ABSTRACT
The West Side Organization (WSO) is a statement of the challenge posed by black people to the American dream, a dream that for them has been a recurrent nightmare. The black leaders of WSO and others like them are able to ask hard questions, do difficult things, and tell their truth, because they are strong. Blacks and whites in the organization have recognized each other as enemies, but they also recognize that they have a common enemy that has set them at odds. The men of the West Side Organization reveal and illuminate these simple but awesome facts. As each man of WSO asserts himself in his every act, he manufactures and molds himself. It is not so easy for the two most important white people in the organization to celebrate their lives and those of their ancestors in the WSO context would be to celebrate racism.
