The Night

Clive Baxter returned from World War II a hero. He finished his time as a sergeant with a Distinguished Service Cross and an Honorable Discharge. He also brought home a nasty case of PTSD. Clive didn’t want to leave the Army. He enlisted at 18. Four years later it was the only life he knew. Unfortunately, the US Army had no more need for African-American soldiers when the War in Europe ended and he was sent home.
Home was in the Brownsville neighborhood of Chicago. A community built and designed to house the growing Black population migrating from the south. At the center of Brownsville was the meat rendering plant where most of the neighborhood worked. Life was good in Brownsville. The citizens had their own nightlife and their own homes. They owed it all to the man who founded the neighborhood, Irish-American businessman Liam Bannon, who went by the nickname “The Landlord.”
Clive’s father had died in an accident at the plant. His mother could not handle the grief and was committed to a state hospital. Clive was forced to settle in with his Aunt Bettie, Uncle Jordan and their son Russell, the only family he had left. Everyone called Brownsville “The Negro Shangri-La.” It did not take long for that dream to unravel.
Clive began working with Russell and his crew. They didn’t want to work in the plant so instead did odd jobs for The Landlord. These jobs included running a crooked numbers lottery amongst the citizens of Brownsville and intimidating unwanted squatters out of the neighborhood. Clive grows disillusioned with Russell and his crew. He decides to quit working with them after they attack a Japanese family found near Chinatown. The youngest male of that family served on D-Day. Clive could not attack another vet. Instead he decides to befriend him.
Everything changed the moment Clive found Russell dead. Many people had warned Clive that Russell was stealing from The Landlord and would face retribution for it. Fearing he would face time for the crime Clive went into hiding and took on a fake name. He then tried to infiltrate the plant to find evidence that Russell was murdered by The Landlord. Instead he found out much more than he ever expected.
Clive is forced to work for The Landlord or be jailed for the murder of Russell. The Landlord has him do horrific things before Clive decides the only way out is to take on another persona and fight back against The Landlord. Clive pulls out some of his Nazi memorabilia: a long black leather coat and Luger pistol while covering his face in a dark hood. Using the shadows he hides from those he wants to observe and surprises those he wants to stop. Quickly the neighborhood of Brownsville begins to rally around Clive and his new persona The Night.
The Night begins to make allies, an African-American police detective who tries to keep himself clean, and the younger sister of the Japanese vet, Kiku. She also dresses in a costume of her own setting out to attack The Landlord and his operations as best she can to repay the awful things done to her family. Together they set out to right what they see is wrong in Brownsville while also uncovering a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the city.
As he approaches the final showdown with The Landlord and the corrupt police force, The Night finds that the bewildered and dying Brownsville neighborhood will rally around him. As a community they stand up together to face The Landlord. The Night becomes a symbol. This crowd changes the city and pushes for the Landlord to be arrested peacefully and The Night is exonerated.
In the end The Landlord is set free despite admitting to crimes such as murder. The Night and what is left of his family retreat to another neighborhood and attempt to live a regular life. Eventually the call for justice may bring The Night back again.