get free or die tryin'.

"The show was literally for colored girls, which to me meant women-centered. Still nothing prepared me for the hateful response from African-American English-speaking males. for colored girls was meant for women of color. The poems were addressing situations that bridged our secret (unspoken) longing. for colored girls still is a womens trip, and the connection we can make through it, with each other and for each other, is to empower us all.

The reaction from black men to for colored girls was in a way very much like the white reaction to black power. The body traditionally used to power and authority interpreting, through their own fear, my work celebrating the self-determination and centrality of women as a hostile act. For men to walk out feeling that the work was about them spoke to their own patriarchal delusions more than to the actuality of the work itself. It was as if merely placing the story outside themselves was an attack. for colored girls was and is for colored girls."