Punching the Air

At his trial, Amal wears a gray suit that was originally for important events like prom or graduation. The grayness of the suit represents the gray area that Amal exists in at his trial. He knows he is innocent, yet he also knows that he looks guilty because he is Black. Amal must navigate this gray area successfully, to make him look as innocent as a white person. The white teenagers Amal fought, for instance, get labeled innocent due to their skin color despite also fighting (and using racist slurs). Without the benefit of “whiteness,” Amal must wear a second skin—a suit—just to temper racist judgements that are based on skin color alone.

Later, after being processed into the jail system, Amal has to wear an orange jumpsuit. The orange jumpsuit supposedly signifies how Amal and the other inmates are somehow different from everyone else in the world, yet because prison feels so much like school, the jumpsuit sticks out as the only thing that isn’t somewhat normal. The jumpsuit is a symbol of Amal’s lack of individuality once he is placed in prison. He is dressed just like everyone else and has “been branded / labeled [….] property of the state” (279). The suits represent Amal’s struggle: He must conform despite being an individual. He must perform by being something he is not. The suits transform Amal into a caricature who suffers inhumanely from inhuman systems.