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In the finale of “Silence in Sikeston,” Black residents organize a Juneteenth barbecue. The Department of Public Safety chief encourages officers to attend to build trust. But improving relations between Sikeston’s Black community and the police won’t be easy. Host Cara Anthony discusses the possibility of institutional change in Sikeston.

Denzel Taylor, a young Black father, moved from Chicago to Sikeston, Missouri, for a fresh start in life. There, he proposed to his girlfriend, started a family, and then, in April 2020, was fatally shot by police officers. Taylor had two young daughters and another on the way when he was killed. Pediatrician Rhea Boyd talks about how children process such loss.

In Episode 2 of the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma.

The "Silence in Sikeston" podcast explores what it means to live with racism and violence, then charts the toll on health — from hives and high blood pressure to struggles with mental health. The deaths of two Black men killed nearly 80 years apart in the same Missouri community anchor a conversation about the public health consequences of systemic bias.