Colors by Al-Jabril Muhammad

Colors tells the story of the black struggle through three sets of eyes. It begins with the movement Black, which is a symbol of black pride. It speaks from the point of a black person who is absolutely proud and unapologetic about their blackness. As black people, we often tone down who we are or seek to hide our pride in our skin, due to the fact that many mistake black pride for white hate. The second movement, White, speaks from the point of view of a white person telling us all of the reasons why he/she is not racist, fully equipped with all sorts explanations and reasons including “I have black friends”. The last movement entitled Red and Blue tells the story of militant police and encounters, really challenging who the real criminals are in the confrontations between innocent black victims and aggressive and even sometimes militant police officers. When I wrote this text I really wanted to highlight some very specific things about prejudice and racism by challenging both the listener as well as performer.