m coping with intergenerational trauma. Are you able to assist me?” Proper?
Cara Anthony: I must admit, I’ve been very skeptical about that time period, what which means, as a result of, in my household, it was at all times this factor of like, “We’re good over right here. The whole lot’s OK.”
Aiesha Lee: I really like what you simply stated. And, and for me, as a psychological [health] skilled, I get actually cautious when utilizing, even utilizing the phrase “trauma.”
A part of the, the generational legacy of Black households is we don’t discuss our issues, we simply form of roll by means of them, we take care of them, we’re sturdy, and we simply hold it transferring ahead, proper?
It’s safety. It’s “Let me educate you the methods of the world in response to us” or for us, proper? And for us, we have to hold our mouth shut. We will’t ask any questions. We will’t make any noise, as a result of if we do, you’re going to get the identical, or worse than, you already know, others.
Cara Anthony: My mother and father. Grandparents. My great-grandparents. Their experiences with racial violence — and what they needed to do to remain protected — formed me.
Stuffing down injustice and ache is a tried-and-true technique to cope. However Aiesha says holding harm in hurts.
Aiesha Lee: It’s nearly like each time we’re silent, it’s like somewhat pinprick that we, we do to our our bodies internally.
Cara Anthony: She says over time these wounds add up.
Aiesha Lee: After so lengthy, um, these little pinpricks flip up as coronary heart illness, as most cancers, as, you already know, all these different illnesses.
Cara Anthony: Feeling unsafe, being that vigilant on a regular basis. What can that do to somebody’s physique?
Aiesha Lee: Think about each time you stroll out of the door, you’re tightening your physique, you’re tensing up your physique, proper? And also you’re holding on to it for all the day till you come house at evening. What do we predict would occur to our our bodies consequently?
Cara Anthony: A research from UCLA discovered experiences with racism and discrimination correlated with larger ranges of irritation within the our bodies of Black and Hispanic individuals. It affected their immune system, their intestine.
Aiesha says at all times being on edge can rewire how the mind offers with stress.
Aiesha Lee: That’s what that hypervigilance does. That hypervigilance causes our our bodies to tense up in order that we are able to’t absolutely breathe.
Cara Anthony: Yeah, that’s exhausting. And as you have been speaking about it, like, I even really feel my physique simply being tight as you’re talking about these items.
Cara Anthony: In case you don’t take care of the emotional stuff, Aiesha says, it might probably stay in your physique.
Aiesha Lee: Arthritis, fibromyalgia, hypertension …
Cara Anthony: … and ripple by means of households as intergenerational trauma.
That makes me surprise about my dad’s hypertension.
My mother’s persistent ache.
About my very own bother sleeping.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Regardless of infinite conversations with my mother and father about this work — one way or the other, I used to be months and months into reporting on racial violence in Sikeston earlier than I realized new particulars a few demise in my circle of relatives.
Wilbon Anthony: I get pleasure from studying about historical past the place, you already know, my individuals come from.
Cara Anthony: My dad, Wilbon Anthony, knew the story for practically a decade, however saved it to himself.
Actually, I shouldn’t have been shocked. My entire life I used to be taught in large and small ways in which normally it’s higher to remain silent.
There’s a danger — to self — while you communicate out.
I’m 37 years previous — loads grown now — but it surely feels just like the “adults” have at all times tiptoed across the story of Leemon Anthony, my great-uncle on my father’s facet.
Leemon served within the navy throughout World Battle II. Relations keep in mind him as fun-loving and outgoing.
I used to be informed that Leemon died in a wagon-and-mule accident in 1946. However at household reunions, typically I’d overhear particulars that have been totally different.
Wilbon Anthony: There was a touch there was one thing to do with it concerning the police, but it surely wasn’t a lot.
Cara Anthony: My dad knew that the tales he’d heard about Uncle Leemon’s demise have been incomplete. That lacking piece left him feeling undone.
Wilbon Anthony: Later in life, I began researching it. I simply considered it in the future and, uh, simply stated, “Oh, see if it was one thing about this.”
Cara Anthony: He referred to as up members of the family, dug by means of newspaper archives on-line, and searched ancestry web sites. Ultimately, he discovered Leemon’s demise certificates.
To point out me what he discovered, Dad and I sat in his house workplace. He pulled up the demise certificates on his laptop. Leemon was 29.
Wilbon Anthony: It says, “Shot by police, resisting arrest.”
Effectively, nobody ever, I by no means heard this in my, uh, entire life.
Then merchandise 21, it lists the causes of demise: accident or suicide or murder, and the listing says that merchandise is murder.
Cara Anthony: OK, OK, um, that’s loads. I have to pause.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Shot by police.
Even now, I solely have bits and items of the story, principally from whispers from my household.
There was a wagon accident.
One in every of my older cousins says a neighborhood white lady noticed it and referred to as the police. An article printed in The Jackson Solar quoted Leemon’s father saying that Leemon had been “stressed” and “all out of practice” since he returned house from the battle.
What we do know is that the police confirmed up. And so they killed Leemon.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: After I realized about my Uncle Leemon’s demise, after I acquired slammed by that grief and anger, I referred to as my Aunt B — my dad’s sister Bernice Spann — and informed her what my dad had discovered.
Cara Anthony: OK, I simply despatched you the demise certificates, um, simply so you possibly can …
Bernice Spann: What does it say, his demise, how he died?
Cara Anthony: It says murder, and that he was shot by the police.
Bernice Spann: Wow.
Cara Anthony: Yeah. Yeah.
Bernice Spann: And so they stated “murder”?
Cara Anthony: Proper.
Bernice Spann: And no one was charged?
Cara Anthony: No fees.
So, what are you considering proper now?
Bernice Spann: I’m heartbroken.
Cara Anthony: Yeah. Yeah.
Bernice Spann: I imply, that’s shut. That isn’t … it’s an uncle.
Cara Anthony: That’s your uncle. That’s my great-uncle. That’s your uncle. Yeah.
Bernice Spann: Effectively, that’s my uncle. And he died and no one fought.
Cara Anthony: Yeah.
Bernice Spann: No one fought for a decision ’trigger no one … all people felt powerless.
Cara Anthony: Even now there’s a lot silence in our household round Leemon’s demise.
Bernice Spann: I believe there’s one thing in our DNA that also makes us scared to speak about it. I want for us to have a look at it. I don’t know. Does it make sense? And perhaps you’re the one who, it’s time so that you can have a look at it.
Cara Anthony: So, that’s what I’m doing.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: This storytelling — this journalism — is about what’s at stake for our well being, and our neighborhood, and family members after we’re silent within the face of racial violence — and the systemic racism that enables it to exist.
So on one reporting journey to Sikeston, I requested my household to take the journey with me.
We loaded right into a van.
[Cara’s mom hums in the background.]
And throughout the drive from Illinois to southeastern Missouri, my mother hummed hymns, whereas my daughter, Lily, napped and inhaled snacks.
Cotton continues to be king in Sikeston. It’s an enormous a part of the city’s economic system, and tradition, and historical past. So simply earlier than we acquired to city, we stopped at a cotton discipline.
[Car door shuts.]
Cara Anthony: OK, Lily, come right here.
Cara Anthony: Lily was simply 5 again then.
Cara Anthony: What is that this? What are we proper now?
Lily: Cotton.
Cara Anthony: Lily was excited, however after I circled, my dad, Wilbon, appeared watchful.
Cautious.
As for plenty of Black People, cotton’s part of our household’s historical past.
Cara Anthony: OK, Dad. Come over right here. So, Dad, Lily simply stated that cotton appears like cotton sweet and potatoes ’trigger it appears fluffy. While you look out at this discipline, what do you see?
Wilbon Anthony: Effectively, I see. First, I see a number of reminiscences. I keep in mind … choosing cotton as a child. Truly, I can keep in mind ready on my mother and father whereas they have been within the fields choosing cotton. After which I keep in mind a number of days of arduous work.
So, yeah, I … yeah, I’ve loads, a number of reminiscences about cotton.
Cara Anthony: My mother has reminiscences, too. As somewhat woman in Tennessee, round Lily’s age, my mother was already working in a discipline like this.
Days and days hunched over. Carrying heavy bales, working till her fingers have been sore.
My mother’s nonetheless in grief concerning the violence and punishing labor — and misplaced alternative — so tightly woven into all this cotton.
As a baby, she hid that ache. She’d lie face down within the grime when the varsity bus drove previous, hoping the opposite youngsters wouldn’t see.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Standing in that cotton — three generations collectively — I anxious I used to be dredging up previous wounds or inflicting new harm.
Nonetheless, I need to attempt to have these conversations with out passing the ache and stress right down to the subsequent technology — to my daughter.
Cara Anthony: Why did we come down right here to Sikeston?
Lily: As a result of there’s necessary work right here.
Cara Anthony: Yeah, there may be necessary work right here.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Sometime I want to inform Lily about lynching in America. About Cleo Wright and our Uncle Leemon. I need her to know their names. I want to inform Lily about her private danger of encountering that form of violence.
However, honestly, I’m not fairly prepared but.
Right here’s some recommendation I acquired from psychologist Aiesha Lee.
Aiesha Lee: This ache has compounded over generations, and so we’re going to must deconstruct it or heal it over generations, proper? And so, you already know, our technology and the generations that come behind us could have little items of the work to do.
[BEAT]
As we put psychological well being extra so on the forefront, and as we begin to talk increasingly inside our households, that’s how we interact in, on this therapeutic.
Cara Anthony: I used to be informed to maintain quiet loads after I was a child, however I need to nurture Lily’s curiosity and educate her what she must know to remain protected.
My mother and father did what they thought was finest. Now it’s my flip to attempt to discover that steadiness.
Generally when Lily’s jumpy and stressed, having a tough time falling asleep, we’ll sing collectively.
Cara Anthony and Lily [singing]: Hush. Hush, hush, someone’s calling my title. Hush, hush, someone’s calling my title.
Cara Anthony: At first pay attention, which may sound like a message to remain silent.
Truly, it’s a tune enslaved individuals sang as they labored in cotton fields. As they dreamed and deliberate. It’s a name to be acknowledged. Named. And counted.
Lily has grown up loads since we visited that cotton discipline in Sikeston. She’s 7 now. I need her to know that she will be able to communicate out extra freely than her ancestors may.
Greater than I’ve.
Cara Anthony: Sit over, come over right here. Come over right here. Severely. Do you keep in mind a few weeks in the past while you have been crying? And I informed you to repair your what?
Lily: Face.
Cara Anthony: That wasn’t very good. I need you to know that we are able to discuss issues. As a result of after we discuss issues, we regularly really feel higher, proper?
Lily: Sure.
Cara Anthony: Can we hold speaking to one another whilst you develop up in life about stuff? Even arduous stuff?
Lily: Like doing 100 math info?
Cara Anthony: Certain. That’s the most important factor in your life proper now. However sure, all of that. We’re simply going to maintain speaking to one another. So, can we make a promise?
Lily: Yeah.
Cara Anthony: All proper, cool.
Cara Anthony: Speaking simply may assist us begin to heal.
[BEAT]
Cara Anthony: Subsequent time on “Silence in Sikeston” …
Mikela Jackson: The Bootheel is aware of what occurred to him. The world — they don’t know who Denzel Taylor is.
CREDITS
Cara Anthony: Thanks for listening to “Silence in Sikeston.”
Subsequent, go watch the documentary. It’s a joint manufacturing from Retro Report and KFF Well being Information, introduced in partnership with WORLD.
Subscribe to WORLD Channel on YouTube. That’s the place you could find the movie “Silence in Sikeston,” a Native, USA particular.
This podcast is a co-production of WORLD Channel and KFF Well being Information and distributed by PRX.
It was produced with assist from PRX and made attainable partly by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Basis.
The audio sequence was reported and hosted by me, Cara Anthony.
Zach Dyer and Taylor Prepare dinner are the producers.
Modifying by Simone Popperl.
Taunya English is the managing editor of the podcast.
Sound design, mixing, and unique music by Lonnie Ro.
Podcast artwork design by Colin Mahoney and Tania Castro-Daunais.
Oona Zenda was the lead on the touchdown web page design.
Julio Ricardo Varela consulted on the script.
Sending a shoutout to my vocal coach, Viki Merrick, for serving to me faucet into my voice.
Music on this episode is from BlueDot Classes and Epidemic Sound.
A few of the audio you’ll hear throughout the podcast can also be within the movie.
For that, particular because of Adam Zletz, Matt Gettemeier, Roger Herr, and Philip Geyelin, who labored with us and colleagues from Retro Report.
Kyra Darnton is government producer at Retro Report.
I used to be a producer on the movie.
Jill Rosenbaum directed the documentary.
Kytja Weir is nationwide editor at KFF Well being Information.
WORLD Channel’s editor-in-chief and government producer is Chris Hastings.
If “Silence in Sikeston” has been significant to you, assist us get the phrase out!
Write a evaluate or give us a fast score on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, or wherever you take heed to this podcast. It exhibits the powers that be that that is the form of journalism you need.
Thanks. It makes a distinction.
Oh, yeah, and inform your mates in actual life, too!
Credit
Taunya English
Managing editor
@TaunyaEnglish
Taunya is deputy managing editor for broadcast at KFF Well being Information, the place she leads enterprise audio initiatives.
Simone Popperl
Line editor
@simoneppprl
Simone is broadcast editor at KFF Well being Information, the place she shapes and edits tales that air on Market and NPR, manages a reporting collaborative with native NPR member stations throughout the nation, and edits the KFF Well being Information Minute.
Zach Dyer
Senior producer
@zkdyer
Zach is senior producer for audio with KFF Well being Information, the place he supervises all ranges of podcast manufacturing.
Taylor Prepare dinner
Affiliate producer
@taylormcook7
Taylor is an unbiased producer who does analysis, books friends, contributes writing, and fact-checks episodes for a number of KFF Well being Information podcasts.
Extra Newsroom Help
Lynne Shallcross, photograph editorOona Zenda, illustrator and net producerLydia Zuraw, net producerTarena Lofton, viewers engagement producer Hannah Norman, visible producer and visible reporter Chaseedaw Giles, viewers engagement editor and digital strategistKytja Weir, nationwide editor Mary Agnes Carey, managing editor Alex Wayne, government editorDavid Rousseau, writer Terry Byrne, copy chief Gabe Brison-Trezise, deputy copy chief Tammie Smith, communications officer
The “Silence in Sikeston” podcast is a manufacturing of KFF Well being Information and WORLD. Distributed by PRX. Subscribe and pay attention on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch the accompanying documentary from WORLD, Retro Report, and KFF beginning Sept. 16, right here.
To listen to different KFF Well being Information podcasts, click on right here.
