Summary

What happens to the two boys one night isn't clear and probably never will be, but by the time it's over, Lafeyette is wet, hurting, and unusually angry at the police while Pharoah is confused and disappointed in himself for not doing more to help his brother. On this rainy night, Pharoah and Lafeyette decide to go to the Chicago Blackhawks game. They want to earn some extra money by offering to watch patrons' cars from any damage. They sincerely plan to do just that. They never give their real names to anyone who pays them, and Pharoah, because he's small and non-threatening, can often pick up extra tickets from the patrons.

The stadium is a source of stress for the people who live in Horner. The Wirtz family who owns it has been threatening to tear down Horner to make room for parking, and when there are games, the area is flooded with police. This angers the residents, because it takes crowds of white people to bring protection into their neighborhood. These questions are never answered or resolved, and it makes tensions simmer just below the surface.

On their way to the stadium, an acquaintance informs them that the police have told all the kids who want to protect cars to go away. Pharoah and Porkchop return to play basketball on the jungle gym, but Lafeyette goes to the stadium with his friends. Lafeyette temporarily gets a job waving in cars to the parking area until the police comes along and tells him to go home. Lafeyette may have talked back or he may have been slow in moving, but a policeman grabshim by the collar of his jacket and heaves him into a puddle of water. He then kicks Lafeyette in the rear end. He even tells Lafeyette that these white people don't have no money to give to no niggers. Two boys run and tell Pharoah who panics and is unable to go to Lafeyette's aid. However, LaJoe soon arrives and begins arguing with the one who had manhandled Lafeyette. The police let him go and warn him that it's dangerous out there at night. Lafeyette tells them that he's never been hurt by anyone in the projects but the police. This profoundly changes what he believes about the police.

For several weeks, neither boy works at the stadium, but it's the only way to earn any spending money, so Pharaoh is the first to go back. He earns a few dollars by dancing the chicken wing, a frenzied dance that makes white people chuckle. He discovers, however, when he tells the other boys what he had done, that it's demeaning, and for the first time, he begins to wonder aloud about being black. He realizes that white people don't like black children, and for the first time, he feels bitterness toward someone.

As for LaJoe, the incident brings back mixed emotions about the police. On the one hand, she has sympathy for the young white cops having to be alone in a neighborhood like Horner, but she doesn't fully trust them either. Past years have created this feeling in her and the other residents. First, they remember the War on Poverty Lyndon Johnson declared which, of course, went nowhere. Then the great black leaders, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., were gunned down, and white America seemed intent on ignoring pleas for equality in schools, housing, and health care. During those years, the residents were galvanized by the exploitation of their community and stood up for something as small as a traffic light. It didn't seem like an extravagant request to put a traffic light up on Washington Boulevard to slow down the motorists who were making it a race track. Two children had been hit by cars there, but that wasn't enough to convince the city. So they set up protest lines along the street where it was legal while the city sent police in full riot gear to stand on the other side to make mass arrests if necessary. Some were arrested for obstructing traffic and resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped. Then came the killing of John Soto. He was the second Soto brother killed in five days, both times by police. The residents of Horner rose in righteous indignation and began a gun battle with police, including snipers at the top of their building. Ten policemen and a twelve year old girl were wounded.

The city finally installed a traffic light, but just two months later, two more blacks were killed by the police. Twenty-one year old Fred Hampton and twenty-two-year old Mark Clark, both Black Panthers, were killed when thirteen policemen stormed their house a few blocks from Horner. The police claimed the two men opened fire on them first, but a later FBI investigation found that the two had only shot one bullet to the 83 to 99 shots from the police. The deaths of Fred and Mark became a cause célèbre not only in Chicago, but also across the nation. Of course, all the police put on trial were acquitted.

From all this history, it's understandable that LaJoe passed on to her children her mixed feelings about the police. She knew they weren't all bad, but she couldn't understand why they just didn't apologize when they made mistakes like the Soto brothers. All of this deepens her fears about Lafeyette whose character is becoming defined by cynicism and the feeling that people just plain lie.

The apartment bulges with people this winter. Now LaJoe's mother comes to live with them as well. She is paralyzed on one side from a stroke, but she is invigorated by her move to LaJoe's. She is precious to them all especially Lafeyette who likes to take care of old people. However, the apartment seems to collapse from the weight of all these people. The oven stops working, the wooden door to Lafeyette and Pharoah's room could only be opened and shut with great care, a light fixture hangs loosely from the wall, and the pipes leading to the kitchen spring a leak. On top of all these annoying problems, Pharoah and Lafeyette are troubled by their father's depression. He steals the TV LaJoe's mother had given the boys, then feels guilty, and puts together enough money to get it out of hock. However, Lafeyette deeply resents his father for not living up to the promises he had made the family. The drugs have overtaken his life, and he can't find his way back. He gives little support to his children, and his wife cannot forgive him. He continues to come around, because he wants his children to know their father. Fortunately, he still has Pharoah who feels sorry for him. His younger boy though is good at getting to the heart of the problem when he asks Paul why he drinks. What does he get out of it? Paul knows that the boy's observations are right, and now more than anything, he knows how much he has let his children down.

Notes

This chapter serves as a history lesson as to why the residents of Horner don't trust the police. Lafeyette's incident with the police officer who knocked him down is minor compared to some of the past experiences that involved the deaths of four young black men at the hands of the police.

The chapter also emphasizes the tragedy of Paul Rivers, the children's father. His dependence on alcohol and drugs is perhaps an example of one distorted perception the police may have of black people in the projects - they are only concerned with the next high. Other distorted perceptions may be of young black men who only want to be in gangs, carry guns, or steal from honest citizens. Of course, there are many people like this in the projects, but there are many more who are good, decent individuals who just need a bit of help to change their lives and be more productive citizens. That was what LaJoe desired for her children.