"When are you coming? It's urgent. I need you!"
After sending that message through BlackBerry, the acting head of Detroit's diocese put down his phone.
Outside the window, crowds marched with placards while armed police stood by with their lights flashing.
Detroit had once been a successful city. The headquarters of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler were all located here. The prosperity of the automobile industry, along with the generous benefits enjoyed by auto workers, had made Detroit the industrial center of America's north-central region for a long time, as well as a promised land coveted by workers from the American South.
The automobile industry had brought in large numbers of Black workers, but as white residents fled in great numbers, the city began to decline. Even today, most of downtown Detroit's population was Black.
The generous benefits for auto workers had been a source of pride and tradition for America's auto industry. They had ushered in America's "Automobile Age," but they had also become a heavy burden on continued development.
To save money, Detroit had shut off streetlights in many areas, worsening public safety. The terrible environment discouraged potential investors, and without investment, tax revenues dwindled further. There was no point even talking about cultivating other industries.
A WAVE Travel brochure lay on the acting head's desk:
Whether you become successful is not important. What matters is whether you are living and striving for your dreams.
Join us!
Below the slogan was a thick-haired white man giving a thumbs-up, smiling broadly enough to reveal eight gleaming white teeth. He had so much hair that it looked fake.
It was only after this incident that the acting head learned what a travel loan was. America had many so-called direct-sales companies, which were really pyramid schemes. Nancy Jones, who claimed she