This is the story of a White Rabbit named Oliver who meets a Black Alice named Leona in the Blunderland of the New York City public school system, and of how even a rabbit who doesn't know what time it is can sometimes come in first. When Oliver Abbott (100 percent white) takes a teaching post at Schuyler Colfax High School (93 percent black) that the local community wanted filled by a black man, there just isn't going to be anything in front of our hero but trouble. The trouble starts normally enough with picket signs and a student strike, but it doesn't end there, not with well-meaning Oliver at the middle of the whirlpool. Oliver just can't get it through his non-woolly head that he's important enough to be the center of a controversy. He seeks explanations, and they are furnished by a beautiful black militant name Leona Roof. When the explanations begin to get more personal, Oliver compounds his interest in Leona, and troubles with the rest of the world. If you would like to know what really happens during a Black Caucus (not exactly the same as a Black Mass), if you'd like to meet a hero's mother who makes lemonade for the people picketing the house, then lift Up Your Banners and start to read a message novel whose message is: As Long As We're All This Foolish, There's Probably Still Hope.