Why did Levee murder Toledo?

While in class the discussion of the play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, swiftly moved to the question of, why Levee had murdered Toledo? The stabbing of Toledo had happened so quickly and so surprisingly that there was certainly much to talk about. We discussed the contrast between Levee and Toledo, specifically how Toledo has accepted his life and the way it is while Levee has not and is most definitely not ready to keep his life the way it is. Levee dresses differently and is incessantly looking for ways to move u in the social ranks. He hopes to do this by breaking free from Ma Rainey's dominant role in the band and creating his own solo album. After working hard to record his own songs Sturdyvant (the white manager only interested in revenues made for the recording studio) decides to not go through with making Levee his own album and only offers him five dollars for each song. Levee is outraged, and after years of pent up hopes and dreams to make something of himself that no on else expects, he begins to grow slightly insane and unstable. After this occurs between Levee and Sturdyvant, Levee and Toledo get into an argument and whether it was intentional or unintentional  Toledo steps on Levee's shoe which ultimately sends Levee into a fit of rage because he feels as though he has been stepped on his whole life.

Although I think that this ending is fitting for the play I often wonder what it would be like if Levee had killed someone else. Perhaps if he had killed Sturdyvant for essentially crushing his hopes and dreams. Or even if he had turned the knife on himself because he had been so intensely upset and believed that he had failed himself and that he had nothing else to live for. I wonder if August Wilson purposely avoided black versus white violence in order to show that not all violence is between opposing races. Also, I would love for someone to write this book from the perspective of Levee or even Ma Rainey. I think that to be able to actually know what is going through the minds and understand the feelings of one of the individuals would be extremely interesting.