This film was dedicated to and inspired by Amadou Diallo. Diallo was an African immigrant in NYC and was killed by four policemen on 4 February1999.
The play referred to in the film, "Blues for Mister Charlie", is by James Baldwin and was loosely based on the murder of Emmett Till. Director Dennis Leroy Kangalee had directed a revival of this play in 1999 at the National Black Theater in Harlem before making his first feature film.
The director Dennis Leroy Kangalee kept several different newspaper clippings and news articles of the day and time during the period in history-- all related to police brutality in NYC under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's reign at that time.
This is the first narrative film that the Godfathers of Rap - The Last Poets - are featured in, with a remarkable scene between Umar from the Last Poets and Luis Laporte/Che Ayende, the New York Theater Actor, who played the part of the tortured actor Cairo. Their scene was shot in one take on January 7, 2001 in downtown NYC days before a snowstorm.