Night of Power, page 24
“People of New York, good morning. The announcement you have been waiting for will come to you live in ninety seconds. Meanwhile, do two things. Satisfy yourself that this message is coming to you on all TV and major radio channels. Then wake up every friend and loved one you can reach and have them tune in at once. Don’t worry if there’s someone you can’t reach right away; the announcement will be taped and rebroadcast all morning. But I must reach all of you as soon as possible. Significant changes took place in the night, and ignorance of them could easily get you killed. Don’t worry about being late for work. Hardly any of you will be going to work today.
“You should be in no immediate danger if you stay indoors, and there is no cause for undue alarm. Transmission begins in forty-five seconds.”
The announcement repeated. Colonel Moore went around the room, turning down the volume on all the monitors. Michael stood.
The title crawl reached “…undue alarm” and went to black. After a few seconds the red light glowed on the middle camera and Michael’s face appeared in medium closeup on all the monitors. Without preamble or throat clearing or haste, he spoke:
“If you are black or brown, you know me. If you are white you may know of me. I am called Michael. I’ve used no other name for twenty-five years, but I was born Michael Hall in Harlem. Today I speak to you as Director Pro Tem of the nation of Equity.
“Equity is a new nation comprised of former black Americans who have renounced their allegiance to the United States. Any human who can lay claim to Negro blood is eligible to become an Equitan citizen, and any non-Caucasian may become a Landed Immigrant.
“Early this morning at 2:55 Eastern time, a formal declaration of war was hand delivered to the President of the United States, by the former Assistant Director of the FBI, Raymond Tolliver, who had resigned earlier that day. Someone else can decide whether this should be called the Second American Revolution or Civil War II or just The Racewar. The simple fact is that the nation of Equity has declared war on the United States of America.
“Five minutes after Raymond Tolliver became a prisoner of war, forces of the Equitan Army launched an attack on and around New York City. As I speak to you at 7:01, we have seized complete control of Manhattan Island and outlying areas. We can hold it forever if we have to.”
Atop the camera nearest Michael, a small blue light flashed once, twice. On the third beat the red light lit and the red light on the first camera died; Michael’s face now filled all the screens in extreme closeup. Dena was struck by the professionally perfect timing with which Michael’s eyes switched from one camera to the next. There was never a moment when he was not looking directly into your eyes, and she had had enough media exposure to know how hard that simple trick was to bring off.
“Listen to me. Manhattan is no longer a part of the United States. It is almost totally sealed off. The very few bridges and tunnels still in existence are presently impassable and exist at my pleasure. No one can enter or leave Manhattan without my approval. There will be no commuters today. We have taken both major armories and several lesser ones. We have destroyed Police Plaza utterly. Most of the police and National Guard and armed forces still alive are with us; most of the rest have already surrendered. We have taken prisoner Mayor Winch, Police Commissioner Sullivan, and over a hundred other officers and officials; most of them are unharmed and none will be mistreated. We control power, water, food, and phone service. We control the MTA’s subway center at 45th and Seventh, and we control the streets. The nation of Equity has physical existence; you are in it; listen to me now—”
Medium closeup again. Dena had stopped watching the live Michael, but his voice drew her eyes to him now. That voice was a magnificent instrument, compelling attention. Russell’s hand clutched hers tightly.
“If you are white, don’t be afraid. It is not the policy of the nation of Equity to mistreat interned aliens. You’ll get a better deal from us than our ancestors got from you. You will not be harmed unless you bring it on yourself. There will be no rioting, no needless killing, no looting by any Equitan forces. If you see any civilians doing those things, dial 999 and call it in and we will despatch troops to protect you, whether you are black, white, or green.
“I am officially declaring a state of martial law in the nation of Equity. Effective within one half hour of this announcement, all whites are under curfew until noon tomorrow. You may not leave your homes at any time after 8:05 AM, under pain of death. I’ll repeat that: any white person on the streets of New York after 8:05 AM will be shot on sight. If you are trapped away from home, dial 888 and we’ll see that you get escorted to shelter. If you have a genuine emergency need to leave your building during the next twenty-four hours—labour pains, appendicitis—call 777 and we’ll work it out. But if you’re out of cigarettes, you’d better hope a neighbour will lend you some or you’re going cold turkey. If your wife is at her mother’s, you’re sleeping apart tonight. There will be no exceptions, and no appeal against summary execution. You’re safe in your home, but if you leave it without an escort you will die.
“I speak now to the black people in the nation of Equity.”
Full closeup again. Dena returned her gaze again to the nearest screen. Michael was talking to her, personally.
“Parents and children, brothers and sisters, hear me out before you take any action. The fate of all black people in North America is in your hands. I have forced a choice on you, the most important choice you will ever make. I beg you to think it over very carefully before you do anything, and to hear me out before you start thinking. Listen now…
“What I’m doing is simple. Fancier language is being used on the tape that the rest of the country is seeing right now, but I’ll give it to you in plain language. I’ve taken Manhattan, and I plan to hold it for ransom. I hold the World Financial Center and Trade Center, the Federal Reserve—forty percent of the gold in the country—a whole lot of corporate and fiscal data bases, the machine that controls national TV, radio, and long distance phone, the finest museums in the country, and almost a million hostages including some of the richest and most powerful people in the world.
“I hold all these thing on behalf of you, on behalf of all black people. What I want from the United States in return for all of these things is a black homeland. I want the states of New York and Pennsylvania evacuated and turned over to us. Two out of fifty-one states. Industry, farmland, seaport, resources—everything needed to house and feed every black person now living in America, with room to grow in for decades to come.
“I want to found a new nation on that land, of and for black people, and call it Equity.”
The third camera came on for the first time, a long shot of Michael’s whole body. He spread his hands.
“You all know me. You know I’m not a radical. I’m not a politician. I’m not even a preacher. None of you can name a time I’ve taken a collection or accepted a fee, you know I have no money. I have no address, no car, no family left in the world, no property. I’ve talked to most of you, helped a lot of you, some of you I’ve come down hard on. For twenty-five years, I’ve only been doing two things with my time. Planning this war—and trying to become the kind of man you would trust to lead it for you.
“I promise you now that if I win this war, I will immediately call a convention to form a government of your choice, and once its Constitution is signed I will abdicate all authority and go back to being a private citizen. A citizen of Equity. That’s all I want to be, all I’ve ever wanted to be all my life.
“I think all of you know why I have done what I’ve done. A marriage cannot endure without trust. To sleep beside someone, you have to trust them not to cut your throat during the night. Otherwise you lose sleep—and one day you start to wonder if you shouldn’t cut their throat as a simple precautionary measure. Black America and white America do not have that basic trust. We haven’t lost it: we never had it. We’ve been free now for almost as long as we were slaves here—call it a hundred and thirty years—and still neither side trusts the other. They perceive us as lazy and violent and racist; we perceive them as hypocritical and violent and racist. Try as we will, we cannot learn to live together in trust. So we must kill each other—or divorce.
“The white man will never get over his shame at having enslaved us, or his fear that we will seek revenge. We will never get over our shame at having allowed ourselves to be enslaved, or our fear of the policeman’s gun and the Klansman’s rope. Both sides are right to be ashamed and afraid, and neither side wants to admit that they are. That means we can’t live together.”
Medium shot again.
“For just a while, back in the ’60’s, I hoped we might be able to do it. But promises turned out to be lies, and we got mad. Then the economy started to go to hell, and by the ’80’s it was pretty evil out. The Third Wave came along, the silicon revolution, and took away all the jobs that didn’t require an expensive education. I don’t have to tell you the shape we’re in today.
“I do have to tell you that in the course of prosecuting this war I took a walk through the Defense Department’s computers. There are a lot of black people in the Pentagon. And in there I found proof that we can’t continue to live in the United States. We’re ten percent of the population, and the government admits that we supply nearly twenty-six percent of the draftees. Ten percent more than we did in Viet Nam. Well, they say, there seem to be fewer young black men in college, somehow or other. My friends, they lie. Their own classified records show that forty-four percent of draftees for the African conflict are black! And when the judge says, ‘Enlist or do hard time,’ the odds are five to one he’s talking to a black man. The true casualty rate for black soldiers in Africa is three times as high as for whites. They seem to use us up faster.”
Dena was shocked; dimly she was aware that Russell was too. If those figures could be documented…
“Their logic is impeccable. It’s clearly to their advantage to eliminate as many of our strong young men as they can. Whether they realize it or not, they already know in their hearts that a racewar is coming.
“I confess to you now that I had these figures a year ago, and I kept them just as secret as the Defense Department. For exactly the same reason: to prevent riots. I knew this information would make you angry, and I wanted to wait until I could offer you an alternative response, an intelligent response, something better to do with your anger than riot. That day has come.
“When I was a boy, bullying husbands told their wives ‘If you don’t like it here, you can leave,’ because the truth was that there was no way for a single woman with kids to make it then. That got so bad that the rules got changed, and nowadays as often as not the woman will throw him out. When I was a boy, bullying parents told their children ‘If you don’t like it here, you can leave,’ because the truth was that the only jobs a child could get were prostitute and dope runner. That got so bad the rules got changed and nowadays you find children collecting heavy alimony—I’ve heard of a few that employ grownups to carry out the garbage and mow the lawn.
“When I was a boy, bullying whites told their Negroes, ‘If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go back to Africa?’ My Lord, but black Americans have emigrated to many places looking for a home. British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, Bermuda, Liberia, the only thing all the migrations had in common is that none of them worked. American blacks have gone many places in search of a home, without ever finding one.”
Closeup. Michael’s eyes shone.
“Home is here.
“Home is where we were born and the culture we grew up in. The North American culture. We share a common language and tradition, similar to that of white America but uniquely our own. All we have ever needed was a homeland, a place where we made the rules. An Israel, a Zimbabwe. And I think that with your help I can get it for us now.”
Medium shot.
“Let me report progress so far. At five o’clock this morning I spoke with the President of the United States by videophone. We spoke for almost half an hour. I told him, in essence, that I will turn over the gold, the diamonds, the museum treasures, a million hostages, and—most important of all—the data bases and the STI satellite uplink, if he will give us New York and Pennsylvania. How he compensates the present white residents of those states is his problem; so is moving and relocating them. In the meantime, I have asked for white-flag food shipments, and a promise that the food supplies which are presently being shipped by friendly regions and nations will not be embargoed. He told me, in essence, that we are to consider ourselves under siege—but he’ll allow food to come in as long as white hostages receive a fair share and are not mistreated. We’re working out ways to verify all that.
“As of seven this morning, the nation of Equity has been granted diplomatic recognition by fourteen countries, including Switzerland, Israel, Quebec, Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, Beninia, and West Germany. That figure will be updated each time this tape is rebroadcast. At 4 AM we began evacuation of United Nations personnel and their families to the UN Building, which has twenty acres of floor space they can sleep on. We’ve petitioned the UN for admission, and the General Assembly has been in emergency session since six. I do not expect a decision soon, but I’m confident of the ultimate outcome. Regrettably the escape tunnel which runs from under the UN parking building west to New Jersey was damaged by an explosion on the street above, but I’ve assured the Secretary General that the nation of Equity guarantees the safety of all UN diplomats on its soil—until such time as the siege is lifted and they can leave safely.
“Brothers and sisters, parents and children, this thing is done. The nation of Equity is committed. I will not compel anyone to join it. You’re welcome to leave it along with the white refugees when the time comes, or sooner if you can figure a way off the island.
“But I do ask you not to screw it up.
“We need the weight of world opinion on our side if we are to be accepted as a genuine nation. So long as I’m directing Equity, all non-Caucasians retain the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly—within forty-eight hours I hope to lift communication censorship and make ten channels available for community access so we can thrash this out together. But in the meantime there must be no rioting, no looting, no wanton killing, and no destruction. Only barbarians torture their prisoners, and any real estate you harm is your own property.”
Closeup.
“I know this will be very hard. Some of you have nothing, and how it seems that there is so much around you for the taking. If enough of you yield to temptation, the black homeland will be destroyed in the moment of its birthing. You know I speak the truth. But if you will be strong and measured, I promise you that you will not be sorry.”
Medium shot again.
“Now: I expect scattered fighting here and there for several hours. So I urge all of you who are not in essential jobs to stay in your homes until twelve noon. Those of you who are essential—medical personnel, fire department, and such—are urged to report for work and try to cover for missing white co-workers. If you have trouble, call 666 and we’ll try to bring you any whites you absolutely need, or replacements.
“The only other people who should leave your homes at once are those of you who live in predominantly white neighbourhoods and fear reprisals. Call 555 at once and we’ll try and get you uptown as quickly and safely as possible.
“When noon strikes, the nation of Equity will begin accepting job applicants.
“We have literally hundreds of thousands of jobs available immediately, and we’ll pay generously in U.S. dollars. When those run out, we have an awful lot of gold, and eventually the government you choose will doubtless issue its own currency—but in the meantime any black, brown, red, or yellow person who wants to work can earn good dollars, cash on the barrel at the end of each shift. If you are handicapped or invalid, call 444; we have work that you can do, at home if necessary.
“Able bodied men and women who wish to enlist in the Equitan Army are invited to go at noon to their local police precinct house. Please do not try to enlist unless you have fighting experience of some kind and you are prepared to follow orders. The Equitan Army maintains discipline comparable to the U.S. Marines, and irregulars will be expected to match it. Remember that this is wartime: a court martial can take thirty seconds or less. If you don’t want to be a soldier, we still have a job for you, in any area or level of skill from executive to dishwasher; simply go to the nearest video arcade that features programmable games and you’ll find an employment team with access to our computers. I urge you all to do so; there will be no more welfare or unemployment cheques coming in from Albany, no more social security from Washington. Equity has jobs for all citizens, from ten to a hundred and ten, and if we can’t find a job that you can handle we will support you. If you don’t want or need a job, you don’t have to take one. If I have my way, no citizen of Equity is ever going to be drafted to do anything.
“What it all comes down to is how much you want Equity to live. You, personally. I already have the official endorsement of the Black Muslims, the Rastafarian community, the Afro-American Coalition, the Guardian Angels, a number of black Christian churches, and the warlords of all the major black and hispanic and oriental street gangs in this city. But your leaders and ministers and warlords can’t speak for you, and anyway speaking isn’t enough. Right now I have enough manpower to take this city and to hold it indefinitely and to keep order in it. But I haven’t got a fraction of the manpower to run it, to keep it alive and growing.”
Cut back to a long shot. Michael held out his hands in supplication.
“I caution you once more against taking any reprisals against whites. If there’s any needless killing, the UN is going to bolt and the nations that have already recognized us will repudiate us and the United States just might neutron bomb us. I want no old scores settled today. There are still raise on the set—but their uniform is a shaved head and red shades and a white armband, and they work for me.” Michael lifted his right sleeve to his shoulder. “Each will wear an armband just like this, except that theirs’ll be white. Look at it closely: it’s almost impossible to counterfeit this scalloped edge in a hurry. Don’t believe anyone who doesn’t have an armband just like this; I have plenty for everyone who enlists.
