General :: Android Keyboard Force Closing

I've searched the internet/XDA far and wide for an answer but can't seem to find a solution that fits my exact issue. I'm trying to mod my android keyboard to have red text color instead of white. I decompiled LatinIME.apk and edited styles.xml found in the Values folder. I only changed TWO lines which contain the hex color code for white- "#ffffffff". I changed them to the corresponding hex code for red which looks like #fff44444. I recompiled using ApkMultiTool. I deleted the resources file using the keep folder method and everything compiles fine. I then pushed the app to system/app making the correct adjustments to the permissions. I reboot the phone and keep getting the error message of, "unfortunately, Android Keyboard has stopped." When I go into my sms app and try to open the keyboard to send a text the message pops up again, however in the background my keyboard pops up and it DOES have the red text color I was looking for. So my modifications worked but I can't get the apk to run correctly. The ONLY file I made any modifications to was styles.xml.

I tried to wipe data for the android keyboard as well as my user dictionary but to no avail. I'm using a t-mobile G2X running Eaglesblood 4.0.4 AOSP.