The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker

This is a very thoughtful collection of essays from the New Yorker spanning more than five decades, which gives us a historical view of the evolution of Black experience in the country. With essays by great authors like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison whose works I haven't read before, more contemporary writers commenting on the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, profiles and stories of many Black pioneers like Phyllis Wheatley, Zora Neale Hurston, Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan and more (some whom I was aware of, others I didn't ), and many other personal stories of living and surviving as a Black individual and the community as the whole - this is a collection that needs to be savored and cherished and reflected upon. Because despite the passage of so many decades, the central question still remains unanswered - what more should Black people do to change America? Will there ever be an end to institutional racism and discrimination and racial violence in this country?