During class, there was a large amount of debate about whether or not the day of apology was a complete bust on Macon's part, or if in some ways it actually did accomplish what he wanted it to. Perhaps with enough planning, the day of apology could have worked out in a way that did not end in riots and death. But in my personal opinion, no matter how much time and effort Macon put in to the Day of Apology, there was no way that he would be able to execute it without it ending in riots.
The first reason for this is that Macon does not have the mind nor the attitude of a careful planner with attention to detail. Everything that he did to bring himself to fame was done spontaneous, from the gun hold-up in the cab to his speeches as The Franchise. It was only a matter of time before Macon's spontaneity caught up to him, and The Day of Apology was exactly that time. Macon's entire operation would have fallen apart without Nique and Andre's assistance planning, and what Macon didn't seem to be able to grasp throughout the entire novel was that no matter how inspirational he was or how amazing his ideas were, he would not be able to make an impression on the white population without careful organization and planning. Macon refused to work with Andre and Nique as they tried to schedule interviews, and this lack of planning caught up to Macon on the Day of Apology.
The main problem with the Day of Apology was the concept itself. The goal of the Day of Apology was to make white people reflect on their privilege and to feel bad about themselves. But Macon did not seem to take into account how much this would irritate and anger the black people that were being apologized to. The result was white people getting mugged, beaten up, and possibly even murdered, even though the book did not give any specific instances of this. Macon then made the matter worse by trying to act as if he was above everyone else and didn't have to apologize when confronted, resulting in the accidental gunfire that started all of the riots. However, even without Macon to shoot the fatal bullet, riots would have occurred, as Macon was adding so much tension to an already very tense situation in New York City by asking white people to apologize to black people, which seemed to solve neither of their problems.
Overall, although I agree that Macon's idea of having white people reflect on their privilege and feel guilty about it is not necessarily a bad idea, the way that Macon tried to execute his plan was so full of flaws that there was no way that it could end well. Also, when it did end, it was the blacks who were hurt most by the Day of Apology, because it was their neighborhoods that were burned down by the riots, and it would be them who would be held responsible for the mess that the Day of Apology created.
