A Brief History of Seven Killings: Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Papa-Lo says he warned the Singer that some of the Singer’s friends want to take him down, but the Singer just laughed. Papa-Lo boasts that he runs a massive section of the ghetto, although not the Eight Lanes, because that’s People’s National Party (PNP) territory. Papa-Lo supports the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), whose color is green, whereas the color of the PNP-supporting Eight Lanes­­––run by Shotta Sherrif––is orange. Recently, when the Singer was abroad, young men from Jungle, another ghetto, began scheming inside the Singer’s house. The house used to be the only place of neutrality and peace in Kingston, but that is no longer the case.

The men who went into the Singer’s house ended up fixing the horse races, but they messed it up and had to ask the Singer for money. When he refused to pay, they drew guns on him, although the Singer managed to talk them into putting them away. The Singer told Papa-Lo about this while they were planning the peace concert. Many people are wary of the concert, claiming that it will strengthen suspicions that the Singer supports the PNP. Papa-Lo is getting older, and wants to reach an old age for his children and grandchildren. He recently noticed that he’s never seen old people in the ghetto. Papa-Lo insists that he would take a bullet for the Singer, but that this may not be enough to protect him.