The mood was at once festive and angry

A black officer on a motorcycle pulled alongside the SUV and yelled, "Where you going, Trey?" Trey, apparently the unofficial leader of the event, replied, "We're going back to the courthouse." "Keep it peaceful and there won't be trouble." "I'll try," Trey said with a shrug. He and the officer both knew that trouble could erupt at any moment. The parade turned onto Phillips Street and inched along, a loosely organized assemblage of concerned citizens enthralled by their freedom of expression, and who were also enjoying the attention. The drummers repeated their precise, impressive routines. The rap shook the ground with its deadening lyrics. The students shook and gyrated with the beat while chanting a variety of battle cries. The mood was at once festive and angry. The kids were quite proud of their ballooning numbers, yet they wanted to do more. Ahead of them, the police blocked off Main Street and spread the word among the downtown merchants that a march was headed their way. The 911 call was recorded at 11:27 a.m. The Mount Sinai Church of God in Christ was burning, not far from Washington Park. A white van with a logo and phone numbers had been parked behind the church, according to the caller, and two white men in uniforms, like plumbers or electricians, had hurried from the church into the van and left. Minutes later, there was smoke. Sirens erupted as the first responders answered the call. Fire trucks rumbled from two of the three stations in Slone. At the corner of Phillips and Main, the march came to a halt. The drummers were still. The rap was turned down. They watched the fire trucks go racing by, headed into their part of town. The same black officer on the motorcycle stopped at the SUV and informed Trey that one of their churches was now burning. "Let's disband this little march, Trey," the officer said. "I don't think so." "Then there's gonna be trouble." "There's already trouble," Trey said. "Ya'll need to break up before this thing gets outta hand." "No, you need to get outta the way."