This shade is about personal identity, (the way we understand ourselves), and social identity, (the way others understand us). You are authentically yourself regardless of whether you are understood by others.

This shade is about Ubuntu, an ancient Bantu philosophy that requires us to acknowledge everyone's humanity through mutual respect. It focuses on our interconnectedness. It translates to: “I am because you are.”.

This shade is about Ujamaa – a Swahili word meaning “community” or “togetherness." In the context of Pan-Africanist Julius Nyerere's principles, it means “cooperative economics.” Ujamaa reminds us to honor humanity by being generous and sharing resources.

This shade is about acess. There is no default way that humans live, move, communicate, process, or exist and all human beings must be fully accommodated and included. Access to care, rights, education, and opportunities must be guaranteed to all.

This shade is about race. “Race” was invented over the past 600 years as a way to create and rank human differences. Race is not a fact of biology or genetics but it is a big part of society in the form of racism.

This shade is about gender. According to the McLean-Imani definition, gender is an array of mental and behavioral traits that relate to, differentiate from, and go beyond understandings of femininity, masculinity, and neutrality.