Roger White and Wes Jordan's Old Friendship and Political Alliance

Roger White and Wes Jordan’s old friendship is the basis of a consequential political alliance, but the relationship is not effortless or equal. Wes can draw Roger away from a crucial client, and Roger recognizes the force of the mayor’s charisma even as he resents it. Their collaboration over Fareek Fanon exposes both the value of their trust and the cultural and political differences that keep them from being fully at ease with one another.

An established friendship with unequal pull

The relationship is presented as longstanding: Wes calls Roger his friend, and Roger responds to his summons without first resolving the business already in front of him. The narrative does not explain how their friendship began. Instead, it shows its immediate practical force. Roger leaves Gerthland Fuller, president of the Citizens Mutual Assurance Society, during a discussion tied to a $1.4 million engagement for Wringer Fleasom & Tick. Fuller’s account is so important to Roger’s standing at the firm that no other client comes close. Roger invents an emergency to depart, then sits in the mayor’s salon regretting both his decision and the power Wes had to make it seem natural.

The cost of the summons is not simply a missed appointment. The Citizens Mutual account has demonstrated that Roger can cross a racial barrier in his professional world; leaving Fuller risks damaging that relationship and interrupts a source of status Roger has earned. His resentment is directed at himself for giving in and at Wes for possessing the charisma and authority to draw him away. Their friendship therefore carries an imbalance: Wes can call, and Roger comes, but Roger is keenly aware of what obedience may cost him.

The Fanon case and the work of alliance

Wes has asked Inman Armholster to meet with him, acting on Roger’s suggestion. He tells Roger that Inman is angry and formidable, particularly because he fears his daughter’s identity will become public in the rape case involving Fareek Fanon. Wes believes the combination of a famous athlete and the daughter of a prominent man could tempt the press to disregard the usual practice of withholding a rape complainant’s identity. He has proposed that a Georgia Tech student-government sexual-harassment committee consider the case, reasoning that it might ascertain the facts more quietly than police or courts.

Roger is not himself aligned with Fareek. He tells Wes that Fareek sees him as part of an alien world of suits and ties, and that Fareek feels more at home with Don Pickett. Wes recognizes the distance Roger describes, even joking that Roger’s clothes make him want to check what is wrong with his own. Their exchange makes clear that friendship does not erase the divide between Roger’s professional milieu and Fareek’s sense of belonging. Yet Wes wants Roger involved precisely because his position might help bridge a political divide that neither man can address alone.

Wes says he is prepared to speak in support of Fareek and argue against rushing to judgment, but does not want to do so without a prominent white supporter. He anticipates racial tension on a scale not seen since the late 1960s and worries that a mayoral defense of Fareek could appear to polarize the city or alienate influential supporters in Buckhead. Roger proposes Herbert Richman, but Wes dismisses him as an ineffective choice for this purpose and seeks someone identified with the established white social order. The request turns Roger’s friendship into political labor: Wes needs him not merely as a confidant but as a broker able to reach people whose standing can alter how the mayor’s position is received.

Cultural disagreement beneath the cooperation

The alliance is complicated by a sharp argument about art and belonging. When Wes characterizes Roger’s interest in art and architecture as a racialized, supposedly white taste, Roger flushes with anger and insists that art and architecture are not divided into black and white. His reaction shows that Wes’s teasing has touched a real boundary: Roger regards his appreciation as his own, not as evidence that he has abandoned one community for another.

Wes partly retreats from the provocation and explains that invitations from wealthy people on the north side to attend exhibitions or symphony events often leave him unmoved. He says the cultural activity feels unrelated to him, though the money spent on it is visible. Roger counters by pointing to the Yoruba art in Wes’s office, challenging the idea that Wes’s discomfort with those invitations simply reflects a lack of interest in art. Wes then cuts short the aesthetic argument, insisting that they are on the same side and that he is trying to forge an alliance. Roger remains unconvinced that their disagreement is only about aesthetics. The exchange reveals a friendship capable of frank confrontation, while also showing how public culture and access to elite spaces carry political meanings for both men.

Recruiting Charlie Croker

Wes identifies Charlie Croker as the kind of white establishment figure whose support could make the proposed alliance credible. Croker lives near Inman in Buckhead and belongs to the Piedmont Driving Club; Wes sees those credentials as making him a better fit than Richman. Roger doubts that the plan will work and offers little encouragement. Wes answers that luck is not enough and that Roger has to help make it happen.

As the Buick travels through the Bluff, Roger sees huts in disrepair, burned-out buildings, standing water in vacant lots, and rusting debris. In his mind he sets that neighborhood against the Venetian palazzo of Inman and the grand residence of Croker. The contrast gives physical form to the political rupture Wes expects. Roger, who had believed he had crossed the race barrier through professional success, suddenly longs to return to the respectable world of Peachtree Street and Gerthland Fuller. His hesitation does not end the alliance; it exposes its personal price. Wes’s project depends on Roger entering spaces and conflicts from which he might prefer to remain separate, while Roger’s doubts make plain that cooperation is not the same as ease or agreement.