Innate resistance to change was evident in a sign at the Harlem rally: "No F.D.N.Y. cutbacks.

Festive Atmosphere By the end of the taping, throngs had gathered for the Harlem rally.

And there was frequent criticism at yesterday's march of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for his handling of the Harlem rally.

The Harlem rally and the lunch meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations attended by the business leaders may send mixed messages, but United States policy could not be clearer.

"After a while, it kind of begins to wear off," said Mr. Barron, who said he had not taken the day off work but would attend the Harlem rally.

In addition to the Harlem rally, there are more than 100 other special events taking place around the city.

On the morning of the Harlem rally, Tiffany Malliet's mother made a frantic call home to beg her 16-year-old daughter to stay away from the event.

The final chapter of "Chain Gang" begins with Malcolm X's line, "You have been bamboozled," from a speech about American society that he made at a Harlem rally.

"We have a choice," Representative Kennedy told a Harlem rally with Stevie Wonder.

Afterward, he told reporters that the police would make sure the Harlem rally ended at the scheduled time of 4 P.M., "with some reasonable flexibility."