Although George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, there’s a reason national political correspondent Story Hinckley decided to go to Kansas City, Missouri, to tell the story of the fifth anniversary of his killing. It’s home to Troost Avenue, also known as the “Troost Wall” for its racially and economically divided neighborhoods. As Story writes, “Color-coded Census maps of the neighborhood look like someone took a marker and drew a strict social border – a border that separates two different realities.”

The geographic tension lines are clear, Story says. So is the presence of many people you’ll meet in her story who have worked to improve race relations since Mr. Floyd’s death shocked the United States. “You see glimmers of progress, but also real struggles. Many people want to do more,” she says. “But how do you actually do that in practice? The city is a metaphor for what we’ve seen nationally.”