The Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning “You Didn't See Nothin” follows Yohance Lacour as he revisits the story that introduced him to the world of investigative journalism. Part investigation and part memoir, Yohance examines how its ripple effects have shaped his life over the past quarter-century.
In 1997, Lenard Clark was beaten into a coma by a gang of older white teens simply for being Black in a white neighborhood. One of Lenard’s attackers was from a powerful Chicago family. The media quickly turned towards stories of reconciliation and racial healing, with cooperation by Black leaders and the attacker’s family.
Yohance wasn’t having any of it.
At the time of the attack, he was in his early 20s, writing plays, selling weed, and living at his dad’s house on the South Side of Chicago. Unable to stand by silently, he began working with a neighborhood newspaper to investigate the vicious hate crime. Reporting on the incident led him to grow increasingly disillusioned with journalism.
From USG Audio and the Invisible Institute – creators of the 2020 Pulitzer Finalist podcast “Somebody” – “You Didn't See Nothin” finds Yohance back in Chicago after a 10-year prison sentence, tracking down key players to examine how this story connects to our present moment.
Yohance speaks to the Black minister about the notion that the attacker and his victim have become friends.
Credits
Host: Yohance Lacour
Producers: Bill Healy, Dana Brozost-Kelleher, Erisa Apantaku, Sarah Geis
Sound Design/Mixing and Music Supervision: Steven Jackson and Phil Dmochowski at the Audio Non-Visual Company
Original Music: Taka Yasuzawa
Executive Producers: Alison Flowers and Jamie Kalven (Invisible Institute) and Josh Bloch (USG Audio)
Production Support: Jennifer Sears and Josh Laolagi
Fact-checking: Angely Mercado
Key Art: Kenneth L. Copeland, Jr.
Special Thanks: Mindy Pugh and The Progressive Community Church Archives at the Illinois Institute of Technology
Archival audio in this episode include (in order of appearance): CNN, NPR/All Things Considered, WMAQ, Paramount Pictures, and WBEZ.
For more information, go to usgaudio.com.
To learn about the Invisible Institute’s human rights reporting, visit invisible.institute.
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