Colin in Black and White opens in one of the most unassuming and yet appropriate ways, with an episode about hair. Colin decides he wants braids like Allen Iverson. This sets off a chain of responses from his white parents and white baseball coaches and sets the tone for what will follow in this carefully crafted series in which Colin’s teenage years provide an entree into an exploration of what it means to be Black in America.
While the first episode, “Cornrows” uses hair as an entry point to exploring identity, episode two, “Quarterbackin,’” begins to show us the ways in which the system seems stacked against Colin, despite his work ethic, skills, and talent. The series, in general, cuts between the Colin of today who offers insights, lessons, and additional details, and the Colin of his youth. In episode two, the Colin of today cuts to the truth, “Some would say the system is broken. I’m here to tell you it was intentionally built this way,” as we watch high school freshman Colin brush up against the systemic bias against Black players as quarterbacks coupled with the implicit bias that favors white quarterbacks.
In Episode Three, “Road Trip,” the series explores Black Reconstruction in conjunction with a young Colin’s summer of baseball tournaments, which we quickly come to understand means a summer of microaggression that Colin experiences throughout “progressive” California. Our narrator, Colin of today, offers insightful thoughts on the existence of the “acceptable Negro” in mainstream media and boldly asserts, “white people don’t get to decide who is acceptable to us,” before highlighting an impressive array of Black leaders who deserve to be honored and recognized.
The theme of artfully intertwining Black history with a young Colin’s life continues in Episode four, “The Decision,” in which we learn about Romare Beardon, who could have been the first African-American in Major League Baseball, rather than Jackie Robinson, if only he had agreed to pass as white. “Life’s too short to live someone else's dreams,” one of Colin’s friends reminds him, and we see Colin’s strength of character when he—at the tender age of 16—turns down an offer to go into the major leagues in order to pursue his dream of being a quarterback.
As much as the series is about sports and Blackness in America, it is also about a teenager, so a story of first love seems appropriate and this is what we get in Episode five, “Crystal,” both episode title and the name of Colin’s first love. Modern-day Colin boldly states, “Black is beautiful'' as the episode explores anti-Blackness in the media and society at large. For teenage Colin, this comes in the form of not only his parents’ unenthusiastic response to his homecoming date, Crystal, but also in the form of his Black best friend who doesn’t understand Colin’s preference for Crystal over a popular, attractive white teenage girl.
Finally, the series ends, appropriately, with Colin’s beginning as we flashback to the earliest days of his life when he is adopted by his parents after the son they hoped to adopt, a white son, was no longer an option for them. “Since the day I was born, I’ve never been anybody’s first choice,” adult Colin explains, and we see this pattern continue as his dream of a football scholarship seems to fall further and further out of reach.
Still, Colin has a strong support system and a strong belief in his dream. His family and close friends rally around him and do all they can to help him reach his goal. However, his high school football career comes to a close with no offers on the table. But, as we all know, this is not how Colin’s football story ends. We know that Colin does achieve his dream of being a quarterback at the highest level. In Episode Six, “Dear Colin,” we see the football door open, finally, with a college offer. More importantly, we see a grown Colin, no longer playing in the NFL, reach across the divide of time and offer powerful words to his younger self.
“Trust your power,” he writes in a letter to teenage Colin. He also reminds Colin that “rejection is not failure.” This is the phrase my 12-year-old son clung to as we wrapped the series. Rejection is a “calibrator,” adult Colin explains. “It can help you learn who you are and what you want.”
The phrase that stood out for me in Colin's letter to his younger self was this one: “You are more than a quarterback, much more,” because I can’t help but agree. Yes, Colin, you are much more than a quarterback and the world is a better place because of that. Just as Colin Kaepernick is more than a quarterback, this series is more than a sports story. Much more.
Before the credits roll, we see this offering, in black text across a white screen: “To the underestimated, the overlooked and the outcast, trust your power.”
Here is the invitation for each of us to be more than we imagined. Much more.