Summary

In the opening section, “Introduction,” author Charles M. Blow begins by writing about the death of George Floyd. Floyd was a Black man who was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. However, these protests soon became focused more on white people’s right to free speech rather than on racial justice. Eventually, the protests stopped without attaining much actual political progress. Blow marks one political triumph: Georgia voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election. This triumph was largely due to record turnout of Black voters, as organized in part by Black politician Stacey Abrams. Blow writes, “Georgia became proof of concept—the concept that animates this book” (7).

Chapter 1 is entitled. “The Past as Prologue.” Blow writes about the Great Migration, which refers to the migrations of Black Americans...