The fatal police shooting of black Americans between 2015 and 2023 is over twice the rate of that for white Americans per million of the population. Such statistics have helped stoke up protests from Black Lives Matter among others.
It is bound to make the character Sully (John Colella), a police sergeant, nervous. He is waiting in a police interview room to be questioned after shooting to death the unarmed thirty-three-year-old black David Mason whom he stopped for driving with an expired registration tag.
Imagine how Sully feels when the officer sent to carry out the interview is Rhonda Parker, the wife of his former police partner Benny. They have been out fishing together and visited each other’s houses. That’s got to mean something. They almost hug when she enters the room
Then again, Rhonda (June Carryl) is black and that makes him a bit unsure, especially given she is asking questions that suggest his written account is not entirely accurate.
He tries to reassure her on the race issue by mentioning that he voted for Obama, and even tries some light banter about the time she spent on the boat.
The entire play takes place in one room. The script is tight and the clear, snappy dialogue has the quick back-and-forth we recognise from American police drama.
John Colella and June Carryl give strong performances of believable characters suddenly facing awkward truths they would prefer to leave buried.
America is not yet a place of justice for black Americans murdered by police. Blue gives us a glimpse of how that sequence plays out when a racist system places a black person in the role of investigator.