KFF Well being Information Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony and Emily Kwong, host of NPR’s podcast “Shortwave,” speak about Black households dwelling within the aftermath of lynchings and police killings of their communities. Anthony shares her southeastern Missouri-based reporting from “Silence in Sikeston,” a documentary movie, podcast, and print reporting challenge. She discusses the newest analysis on the well being results of racism and violence, together with the rising, controversial subject of epigenetics.
Hear the total podcast episodes Anthony and Kwong reference from “Silence in Sikeston” here. They focus on materials from Episode 1, “Racism Can Make You Sick”; Episode 2, “Hush, Fix Your Face”; and Episode 3, “Trauma Lives in the Body.”
In 1942, Mable Cook dinner was an adolescent. She was standing on her entrance porch when she witnessed the lynching of Cleo Wright.
Within the aftermath, Cook dinner obtained recommendation from her father that was meant to maintain her secure.
“He didn’t need us speaking about it,” Cook dinner mentioned. “He instructed us to overlook it.”
Greater than 80 years later, residents of Sikeston, Missouri, nonetheless discover it troublesome to speak in regards to the lynching.
Conversations with Cook dinner, who was one of many few remaining witnesses of the lynching, launch a dialogue of the well being penalties of racism and violence in the US. Racial fairness scholar Keisha Bentley-Edwards explains the bodily, psychological, and emotional burdens on Sikeston residents and Black Individuals on the whole.
“Oftentimes, individuals who expertise racial trauma are compelled to not acknowledge it,” Bentley-Edwards mentioned. “They’re compelled to query whether or not or not it occurred within the first place.”
When Anthony uncovered particulars of a police killing in her family whereas reporting this challenge, she unpacked 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 mentioned. “We’re going to should deconstruct it or heal it over generations.”
We encourage organizations to republish our content material, freed from cost. Right here’s what we ask:
It’s essential to credit score us as the unique writer, with a hyperlink to our kffhealthnews.org web site. If potential, please embrace the unique creator(s) and KFF Well being Information” within the byline. Please protect the hyperlinks within the story.
It’s vital to notice, not every thing on kffhealthnews.org is out there for republishing. If a narrative is labeled “All Rights Reserved,” we can not grant permission to republish that merchandise.
Have questions? Tell us at [email protected]
