Prologue Summary

An angry mob heckles the Mayor of New York City at a town meeting in Harlem. The lead heckler is a tall, black man sporting a large, gold earring in one ear. The racist taunts he hurls at the white, Jewish mayor bring cackles of approval from the crowd. The Mayor sweats under the hot spotlights of television cameras, regretting his decision to come to Harlem. His people have assured him of a friendly crowd, but now the Mayor realizes that Reverend Bacon has stacked the audience with troublemakers. He thinks the protesters are making only themselves and Harlem look bad, but as his efforts to regain control of the meeting are met with increasing derision, the Mayor considers what the rest of New York will think of this televised debacle. He wonders whether "White New York" (pg. 7) realizes that the city now...