Chapter 1 introduces McCall hanging out on a corner with “the fellas” when a white boy rides his bike through their neighborhood (3). McCall states to the reader, “I don’t know if he was lost or just confused, but he was definitely in the wrong place to be doing the tourist bit” (3). Nathan and the fellas chase the boy, knock him off his bike, and beat him mercilessly. McCall recalls that:

with each blow delivered, I gritted my teeth as I remembered some recent racial slight: THIS is for all the times you followed me round in stores… and THIS is for the times you treated me like a nigger…and THIS is for G.P.—General Principle—just ‘cause you white (3).

After beating the boy, Nathan and the fellas walk away boasting about the beating, leaving the boy on the ground.

McCall writes that:

Fucking up white boys like that made us feel good inside. I guess we must have been fourteen or fifteen by then, and it felt so good that we stumbled over each other sometimes trying to get in extra kicks and punches. When we bum-rushed white boys, it made me feel like we were beating all white people on behalf of all blacks.